Five Ways To Strategically Leverage Influencer Marketing For Your Brand
Photo by Ivan Samkov on Pexels
Traditional media (such as print, TV, billboards and radio) is highly effective for brands to reach a large consumer base, whereas digital media (such as social media, display and search) can be a useful tool to reach a more specific audience and to build consumer relationships. As part of the digital media sphere, companies are devoting more resources toward influencer marketing to propel their brand through the communities that these influencers have built.
Influencer marketing has become an increasingly impactful way for brands to connect authentically with their audience. While influencer marketing has been around for years, it accelerated amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, when brands had to close their brick-and-mortar stores and cancel physical events completely, seeking new ways to engage with their target customers.
The general distrust of gimmicky online advertising meant that marketers had to cut through the noise and reconsider how to engage consumers. Influencers can help brands build authentic customer relationships by creating compelling stories for captive audiences. According to a 2022 industry report by Partipost, brands have invested at least 30% of their marketing budgets into influencer marketing this year.
So how should your brand approach influencer marketing? There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, but here are five ways to help you get started:
1. Finding the right influencers
When consumers feel their authentic self is not valued or welcome, they will choose to take their business elsewhere. Staying relevant and building an authentic voice for your brand with the right pool of digital creators creates third-party credibility and reflects good brand personality.
2. Consider working with a third-party agency
Hiring an agency like Accela Communications goes a long way in terms of saving time and effort if you don't have the resources to recruit and maintain a social team. Hiring a specialised agency ensures you have a dedicated team who is keeping its finger on the pulse of the latest influencer marketing strategies, up-and-coming influencers across industries and creating new ways to connect with your audience.
3. Do your research and stay in the know
If you’re going to tackle digital marketing yourself, staying on top of the social media trends and knowing how they affect consumer engagement for your business or brand is essential. Seeing what’s trending on Instagram, subscribing to social media blogs and podcasts, and following social media gurus are some ways of keeping up with the evolving social media environment.
4. Strategically select the right platforms for your brand
Do not fall into a trap by investing resources in every social media platform. Research in advance to understand where your audience is - for a younger demographic, TikTok may be appropriate, but it’s certainly not right for all brands. Evaluate the suitability of outlets and influencers for your brand by viewing your post-campaign results and gaining valuable insights, which will allow you to adjust along the way and ramp up your efforts later when you know what works.
5. Consider metrics beyond just followers
Influencer marketing isn’t just about finding personalities with the most followers. The most significant measure of social media success is high engagement rates, meaning that your audience is engaged and conversing with your brand. Likes, comments and shares are the primary forms of social media engagement. Audit your customers and differentiate how you market to them based on interests and sociodemographic characteristics.
Influencer marketing has the potential to propel brands on social media and establish lasting relationships with audiences. While social media moves quickly, it’s never too late to reshape your influencer marketing plan - from finding the right influencers to rethinking the right social media platforms for your brand.
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Are you looking for a strategic partner to develop your influencer marketing campaigns? Let’s chat: [email protected].
