How to Develop An Influencer Marketing Campaign

Merely a decade ago, influencer marketing was not a thing. It mostly boiled down to celebrity marketing, including just a few dedicated bloggers.

Nowadays, however, influencers have left their mark on the business industry. Not only did influencer marketing rise to popularity seemingly overnight, but some had already had their fair share of scandals and even frauds.

But this is not to say that the age of influencer marketing is behind us. On the contrary!

That being said; however, it’s important to note that influencer marketing requires a careful approach, followed by more-than-meticulous research.

Here are some tips on how to do it right and develop a strong influencer marketing campaign that will help your business grow.

What is influencer marketing?

As the name itself suggests, influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing that relies on the use of an influencer for business promotion and endorsement. The main reason why influencer marketing can bring such fruitful results is the fact that these individuals have a dedicated social following and are often even considered to be the experts in their niches. So, naturally, if they choose to promote and endorse a product or service, that means that the said product or service is the best on the market. Right?

Well, not exactly.

Since money plays a big role in influencer marketing, many of them fell for the trap of allowing the sum they’re being paid to dictate – or rather influence – their own opinions of the things they’re hired to promote. Needless to say, this led to numerous scandals and controversies, which left many influencers “cancelled.”

Luckily, any business that’s looking to try out influencer marketing can easily reach out to top influencer marketing agencies and consult them about the most reliable individuals to get in touch with.

That way, you can be entirely certain that the influencer you’ve reached out to for your influencer marketing campaign is the best choice for gaining enough social proof that your brand is worth your customers’ while.

The value of influencer marketing

Currently, the state and value of influencer marketing are counted in billions. What’s more, various social media networks have their own unique set of influencers, each of them having different demographics, reach and – of course – worth.

By making sure you do proper research and identify both the platforms you want to establish your brand on, as well as the influencers you wish to collaborate with, you can ensure that you’re on the right path to success.

That being said, let’s see how you can develop an influencer marketing campaign.

How to create an influencer marketing campaign

Like any other marketing campaign, an influencer marketing campaign will require careful planning and targeting. It would be downright impossible to reach success by simply sending free products and offering free services to all the influencers out there.

That’s why you must ensure that:

You find the right influencers.

In the sea of influencers, it can seem difficult to choose the ones that will be the perfect match for your business and brand. Luckily, there are some factors you can take into consideration when choosing that will make the whole process much simpler.

First, determine which platforms are mostly frequented by your target audience and establish a strong online presence on the said platform. Once you achieve this, turn to social listening for help when it comes to determining which influencers’ opinions are held in the highest regard – on your designated platform and within your specific niche.

Keep in mind that the industry you’re operating in will also play a huge role here, so make sure you take that into account as well.

Some industries are simply more lucrative than others, which means that the influencers from those industries may be charging higher fees than influencers from other industries.

All of this will play a key role in determining which influencers to go with, where to look for them and how much to pay them exactly. Additionally, do know that micro-influencers are nowadays considered to be more reliable than macro-influencers, so look into this option as well.

Determine a budget a monitor progress

Once you identify the ideal platforms for your business and determine the best influencers you should reach out to, make sure you also create a budget.

Hiring a particular influencer can seem like the right move up until the time you’re faced with how much they’re actually charging for their services.

Additionally, keep in mind that, unlike some more automated ad strategies, influencers are just people. What this means is that running a successful influencer marketing campaign is not a set-it-and-go type of deal.

The influencer you’re collaborating with may fall ill, have some other – more important things – happen to them without planning, or simply have other partnerships waiting in line.

Therefore, it can sometimes happen that they, too, fall behind on their schedule or simply make errors that could be less than favourable for your business. That’s why you need to ensure that you track and measure the success of your influencer marketing campaign to ensure that all of the parties involved are on the right track.

And just like any other relationship, the one you manage to develop with your influencer partners should also be cultivated and nourished, so make sure you handle any type of interaction with them professionally and respectfully.

Define your goals and the message you’re trying to send

Two of the most common reasons brands choose to resort to influencer marketing are to boost their brand awareness and improve sales. However, naturally, this shouldn’t be the message you’re trying to send across, even though it is the ultimate goal for your business. But in order to reach the ultimate goal, brands sometimes need to set up smaller milestones along the way that will help them get there eventually.

That’s why you will first need to define your brand’s goals – both big and small ones and come up with a strategy that will help you reach them. Furthermore, make sure you determine the message you wish to spread with the help of your brand and the influencer to further encourage the audience to give your brand a chance.

By sharing both your message and your goals with the influencer you’ve chosen, you can ensure that they’re on the same page. That way, they will be able to help you spread your message in their own unique way and ultimately reach your goals.

And don’t worry; influencers are professionals, just like you are, and they will come up with the best possible ways to bring your message across without making it come off as too pitchy.

Learn how to reach out to influencers

All of your efforts thus far will be in vain if you don’t know how to reach out to influencers. Even though they are just people – just like you and me – there are still some things when reaching out to them you should keep in mind.

When reaching out to micro-influencers, you can do so by simply contacting them via private messages or their business emails. Macro influencers, on the other hand, usually have their contacts for business inquiries displayed somewhere on their profiles, so make sure you look for those.

Some influencers even collaborate with various marketing agents, so you may end up having to reach out to them instead of the influencer directly.

Moreover, make sure once more that the influencer you’re reaching out to is a good fit for your brand. You can easily do this by going through the content they post on a regular basis. If you, for instance, run a food delivery service, more or less every influencer could potentially be a good fit as all of them – their audiences included – eat.

However, if you’re running a car shop, reaching out to a beauty and wellness guru wouldn’t make much sense, as it is very little – if anything – connecting their usual topics with what you’re trying to sell.

Review and refine your campaign

Finally, if you want to make sure that your campaign is actually working as you thought it will, you need to make sure you review and refine it on a regular basis.

Stay on top of the numbers and see just how well the campaign is performing. If you notice that any part of it is lacking, you should immediately look for ways to remedy the situation.

And if, in the end, you notice that it’s not performing as great as you thought it would do, know that you can always move onto looking for a different influencer to collaborate with.

Final thoughts

Developing an influencer marketing campaign is not that different from developing any other marketing campaign.

You just need to do your research, get familiar with how things work in this particular industry and join forces with other professionals that will help you grow and expand your business further.

Tell us your story

Would you like to write for nichemarket just like Christopher has? Find out how to submit a guest post and when you're ready, you can contact us.

Let's review your influencer marketing

If you're interested in creating an influencer marketing campaign then contact us form and let us help you put together a campaign strategy.

Promote your business

Are you a business owner? Then why not register on nichemarket and put your business in front of thousands of nicheseekers every month. Registering with nichemarket is easy; all you will need to do is head over to our sign up form and follow the instructions. If you require a more detailed guide on how to create your profile or your listing, then we highly recommend you check out the following articles. 

• How to create a nichemarketer profile
• How to create a nichemarket business listing

Recommended reading

If you have time to spare why not dive deeper down the rabbit hole and check out these posts for help on Influencer marketing:

• How To Get Brand Deals As A South African Influencer
• How To Calculate The Cost Of A South African Social Media Influencer
• Why Brands Should Opt For Thought Leaders Over Influencers
• Techniques for Working With B2B Influencers
• How To Find The Right Instagram Influencers For Your Business
• How To Find Suitable Instagram Influencers For Your Brand

Tags: Influencer Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Guest Post