3 benefits of influencer marketing [tips that will grow your brand's presence]

Influencer marketing is one of the best ways to get your brand in front of your target audience so you can increase your total revenue. Brands around the world are utilizing influencer marketing to access new customers and strengthen their online presence. In this blog post, we’ll cover what influencer marketing is and how you can benefit from this proven marketing strategy.

What is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing is the use of individuals who have significant followings on social media to promote a brand. Influencers tend to have a specific following that trusts them for recommendations and insights. There are influencers for just about every industry you can think of from fitness to food.

Today’s brands partner with influencers to provide social proof that they can be trusted by their ideal audience. With influencer marketing, brands can speed up their sales cycles. The typical amount of time to takes to earn trust for a brand is reduced since consumers are more likely to listen to the insights of an influencer they’ve been following for some time.

3 real benefits of influencer marketing

There are quite a few impactful benefits of influencer marketing that keep many brands motivated to use this strategy. From greater brand exposure to more revenue opportunities, influencer marketing will continue to be effective for a long time. Let’s dive into these benefits of influencer marketing:

1. Access to new customers: Customer acquisition costs can be extremely high especially in industries that are selling services and products that can be expensive. Influencers can help you get in front customers who wouldn’t have heard of you otherwise. You’ll be able to multiply your overall brand presence without having to rely on just your own marketing channels.

2. Greater credibility: Influencers tend to be more relatable to the every day consumer than celebrities are. 92% of consumers trust an influencer more than a celebrity endorsement or a regular advertisement. Social media users feel more connected to influencers since they are able to follow them and their activities on a daily basis. There’s a greater sense of transparency and trust in influencer marketing that doesn’t happen with traditional advertisements.

3. More revenue opportunities: According to one source, 89% of brands who use influencer marketing say influencer marketing has an ROI that’s better or comparable to other channels. Influencers can be used to announce new deals and discounts. Influencers can also be reliable source of revenue through affiliate programs.

If you’ve read this far into this blog post on influencer marketing, you’re interested in improving your overall marketing strategy. It’s time to add influencer marketing to your marketing strategy if you haven’t already done so. After all, you’re missing out on better performing content that’ll drive more engagement for your brand. You’re also less likely to keep up or even outperform your competitors without influencer marketing.

Need help with influencer marketing for your brand?

You don’t have to feel like you’re alone in your efforts to improve your influencer marketing strategy! We’ve got your back and can help you move in a sustainable direction that helps you achieve your goals. We’ll help you formulate the right plan for your brand that’ll cover everything thing from identifying the right influencers to setting up strong partnerships.

Fill out the form below and we’ll get back to you quickly to help you get the results you deserve!

5 ways to improve your influencer marketing strategy

Influencer marketing is a proven way to increase your sales through strategic partnerships. With the right influencer marketing strategy in place, you can consistently strengthen your brand presence. You’ll be able to reach new customers and grow in ways you didn’t know were possible. Many brands are making as much as $5.78 ROI for every $1 spent on influencer marketing. It’s a productive marketing strategy that can be what your business needs to scale.

Before we go over influencer marketing best practices, let’s cover what influencer marketing is for those unfamiliar with the strategy.

What is influencer marketing?

If you don’t know what influencer marketing is, that’s ok. We’ve got you covered.

Influencer marketing is the use of individuals with social followings who can post content that will directly affect consumer behaviors. Brands will team up with these influencers to promote their products and services in order to increase revenue. As long as both the influencer and the brand have the same target audience, they’ll be more likely to get the results they want.

Step up your influencer marketing strategy with these tips

Now that you have a better idea of what influencer marketing is, let’s dive into some best practices. Keep in mind that these tips will help you improve your current strategy. Part of moving your brand in the right direction is the willingness to improve and test out new ideas.

1. Establish your brand and stick to it: If you haven’t created a clear and distinct style guide, now is the time to do so. You can’t expect the influencers you work with to have any idea of how your brand works if you haven’t figured out your branding. Having a clear branding guide makes it easy to collaborate with creators who can produce content you can repost.

2. Don’t just focus on large followings: Just because an influencer has 100k followers doesn’t mean the influencer is a great fit for your brand. Pay attention to engagement rates. Scroll through the comments they receive to see who is commenting. You don’t want to work with someone who pays for bots to like and comment on their posts. Sometimes a micro-influencer with 3k-5k followers may be the best for your brand.

