Everything You Need To Know About Influencer Marketing
PR Maven®, CEO and founder of Marshall Communications , creates and executes marketing/public relations/personal brand strategies.
Influencer Marketing is in vogue. It is a form of social media marketing that uses endorsements and product placement from celebrities and companies to change hearts and minds.
Imagine Kylie Jenner endorsing a new face wash on TikTok, or Roger Federer tweeting about a new Rolex in his watch collection. In many ways, everyday consumers often trust influencers more than brands because people are able to form strong relationships with people they follow online (even if they have never met them). Look at it this way. soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has more Instagram followers than the United States and Russia combined, making his thoughts, feelings and advice highly relevant and uniquely marketable.
Influencer marketing can be a valuable tool in your toolbox, even if you're working with influencers who are less well-known athletes. At the very least, this marketing should be considered depending on your business and budget.
Before you hit the treadmill, ask yourself: Is influencer marketing right for your brand ? To answer this question, you must have an innate understanding of your brand's target audience and how to reach those people online.
There are three R's to consider before joining an influencer.
1. Compliance. Is the content shared by influencers relevant to your brand?
2. Availability. Does the influencer reach a large enough audience to add value? Is this audience legit and engaged?
3. Resonance. Will your content benefit the influencer's audience, making the potential for a mutually beneficial partnership possible?
When all the boxes are checked, influencer marketing can make a lot of sense for brands looking to expand their reach and strengthen their bottom line. Even influencers with a relatively small following can benefit from being relevant to a particular niche that is important to you. Availability is paramount. If travel influencers are important to your 10,000 loyal fans, that audience is still big enough to count.
My agency groups influencers by influence level and audience reach: mega, macro, medium, micro, and nano. It goes without saying that the larger the influencer's audience, the more expensive it will be to work. mega and macro level influencers can be worth millions of dollars. For example, Ronaldo earns almost 2 million dollars for a single post on Instagram.
But not all hope is lost. The lower rungs of the influence ladder can still benefit your brand. As long as you are confident in the process of maximizing the impact of your influencer marketing, the results can be very rewarding for you.
At Marshall Communications, we start your search for influencers by identifying creatives with a strong online presence that are also aligned with your brand. Influencers should interact with real and passionate followers, not paid bots. We then compiled a list of “wanted” influencers and started connecting with them through engagement – liking or commenting on their posts.
Some influencers work with agents who can share their sponsorship rates, while others can be contacted directly to start the conversation. Prices vary depending on whether the influencer creates content tailored to your brand or whether you provide the necessary images and copy for publication.
Do your homework early in the process. Selecting influencers can be a very time-consuming and expensive process, because your brand has to match the right creators. You need to work with trusted people who add value, and that takes time and effort in terms of research. To make the process right for our clients, we may even work with partners who can provide a list of potential influencers within certain budget parameters.
If you prove this process, you will get a return on investment. Influencer Marketing can pay off as long as you are strategic and your tactics align with the overall strategy. It is very important to have clearly predefined goals for your influencer campaign so that the goals and success criteria are clearly understood. Set your expectations so that there are no surprises or objections along the way.
At the end of an Influencer campaign, you can specify the result with details like impressions, likes, shares, comments and unique URL clicks. Depending on the company, your goal might be to increase sales or even simply increase public awareness and education. It all depends on your business and your budget.
Remember, influencer marketing can work for you. Doing your homework early will save you headaches later when all you want to experience is the thrill of a return on investment.
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