It’s getting harder and harder to capture a customer’s attention. These days, getting your message in front of a customer feels like trying to get a fan’s attention in a sold-old Taylor Swift concert. It’s loud, crowded, and tough to communicate effectively. To succeed, brands need to deploy every marketing tactic, including different types of influencer marketing. Asking an influencer to endorse your brand is the perfect hybrid between traditional advertising and organic outreach. If you’re ready to launch social media influencer marketing campaigns, here are the basics to know about using influencers to sell products:
Influencer selection is crucial
While you might be eager to start a campaign, picking the right influencer is important.
Beginners often start by reaching out to a handful of influencers and asking them if they’re interested in receiving a free product, but you should identify and vet influencers before you send any messages.
Start by using an influencer marketing platform like IZEA’s Marketplace, where you can use the search and filter functions to find an industry-specific influencer. Take time to explore the influencer’s:
- Profile on the influencer marketing platform
- Engagement rate, listed on the influencer’s profile
- Social channels and posts
- Website
- Audience demographic
- Follower count
You want an influencer that aligns with your brand, shares your mission, and speaks to your target audience.
Working with the wrong influencers can hurt your campaign results, so do your due diligence.
Influencer outreach can take many forms
You can connect with an influencer through an influencer marketing platform or by sending an email or DM. Which is best? If you can reach out through a platform, that should take priority. Beyond that, check an influencer’s social media channels for communication information. Specifically, check their Instagram bio and About section on YouTube for contact details.
Next, you’ll need to craft your message. To help, check out our recent post, What to Say to When Reaching Out to Influencers. You’ll find email and DM outlines, templates, and examples to pull from.
Your communication should:
- Compliment the influencer’s content
- Introduce yourself, your brand, and your product
- Indicate your campaign plans
- Provide a next step, like reaching out if they’re interested in collaborating
An influencer contract is used 100% of the time
An influencer contract explains the campaign and includes legal protection for both the influencer and your brand. You can involve your company attorney to craft this document or customize influencer contracts offered through an influencer platform.
The contract should include:
- Campaign details and a description of the work provided
- Compensation
- Deadlines
- Ownership of content
- Disclosures
- Non-compete clauses (optional)
- Morals clause
Learn more by reading Why Your Business Should Use an Influencer Marketing Contract.
Product seeding is effective, but expect to compensate influencers too
Most brands plan to send influencers a free product to review, a practice known as product seeding. It’s an effective tactic and a great way to test your budding relationship with an influencer.
While smaller influencers like nano-influencers (with fewer than 1,000 followers) or micro-influencers (with a follower count of up to 10,000) might be willing to do a “product for a post” trade, many won’t.
Using influencers to sell products isn’t free. Most influencers do expect compensation. How much? Our 2023 State of Influencer Earnings offers a helpful cost breakdown per post by platform.
As you can see from the influencer marketing statistics below, the average Facebook post costs $642, while Twitch content is $4,373 per piece.
You’ll provide guidance, not demands
One of the biggest benefits of influencer marketing is its authentic nature. Customers trust influencers, and as a result, they don’t feel as if influencer endorsements are advertising. Instead, they see them as a friend telling them about a cool product.
To nurture that relationship, it’s best for influencers to take the creative lead on content. As a brand, you’ll provide guidance, which means you’ll give an influencer:
- The campaign’s goals
- Content type
- Deadlines
- Your brand guidelines, which offer insight into things like brand colors and tone
- A list of @mentions and #hashtags to use
With your first campaign, it might be a challenge to give creative control to someone outside of the company, but the content is most effective this way. You can, however, ask to review the content before its published.
Plan to measure success
As with any marketing campaign, you should identify KPIs that will help you gauge success.
If you plan to work with influencers long-term, which is ideal, you can share the KPIs with them and plan a post-campaign meeting to review them.
Aren’t sure which KPIs should be part of your influencer marketing strategy? Give this article, Influencer Marketing KPIs and How to Track Them, a read.
Remember, you’re trying something new, so set realistic expectations with plans to adjust campaigns in the future.
Influencer marketing can be very successful for your brand, but there is a learning curve. You need to pick the right influencer, plan a campaign, and truly collaborate with the creator. When your first campaign is wrapped up, review your metrics and look to the next campaign.
Influencers:
Looking to partner with industry-leading brands? Create your free profile today.
Marketers:
The world’s biggest brands trust IZEA’s influencer marketing software and managed solutions. Find out which solution is right for you.
