Influencer marketing is increasingly emerging in the area of interest of small brands. Therefore, especially for them, we have prepared a brief summary of the proper practices, which every marketer who seriously considers conducting an Influencer campaign should know. See our short summary.
Influencer marketing undoubtedly appears more and more often in the area of interest of marketers. What is important is that it concerns not only the biggest players but also much smaller companies, not interested in alternative channels of communication on a daily basis. It is for them that we have prepared the following study, which is a list of specific practices that every marketer who seriously considers conducting a campaign with an Influencer should know.
Searching for an influencer – ready, set, go!
Marketing is one of the most dynamically developing industries. It is here that new tools, indicators, and parameters, new terms, concepts, and definitions as well as new possibilities appear most often. One of such possibilities is influencer marketing, which on the one hand allows many – not only young people – to enter the career path, which only a few years ago could be dreamt of at most, and on the other hand – allows companies to reach the masses thanks to whispered marketing, which was reborn in a completely new edition.
Influencers are nowadays a kind of judgmental, whose opinion is often more valuable than that of their loved ones. No wonder that 72% of Internet users consider blogs and vlogs to be the first source of information about products, and 53% admit that they made a purchase under the influence of their content. Therefore, it is simply unreasonable for marketers to miss the opportunity offered by cooperation with influential online creators.
Interestingly, this type of brand promotion is not reserved for the biggest ones. Many examples – also from the domestic market – prove how much good influencer marketing can bring especially to the smallest companies, often taking their first steps in business.
Once we get together and decide that this is the right time to work with an influencer, we should start with what is most important in marketing (and in management in general) – strategy. The starting point for its creation should be to determine the basic mission of the company and to identify those brand features that should be emphasized in the campaign.
Once this first step is behind us, we should set the goals of the planned cooperation and consider what kind of result we actually expect, so that at the end we can check if the action was effective. We should identify the target group that we want to reach through the campaign. This point is very important because it will allow us to narrow down the group of potential candidates for influential collaboration. The final stage is to determine the budget that we can allocate to this campaign.
6 indicators that are worth paying attention to before starting cooperation with an influencer
It is time to take a serious look at the candidates who will support our promotional or image activities. Instead of relying on intuition, it's worthwhile to fire up a sheet in Excel and make a decent list. Black on white we will see which influencer can really help us. Here are the parameters you should ask the influencer for or, if possible, check them yourself:
- the viewership,
- the average duration of the session,
- frequency of publication,
- involvement of the audience (like storytelling, commentary, sharing, etc.),
- demography,
- geography.
The results should then be compared with the valuations we get from the influencers. A preliminary calculation of the unit cost of acquiring a client by means of an influencer campaign will allow us to decide which offer should be most profitable for us.
By the way, it is worth mentioning that closing in only on influencers with huge ranges often does not make sense, because the remuneration they expect may exceed our budget. In such cases, it is good to consider cooperation with micro-influencers. The involvement of less popular creators may allow us to use not only one person but even several.
Additionally, small Influencers often enjoy very high loyalty of their recipients, on whom they have a real influence. So it may turn out that conducting a campaign with a micro-influencer will bring much better sales results than with a giant influencer.
10 tools to help evaluate the influencer before, during and after the campaign
When choosing an Influencer, commonly available, often free internet tools can also be very valuable.
Google Analytics
A source of knowledge of any kind about visits, session duration, traffic sources, etc. It is the screenshots from this tool that we should first ask for the influencer, especially if (s)he is a blogger.
Social media statistics
Many social networking sites have internal, built-in statistical tools. It is worth getting to know them.
Senuto, Semstorm, and SimilarWeb
All these tools are used to check the visibility of web sites in the search engine.
Ahrefs
It will allow you to check the number of domains linking to a given website.
Majestic
It will allow you to check the trust flow and citation flow, typical SEO parameters.
Sotrender
The already mentioned tool for tracking trends in the blogo- and vlogosphere and the entire influencer world.
Brybe
A platform that helps to establish cooperation with influencers and control the campaign implementation.
Influencer remuneration – barter vs money
The strategy was chosen, base ready, Influencers checked, time to think about how we will account for the campaign. Of course, the starting point will be the budget we have at our disposal. It will be decisive in assessing who we can afford to work with.
At this point, many of us may be tempted to offer the influence of barter cooperation. After all, we are a nation that loves to bargain, negotiate, and save as much as possible. But let's remember to keep the common sense. We wouldn't want to work for someone for free, either.
Barter can be a good solution when we start working with an influencer who is just starting his/her career or when in return for a campaign we can offer something that will be valuable and useful for him/her. However, before we decide to come up with such a settlement proposal, it is worth to find out what the creators themselves think about barter.
6 basic tips for marketers
At the very end of the considerations on influencer marketing, it is worth taking to heart some general advice, which may prove useful in establishing cooperation with influential Internet users. Here they are:
- No strategy, no move – no strategy is rarely a good solution. Before you start working with an influencer, it's worth defining what goals you want to achieve with your campaign and who you want to reach. A short document containing the most important findings will allow you, after the action is over, to verify whether you have achieved the effect you had hoped for.
- Search with your head – instead of trusting your intuition, it's worth trusting the numbers, especially the indicators of the profitability of cooperation. This does not mean, however, that you should always decide to cooperate with the biggest players.
- The reach doesn't always matter – micro-influencers often gather around them much more loyal and influential than giant influencers whose careers begin to resemble celebrity life. Instead of focusing on the biggest ones and spending the whole marketing budget on them, it is worth looking for smaller Influencers. They generate many more leads for the brand they work with.
- Long live freedom – instead of imposing your concept on the influencer, let him/her take the initiative. (S)he knows his audience best, and (s)he will know how best to present the content in order to achieve the desired result. Let him/her have some freedom of action, and you will be surprised how good results this can bring to your brand.
- A job well done deserves a decent wage – before we offer the barter to the influence of the barter, let's consider whether it is really worth it and whether it can replace a cash wage.
- It is not only large brands that can afford an Influencer campaign – contrary to appearances, to establish cooperation with influencers (especially those operating on a micro-scale) you do not need to have huge marketing budgets. Let's not be afraid to look for, ask, and propose a cooperation. It may turn out to be a breakthrough moment for the development of your brand.