Influencer marketing is one of the most popular marketing strategies out there today. Given its popularity, you might be tempted to try it out. But is there any guarantee of its success?
Before spending a dime on this strategy, ask yourself the following eight questions.
1. Is influencer marketing appropriate for your brand?
Just because something is popular and trending doesn't necessarily mean it's what you should do, too. Before you think about spending on influencers, evaluate if this strategy is right for your brand.
The first thing you should ask yourself is whether your target audiences are on social media or not. If yes, then influencer marketing can be very effective for your brand. If the answer is no, then influencer marketing will definitely be a waste of money.
2. What do you want to achieve with your campaign?
As with any marketing campaign, you must clearly define your goals at the outset. What is it you want to gain from this campaign? Again, just because everyone is doing it isn't a good enough reason to spend your hard-earned money.
Think carefully about what you want to gain from an influencer marketing campaign. Is it brand awareness, more traffic to your website or more conversions?
Why is this important? Without knowing your objectives, it will be impossible to evaluate whether your campaign was successful or not. At the end of your campaign, you will need to compare the results with your goals to measure the ROI.
3. How will you measure ROI?
Simply having an idea of your goals isn't going to cut it if you can't measure results. You need to track and monitor your campaign progress in real time to see how it is performing. This will help you make any adjustments, if necessary.
A common challenge faced by many marketers is measuring the success of influencer marketing campaigns. Fortunately, there are multiple influencer marketing platforms available that help you understand which content or influencer is performing the best. You can even see which channels are giving you the best returns.
4. Is your choice of influencers right?
Many businesses make mistakes when selecting influencers for their campaign. This can be a complete waste of effort and investment. A large follower base isn't the only thing to consider when selecting an influencer.
By far, the most important thing to consider is your influencer's niche. This helps you determine whether their followers are a relevant audience for your brand or not. For example, if you're in the travel industry and you select a popular fitness influencer, your campaign is doomed. Hence, you need to ensure that the niche of your influencers aligns with your products and target market.
Tommy Hilfiger runs many campaigns with model and fashion influencer Gigi Hadid. The main reason for their success is due to the close alignment of the brand and influencer niche.
5. How much impact do your influencers have?
Just because an influencer has thousands of followers doesn't mean that your campaign will be successful.
What's most important to understand as a brand is the level of sway your influencers have. Are their followers genuine or fake? Do they genuinely care about the opinions expressed by the influencer?
Along with the number of followers, the engagement rate is something you should also evaluate. If an influencer has a decent level of clout, they will have higher engagement on their posts. Also, are these influencers posting content consistently and frequently? This, too, will help you gauge their credibility.
6. How much can you afford to spend?
As with any marketing campaign, your budget is an important consideration. If you're looking to create a campaign with celebrity influencers, it is going to be really expensive.
If your budget is low, microinfluencers can be a great choice. These are influencers who have fewer followers, but those followers are highly engaged. A study by Bloglovin' shows that 97 percent of microinfluencers generally charge less than $500 for a sponsored Instagram post. Sometimes they can work with you for non-monetary compensation, such as free products or commissions on sales.
Ask for the influencer's media kit so you know their stats as well as the compensation they expect. You can then negotiate a deal on your initial discussions. If it's your first time with influencer marketing, it is a good idea to start small. You can always scale up as your campaign progresses and you see results.
7. How will you connect with influencers?
There are various ways of connecting with influencers, and depending on your available resources, you can choose the best one. The simplest way is to find them on social media channels and send them a pitch. However, this is time-consuming.
An alternative to the manual search is an influencer marketing platform. You can identify and connect with multiple influencers easily and execute your campaigns. Such tools allow you to find influencers by demographics and even filter them by reach and influence.
8. Are you ready to provide creative freedom?
If you want the best content from your influencers, you must provide them creative freedom. This means you must be willing to relinquish control over the content distributed in your campaign.
Of course, you can ask your influencers to share the content with you before posting for a final review. But it is better not to interfere with the content-creation process.
Final thoughts
Before you embark on an influencer marketing campaign, ask yourself the above questions. Influencer marketing can be beneficial to your brand. However, your answers to these eight questions will help you make informed decisions so your marketing dollars are utilized effectively.