Influencer marketing is big and has the potential to increase results across a variety of campaigns. Of course, not all marketing is created equal, and there are no guarantees in business. If you aren’t seeing the results you hoped for in your own campaigns, it’s time to revise your influencer marketing strategy. Here are 11 top tips for revamping your marketing and maximizing the return on investment (ROI).
1. Repost on Social Media
If you’ve paid for great content, it only makes sense to reuse it to get your money’s worth. Repost influencer content on your own social media accounts to make your message go further. Use it in your Instagram stories, link to it on your official blog and recut videos for Facebook promos. This helps to ensure more people see your content, and also means you don’t have to purchase new content as often.
2. Use Content in Adverts
Influencer content is part of your advertising campaign, not a complete replacement for other forms of advertising. Once you have the content, it’s a simple matter to reuse it in various promotions. For example, share news of your latest influencer team-up in your company newsletter, or create a print media advert featuring your influencer using your products.
3. Think Small
Influencers with large audiences often have large fees, making it more difficult to get a good return. The good news is, working with micro-influencers is still a great way to share your message with the world. In many cases it may actually be the better option. Influencers with less than 10,000 followers tend to have higher engagement because of their targeted approach. This is fantastic news if you’re trying to build a relationship with the audience.
4. Use More Videos
If you hadn’t heard, video is the in thing. In our fast-moving world, using more video has the potential to drive fantastic results for your campaign. In fact, 91 percent of marketers say video is an important part of their strategy and 83 percent say it has a good ROI, according to statistics published by wyzowl.
5. Be Authentic
Trust and authenticity are at the heart of influencer marketing. When influencers make sponsored content, it’s essential that they disclose the nature of that content. If they’re showcasing a product or service in exchange for some kind of reward, they must clearly state that. This ensures the content is in line with guidelines from the Federal Trade Commission, which has been cracking down on influencers in recent years. It also helps to build trust with the audience, reinforcing the idea that your influencer is completely transparent and therefore a reliable source for information. It’s your responsibility to make sure the disclosures are in place and accurate, or else your brand is tarnished with the influencer’s.
6. Let the Influencers Speak
Part of being authentic is letting the influencers speak for themselves. They have built a brand on their personality, and that’s why people follow them. If you give influencers scripts to read, or specific text to duplicate within their blogs, you’re taking away their voice. When that happens, there’s the potential for engagement to drop as the sponsored content comes across as insincere.
It’s much better to let the influencers do what they do best. Give them detailed notes and guidelines, but let them use their own distinct voice and personality to promote your brand. That’s why you’re paying them.
7. Build Relationships
Finding influencers who gel with your brand isn’t an overnight process. It takes time and effort to research the possibilities, lay the groundwork for a potential collaboration and then make the negotiations. For that reason, it pays to build lasting relationships. Don’t consider an influencer campaign a “one and done” event. The more you work with someone, the more you learn about them. You develop a short hand that makes collaborating more efficient and cost-effective. Furthermore, you develop a mutual trust and respect that not only minimizes potential issues but also helps to elevate the content.
8. Find the Right Influencers
If great results are eluding you, it may be you aren’t partnering with the right content creators. Consider how you’re evaluating influencers, and think carefully about what qualities are the most desirable for promoting your brand. For example, there’s no point working with an influencer who has a large audience if their audience demographic doesn’t match with the type of people who would usually buy your products. Characteristics to consider include:
- Audience size
- Audience demographic
- Area of expertise
- Personality and style of delivery
- Platform (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etcetera)
- Media type
- Cost
Furthermore, it’s important to make sure you’re dealing with authentic influencers, and not fakes who have paid for their likes and followers. If you’re finding it difficult to connect with influencers who tick all the right boxes, consider signing up with an influencer marketing platform. These platforms help to put you in contact with the perfect people to take your brand to the next level.
9. Communicate Efficiently
If you aren’t seeing a strong return on your investment, it’s possible your marketing system is running inefficiently. Failing to clearly communicate with an influencer may cause delays and spiraling costs that eat into profits. For example, if you miscommunicate what you want in your video campaign you may need to pay for reshoots. An influencer marketing platform provides a forum for easy communication and transparency in all stages of the campaign.
10. Monitor KPIs
Make sure you know your figures and calculate how effective your campaigns are based on established key performance indicators (KPIs). Before you even approach an influencer, you should have a firm idea of how you intend to evaluate the campaign’s overall success. Common indicators include:
- Reach
- Impressions
- Engagement
- Revenue
- Number of sales
- Website visitors
- Newsletter sign-ups
When dealing with influencers, it’s important that you have a way to monitor this kind of data. This may be possible by monitoring traffic sources to your website, or by giving influencers a unique code to share with their followers. When someone uses that code, you know which influencer switched them on to your brand.
11. Dive Into the Data
Maintain a data-driven approach to your influencer marketing strategy. Gather as much data as possible, and use it to reevaluate your plans and correct your course as required. If something isn’t working, do something about it. If something surpasses expectations, drill into the data to discover why and establish if it’s possible to capture lightning in a bottle.
You may not get overnight success with your influencer marketing strategy, but that’s no reason to give up. Learn from mistakes, find areas where it’s possible to become more efficient and look to the future.
