As platforms like YouTube and Instagram become more popular by day, Influencer Marketing services are gaining more and more relevance. You can see people scrolling through their Instagram feed all the time or looking for good videos to watch on YouTube. That is why marketing here, with the help of influencers, has become such a big step for Brands and everyone has a budget for influencer marketing set aside.
And not just regular influencers with a huge following, but these days you even come across celebrities endorsing products on these platforms. The trends too say that consumers trust the word of an influencer more than they trust a regular video ad or static ad these days.
Best ways of making use of influencer marketing services
Avoiding over-expenditure by keeping track of your influencer marketing budget
Different brands fall under different monetary brackets hence they will have different influencer marketing budgets. Similarly, all influencers and their influencer marketing services are not the same. Someone with a million followers or more (Macro and Mega Influencers) may have a wider reach but a collaboration with such an influencer will also cost you more. It’s great if your brand is already at a place where you can afford the sum, but if not, that’s no big problem either.
If your influencer marketing budget is smaller, look for more niche influencers who deal with your field. Suppose your product is an anti-acne treatment range: that influencer with over a million followers would have spread the word about it to a lot more people. But you have to remember that all those people will not be interested in your product.
On the other hand, an influencer with lesser number of followers (Nano or Micro Influencers) may have a channel/account that deals exclusively with effective skincare. It is a given that the people who have followed them have done so because they are specifically interested in that field. The chance of conversion from potential customer to a spending customer is much higher here. And you get it done for half the amount as well! Meaning you do not overspend on your influencer marketing budget.
Influencer Marketing Strategies
Determine your goals
Your number one goal when it comes to influencer marketing services is not sales; so don’t set out with unrealistic expectations. Rather your first goal is for the Brand to be exposed to more of its target audience. Also keep in mind how your influencer marketing budget and strategy is fitting in overall with your digital strategy.
Know your target audience
Knowing who are you are trying to target with your product goes a long way. The method of finding the right influencer marketing services is not by seeing the number of followers of the influencer, even if you have the budget for it. It’s knowing your audience persona and seeing if that influencer’s reach includes your target audience. How much you want your influencer marketing budget to be is up to you. But make sure that spend is giving you results and not just going to waste.
Understanding the rules
You can’t just contact an influencer and start asking for their services. There are rules in place that you must be aware of unless you want to face charges. In USA, the rules come from the Federal Trade Commission, so head onto their site and take a good look at what you have to do in order to get your influencer marketing services contract right.
For your convenience, we are listing some of the most important rules from FTC here:
- There must be both written and verbal disclosure of the sponsored product in the video itself, not just in the description below
- If marketing on Instagram, the ‘Branded Content’ tag must be used to show the agreement between the parent sponsor and the influencer
- Hashtags like #Ad or #Sponsored must be used and right in the beginning, not at the end of the line of a very long list of hashtags
How to pick the correct Influencer Marketing Services
Picking an influencer is not just about the number of followers or whether their account is relevant for marketing your product. You have to not just decide on one but make a list of influencers whom you find suitable. Study the kind of influencer marketing services they provide over a couple of days and also keep a keen eye on the kind of response they are garnering from their audience base.
This is important because you need to understand the tone and feel of each influencer and method of dealing with sponsored content. You have to pick the person who sounds and feels closest to the look and feel of your product. Not just that, there are many successful accounts on Instagram for which the numbers of followers has been inflated using fake accounts and chatbots.
Keeping an eye on the response of the audience to a couple of sponsored posts will help you judge the authenticity of the account. Have someone with a much trained eye look into this if needed.
Research your Influencers
There is another angle by which you have to research your influencers. How often are they promoting sponsored products? How are the posts faring? If there is a macro influencer who fits your criteria and niche or nano influencer and both of them are getting the same response, then remember the nano influencer is the one to go for.
Contrary to what might seem logical, you also do not want someone who takes on a lot of sponsored content in one go. If three different products are being advertised over the span of 10 days say… By the time the promotion for your product comes around again, the audience will have forgotten all about it and the brand building process will begin from zero again. That is not desirable.
Look for someone who max takes on 2 products at a time and gives each enough time and importance so that the audience is going to remember that product that was mentioned. Trend has also shown that influencers who take on too many products at once and publish sponsored content very frequently, eventually end up having much less impact that the micro or nano influencer who took only 1 or 2 products and gave it all her time. The rate of conversion remains constantly higher for the second variety of influencers.
Approaching your preferred Influencer
Social media influencers are highly in demand these days, especially the good ones, one of whom might make your final cut as well. Keeping that in mind, just directly sending them a generic email is not the way to go. Follow them first, engage on their posts, and then after some time send them a personalized message in their inbox, in a friendly and warm tone.
Gradually building the conversation up, talk through all the technicalities, setting up a contract adhering by all the rules that we have discussed before and you are all set to go!