Influencers are an integral part of social media marketing. They add a human element that cannot be replicated and serve as representatives for ‘real’ people. Therefore, their followers see them as relatable and look up to them as practical role models that they can aspire to be like. But, what does this mean for marketing and marketers?

Followers will want to buy products if they believe that their favourite influencers use and trust them. In a survey held by Twitter, up to 49% of social media users said that they rely on influencers for product recommendations.

In this way, influencers help brands to:
  • build awareness and trust
  • expand their social media following
  • increase their leads and site traffic, and
  • boost sales.
Here are a few things that you should consider when devising an influencer marketing strategy:

1. Your objectives

The first step that you should take when developing an influencer strategy is to create objectives. Consider what you would like to achieve out of using influencers as marketers for your brand. When you’re done, outline these objectives for yourself. Using an influencer management tool can help your brand identify and monitor engagement metrics. This will help you to assess whether or not your influencer campaign is helping you to meet your brand’s set of objectives.

For example, if one of your objectives is to increase your brand awareness, then engagement metrics will assist you in tracking how many shares, likes and comments your influencer posts receive.

2. Influencer choice

As we have discussed in a previous blog post, titled Nano-influencer or Micro-influencer? What’s the deal?, there are three main types of influencers. These comprise nano-, micro- and macro-influencers. Each type varies in terms of following, authenticity of posts and level of follower engagement. When seeking an influencer, it is important to decide which type would coincide best with your objectives.

It is also important to evaluate whether an influencer’s content matches your brand’s identity. For this reason, it is essential to track which social media users are most vocal about your brand or industry. You should monitor the ones that have the highest follower counts or who are the most vocal to see whether they are a good fit. An influencer tracking tool may assist in doing so.

3. Content Plan

Once you have identified your objectives and chosen a suitable influencer, you have to create a content plan. There are various ways that an influencer can market a product for you and you have to decide what works best for your brand. A few popular options include:
  • social media competitions
  • video posts
  • discount codes, and
  • product launch promotions.
Your content plan should also be clear about the style of content that you want from your brand’s influencers. Your brand could allow these individuals to personalise their marketing content by incorporating real-life experiences.

For example, if your product is a serum that reduces the appearance of stretch marks, your brand’s influencer could create posts about their own experience with stretch marks and how the product has helped them.

Next, your brand should consider collaborating with your chosen influencers when creating a content plan. Influencers have insights into their audience. This means that they have an understanding of their followers as well as the type of content they favour most.

Lastly, you should ask the influencers what content they enjoy producing and whether they have any ideas for the content that they will be posting for your brand. This ensures that there is mutual satisfaction for your influencers and your brand and contributes towards the development of better relationships with them.

Advice from amaSocial: It is essential that the influencers your brand collaborates with have a real passion for your brand or product — because if not, their following will pick up on that.

For more information, visit www.amasocial.co.za. You can also follow amaSocial on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

*Image courtesy of Blue Bird from Pexels