3. Clarify deadlines and expectations: One of the ways to prevent frustrating collaborations is to discuss the details and stick to your agreements. Set clear deadlines and review the expectations with the influencers you’re working. Get everything in writing and follow up with the influencers as it gets closer to the deadlines of when you’re expecting posts to go live etc.

4. Invest in your best influencers: Do you have influencers who are generating better results for your business than others? Find ways to incentivize them. It’s in your best interest to keep them on your team. There are a few different ways you can invest in your relationship with them like giving them a percentage of sales they generate and giving them access to special events/products/services.

5. Play the long game: The results you’re wanting won’t happen in an instant. Everything from finding influencers to planning campaigns takes time. Be patient as you work through your influencer marketing strategy and establish new partnerships. Playing the long game requires the right mindset but it’s worth the hard work.

The 5 tips above are all doable and will help you get the results you need to grow your business. Put influencer marketing to work for you and use these tips to increase brand awareness and sales. It’s up to you to reap the rewards that come from this marketing strategy.

What are the next steps in improving your influencer marketing strategy?

The right influencers for you have spent time building their own brand and working on only endorsing brands their audience relates to. With that in mind, do your research before pitching. You’ll want to be prepared as you reach to them to develop new partnerships. Have your details worked out and ready then get to work!

Got questions about influencer marketing and how you can use it for your business? Let us know by filling out the form below!

4 things you need to know about influencer marketing that not every influencer will tell you

A proven way to strengthen your online presence and overall revenue is to put influencer marketing to work for you. Collaborations with influencers on social media can be a great way to get your brand in front of people who begin to trust your brand because of the endorsement of someone they trust.

What is influencer marketing?

As more and more individual social media users gain the trust and interest of followers, they become influencers. These influencers have communities who care about their thoughts on various topics, products, and services. Some of the top influencers in the world tend to focus on niche interests such as fashion, food, and fitness. Social media users tend to trust the input and opinions of influencers they follow. This makes influencer endorsements of a product or service very effective in increase sales and brand awareness.

Here are some quick stats from Influencer Marketing Hub you might find insightful:

• Businesses are making $5.78 ROI for every $1 spent on influencer marketing making it a reliable way to increase revenue

• 90% of survey participants believe influencer marketing is effective

• Nearly 70% of brands use Instagram for influencer marketing

When executed properly, influencer marketing can provide a wealth of positive results for businesses. Influencer marketing requires work and time to get going but it can be employed to help any brand.

What you need to know about influencer marketing

1. It takes time to arrange deals/partnerships/collaborations: Depending on the rate of communication between you and an influencer, it can take 2 weeks or more to set up a collaboration. You have to negotiate terms, conditions, and even expectations for each party involved. Discuss what exactly what your goals and ask the influencer for his/her goals if you do go through with a deal. If product needs to be shipped, plan to have enough time for shipping and delivery. There’s no need to feel rushed if you plan ahead and give yourself time.

2. You need to invest time each week to develop an influencer marketing program: As stated in the previous point above, everything takes time. We recommend blocking off time each week to work on your influencer marketing program. This includes everything from building out lists of potential influencers you want to work with to email outreach. At the bare minimum, set aside an hour each week to take care of these tasks. The key is to be consistent so you can build and maintain and regular pipeline of influencers who can help you grow your business.

3. Posts featuring your product/service can be deleted: One thing that may catch you off guard is an influencer deleting the post about your brand after a period of time. Past posts can be deleted sometimes as soon as 24 hours after posting. If you’re wanting your posts to stay up, ask the influencers you’re working with what they plan to do with the posts featuring your brand. Always clarify expectations before solidifying a deal.

4. Not every influencer requires monetary compensation to work with them: Some influencers will post about your product or service in exchange for a chance to use your product or service for free. Not every influencer wants or needs payment for you to work with them. There are factors that play into this such as the value of what you have to offer and the influencer’s follower count as well as follower engagement. For example, an influencer with 5k followers and 3% engagement could be happy with you comping a $75 dinner experience. However, the same dinner experience valued at $75 may require additional payment to be appealing to an influencer who has 20k followers and 6% engagement.

Hopefully the insights shared above help you be more prepared as you move forward with your influencer marketing campaign! As you work with influencers, you’ll start to get a better understanding of how connect and make partnerships happen. Be patient with yourself and be willing to evolve and improve as you bring collaborations to life. Over time, you’ll grow your brand presence and increase your sales!

Got questions about influencer marketing for your business? Let us know by completing the form below!