It’s not a big surprise to state that the use of social media influencers has dramatically increased in recent years, along with the fact that consumers are now heavily relying on shopping online. The way we shop is changing and because of the coronavirus epidemic, people are seeking out online items at a rate that is constantly growing. In spite of the pandemic being over, it is likely that these patterns will continue because we’ve seen the ease and convenience of everything is needed on the internet.
If you are an online-based business your marketing will likely to depend heavily on the use of social media and other digital strategies. Perhaps you’ve already thought about influencer marketing or starting to think about it right now. Learn more about how to make an effective campaign.
Planning
The initial step for the process of launching an influencer promotion, no matter if it’s an e-commerce company and not, is the create a plan. It is essential to go through an extensive planning process so that you can benefit from your campaign.
In the process of planning there are a few questions you must be asking yourself:
- What is the goal in your advertising campaign?
You will need to determine your objectives. You might want to boost the brand’s visibility, increase sales, improve your brand’s image, or increase the creation of content.
- Who are your target audience?
It is essential to identify the kind of audience you want to reach. Consider their demographics as well as the interests they have. This may be similar to your current customer base or you could be targeting a different type of customer by launching this campaign. For example, working with Twitch streamers is a great way to reach an audience interested in gaming. But, working with TikTok creators allows more flexible video content.
- How much do you budget?
The amount you are willing to put into that campaign is going to determine what kind of influencers that you are able to work with, the quantity of influencers as well as the media and social media channel kind, too. You will have to factor in the cost of shipping and handling too.
- What is your timetable?
Then, you’ll have to determine the timeline you want to use to run the event. Are you planning to develop campaigns for a certain time or date? Perhaps you’re planning to launch an exciting new line of clothing just in time for the holiday time? Keep in mind that certain influencers are booked long in advance.
Incentive
If we consider your process of planning then you’ve set the budget you will have set and the kind of incentives you’ll be able to offer influencers. Based on the worth of your product or service incentives could be financial or non-monetary.
The best approach to consider this is to consider the value it is perceived to be for the influencer. If your product appears to be quite valuable and therefore, influencers might be willing to accept it on their own. If, however, it’s not worth their money, they could require payment, too.
It’s also contingent on the kind of influencer you’re working with. Micro and nano influencers typically do not charge fees, however macro and middle influencers are likely to. They also have managers who also charge fees.
For e-commerce, one common method is to use an incentive based on commissions, such as offering influencers discounts. In this way, they can advertise your product and give their own discount code to their customers that will offer customers discounts at checkout. This leads to more people visiting your website , and also increases sales as a result of customers looking to buy your product at a lower price. The influencer is rewarded as they receive a fee from each customer who makes use of their coupon code.
Finding influencers
If the basic elements of your campaign are established in your plan The following step will be to discover influencers who are suitable for your brand and campaign. There are a variety of methods to do this, but some of them are easier than others.
You can manually search for influencers directly through Instagram for instance. This can be a bit time-consuming however, you could consider this to be the most effective method to promote your business. For the best results, you should follow these suggestions:
* search for influencers on your list of followers to be sure that they’re an avid fan of your brand.
* Check your brand tags to see if there are any possible influencers.
* Take a look at your comments as influencers could be interested here.
To ensure that your search is more efficient I suggest you join an influencer marketing platform. In this way you’ll be able to utilize specific search filters to narrow your search in accordance with the features you want to see in influencer characteristics. Additionally, you will be able analyze influencer profiles to ensure that the influencers and their followers are the perfect fit for your company’s brand.
No matter which method you pick It is essential to examine the profile metrics that we’ll take into consideration below. Sometimes, companies will believe that following counts are the most important aspect that matters. The more followers you have, the more effective isn’t it? However, this isn’t always the situation when it comes to influencer marketing. Instead, you’ll want to consider indicators of performance, such as engagement rates.
We can observe how much engagement rate of this influencer is in comparison to an average for their specific category using data from Heepsy. This shows the degree of interaction that occurs between the influencer with their followers, which shows the interest of their followers through comments and likes. If you base your decision solely on the number of followers an influencer has it is possible to be able to have your product advertised to an uninterested public. It’s much more important the target audience is interested regardless of whether it’s not a large number of people.
Another instance that we can observe on Heepsy is the authenticity metrics of the audience. If you look at the Instagram influencers through the app, one may quickly find influencer fraud. Beware of varying comments and likes across posts, and also natural comments. However, with the help of an influencer marketing platform that uses artificial intelligence will be able to detect suspicious behavior and provide information on what is expected to be influencer authenticity.
Monitor your campaign
Another important aspect to think about prior to starting an advertising campaign, is the method by which you’ll keep track of your progress. To analyze the outcomes at the conclusion to your program, you’ll require the process of tracking the key performance indicators.
The most well-known tools used by online retailers are Google Analytics. It is a no-cost analytics tool that allows you to track crucial information like:
* Website traffic generated by influencers
* sales are driven by influencers
* content that is published
* impressions of influencer content
* new followers gained
* discount codes used
If you keep track of these numbers using an analytics tool for analysing the effectiveness of the campaign you’ll be more organized. It is possible to analyze data to discover the factors that determine the influencer had the greatest success and which social media platform was performing best, and , of course, the sales generated by influencers.
Conclusion
With all that in mind, it’s well on your way to winning the influencer campaign. If there’s one thing I’d like you to learn from this is the importance of doing your research and organizing.
Influencer marketing is extremely advantageous for businesses that sell online in achieving any goals you have. However, the most effective campaigns go through a lengthy planning process, ensuring that the influencers chosen are a good match for the company’s brand.
