Acing Influencer Marketing in 2022
As technology progresses, it continues to transform the way marketers design their campaigns. With the popularity of social media, companies have increasingly been focusing on refining social media marketing within their digital marketing strategies. Influencer Marketing is one social media marketing strategy that has rapidly gained popularity for its effectiveness. Numerous influencer marketing CRM platforms have further facilitated this process.
Influencer Marketing stands as a gleaming facet of digital marketing. In fact, the earned media value on every $1 spent on influencer marketing can go as high as $18, with the average ROI being $5.78 per spent dollar. At this point, around 90% of marketers agree that this marketing channel has the best returns on investment. However, you need to ensure that you design and implement influencer marketing campaigns strategically to get the maximum returns on your investment.
Here are a few crucial tips to acing influencer marketing in 2022:
1. Find the Right Influencer
Influencers have an audience amassed on the basis of some particular interests. To reach your intended target audience, your brand needs to collaborate with an influencer who creates content about the category your products fall into.
Finding the right influencer goes beyond basic research. If your brand is true to its values, you absolutely need to ensure that the influencer you are targeting shares those values. Collaboration with influencers of a controversial nature can single-handedly take your brand name and sales down.
Therefore, your groundwork will have to be thorough if you want your campaigns to have the desired impact. Proper research can ensure that your marketing campaigns reach people that can effectively be turned into customers.
2. Get Your Statistics Right
Different social media platforms can have varying engagement rates for the same influencer, so doing your research is a necessity. Your own brand will have differing engagement rates on different platforms as well. Identify where people are talking more about you by using Social Listing. Choose the optimal platform for you and consider your chosen influencer’s statistics on it. However, you will have to look beyond the obvious statistics.
With the rise of influencer marketing came the rise of fake influencers. This problem has created a need for brands to look beyond the number of likes and followers. First, you need to confirm that the creators you shortlist have organic followers so that you can maximize your campaign’s reach. Afterward, you need to analyze the engagement rate of the audiences with influencers on your chosen platforms – you are aiming for an engaged audience that will take a genuine interest in your products. You will also need to observe how much paid content your chosen creators are putting out to their audience and how often. Creators who stop creating organic content in favor of paid posts can not make their engagement rates last: their followers end up losing interest.
3. Grant Creative Freedom
Marketing strategies have to be very carefully planned and controlled. However, some of your power will have to be given up when partnering with influencers. The way they design their content needs to stay authentic to their profiles. Remember that the audience is invested in the creator’s content, not yours. The audience will be interested in how your product fits in with the creator’s social media story.
If you start micromanaging, you can even get caught up in conflicts with influencers, which can ruin your brand’s name within influencer circles, and this is always conveyed to the audience. It’s necessary that you guarantee the creative freedom of the influencers you partner up with.
4. Nurture Meaningful, Long Lasting Partnerships
The better engaged you remain with your team of influencers, the more you can expect your marketing to be impactful. Often, trusted creators will turn down offers from brands if they do not agree with them, their values, or their products. If influencers end up sincerely liking your brand and your products, they will spread the word about you in a genuine manner. This authenticity is felt at their audience’s end and can win you long-term, loyal customers. Invest in creating meaningful partnerships rather than short, boosted marketing campaigns.
5. Enlist Third-Party Help
The increasing popularity of influencer marketing has opened up a market for influencer marketing management. Third-party organizations have started to specialize in the area, and sophisticated software has made it easier than ever before. Do not hesitate to enlist third-party help. Their expertise may turn out to be truly beneficial to you. Investing in support will also allow you to free up your resources and time for other strategic tasks.
Endnote
Having impactful marketing strategies and gauging their performance is necessary for successful influencer marketing campaigns. You need to advance beyond having a generic approach. Carefully tailoring your plans to individuals in this growing marketing channel can ensure you ace it.
