How to Build a Influencer Marketing Strategy?

In the social-first world that we live in, Influencer marketing, also known as branded content or working with creators, is a surefire way to expand the reach of your brand. It has been a buzzword for a while now, and the mainstream media regularly refers to it. Yet, there are still people who don’t really understand what influencer marketing is all about. In this article, I will share with you what is influencer marketing and gow to develop your strategy.

What is Influencer Marketing?

I will keep this simple, an influencer is someone who can influence others. In influencer marketing, a form of social media marketing, brands pay that person (influencer) to promote their product or service to his/her followers.

Celebrity endorsements were the original form of influencer marketing. But in today’s digital world, social content creators with niche audiences offer more value to brands. These social media influencer profiles often have very engaged followers on social media.

Different Types of Influencers

These are the different types of influencers:

Nano-influencers

Nano-influencers are just like everyday social media users who have built up a following of like-minded people, and usually have fewer than 10,000 followers. But these influencers often have strong connections with their audience, thanks to their personable content and authentic engagement.

It is cheaper for a brand to collaborate with a nano-influencer. While the reach won’t be as high from a single collaboration, it is far more targeted to a key audience. Though, they offer the smallest reach, nano-influencers can be excellent partners for businesses looking to target specific communities and demographics without breaking the bank. No wonder more brands are interested in partnering with nano influencers now a days.

Micro-influencers

With 10,000 to 100,000 highly engaged followers, micro-influencers are the rising stars of influencer marketing. These influencers typically have a strong presence on specific platforms, like Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.

Marketers love working with micro-influencers as they captivate a niche, passionate audience with their creative content, relatable recommendations and genuine interactions. Engaged followers is the key point to make here.

They’re also more affordable than larger influencers. But that doesn’t mean they’re ineffective.

Macro-influencers

With a following that typically ranges from 100,000 to 1 million, macro-influencers are established personalities within their respective niches.  These influencers have earned their reputation through consistent content creation and engagement over time, and are now thought leaders in their niche.

Macro-influencers offer a more targeted approach compared to celebrities, as their followers usually share common interests. Collaborating with macro-influencers can provide your brand with substantial reach, but it may still be relatively costly depending on your budget.

Celebrity (Mega) Influencers

Celebrity (or Mega) influencers are those big-name stars who have a massive following of over 1 million, and often include famous actors, musicians, athletes and other public figures.

Working with this type of influencer makes it easier to reach large numbers of individuals and associate your brand with big-name stars. However, it is expensive, making the barrier to entry far higher for many businesses. Plus, since their audience is often broad, their engagement rates may not be as high as influencers with smaller, more niche followings.

How to Build a Solid Influencer Marketing Strategy?

Here is how do you go about building a solid strategy that drives a strong ROI:

Step 1: Define Your Campaign Goals and Objectives

Before diving into influencer marketing, it’s crucial to clearly define your goals and objectives. You need to ensure that you have defined SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant & Time-bound).

Are you looking to increase brand awareness, boost sales, drive website traffic, or promote a specific product launch? By identifying your key objectives upfront, you can tailor your influencer marketing strategy to align with your business goals.

Step 2: Know Your Target Audience

Understanding your target audience is essential for identifying the right influencers to partner with. Take the time to research your audience demographics, interests, and preferences to ensure that your chosen influencers resonate with your target demographic. Look for influencers whose followers closely match your ideal customer profile to maximize the effectiveness of your campaign.

Get your target audience right, and you will be set to benefit massively from a collaboration. Get this wrong, and it can not only be a waste of time and investment but could also be embarrassing.

Step 3: Find the Right Influencers

Once you have a clear understanding of your audience, it’s time to start identifying potential influencers to partner with. Depending on your campaign goals, you need to decide whether you are going to work with celebrity (macro) influencers as part of your campaign or whether you are going to work solely with engaged micro-influencers.

Consider factors such as niche relevance, audience size, engagement rates, and brand affinity when evaluating potential influencers. You may chose different influencers on different platform as per your requirement. Tools like BuzzSumo, HypeAuditor, Upfluence, Promoty, Klear and social media analytics can help streamline the process of finding and vetting influencers for your campaign.

Step 4: Build Relationships with Influencers

Building strong relationships with influencers is key to the success of your influencer marketing campaigns. Reach out to potential influencers with personalized messages expressing your interest in collaborating and outlining the details of your campaign. Be transparent about your expectations, deliverables, and compensation to ensure a mutually beneficial partnership.

Step 5: Develop Creative Campaign Concepts

Collaborate with influencers to develop creative campaign concepts that align with your brand messaging and resonate with their audience. Encourage influencers to share their creative ideas and input to ensure that the campaign feels authentic and genuine. Whether it’s a sponsored post, product review, giveaway, or takeover, tailor the campaign format to suit the preferences of both the influencer and their audience.

Step 6: Execute the Campaign

Once the campaign concept is finalized, it’s time to execute your influencer marketing campaign. Provide influencers with any necessary assets, such as product samples, promotional codes, or branded content guidelines, and coordinate the timing of their posts to maximize reach and impact. Monitor the progress of the campaign closely and stay in regular communication with influencers to address any issues or concerns that may arise.

Step 7: Measure and Analyze Results

After the campaign has concluded, it’s important to measure and analyze the results to evaluate its effectiveness and ROI. Track key performance indicators such as reach, engagement, click-through rates, and conversions to gauge the impact of the campaign on your business objectives. Use these insights to identify areas for improvement and inform future influencer marketing strategies.

Step 8: Cultivate Long-Term Relationships

Finally, don’t view influencer marketing as a one-off transactional activity. Cultivate long-term relationships with influencers who align closely with your brand values and consistently deliver results. By nurturing these relationships over time, you can build a network of trusted brand advocates who can help amplify your message and drive sustained growth for your business.