Influencer marketing is only as impactful as you make it. Without a creative idea and strategic framework in place it just doesn’t work, you might as well throw your money down the toilet.
Here are a few ways you could think differently about your influencer approach,
A Long-Term Instagram Stories Ambassador
Working with an influencer who will consistently drop in product swipe-up features when relevant to their content could both increase awareness and ROI for your business. However, choosing the right influencer will be extremely important for this approach because you need to make sure:
The influencer’s values are aligned with the brand values and the collaboration is truly authentic
There is a key point of contact either agency or brand side to approve content before the post goes live
They have over 10K followers as you’re not allowed to have the swipe-up feature unless you have over 10K
Most importantly, you have data insights about their audience and found they are the perfect match
This could be be highly cost effective and deliver long-term gains if you do it in the right way.
Frequency of Message, 2-3 per Influencer
It’s interesting because when we talk about paid Facebook or paid YouTube campaigns we always talk about frequency; the optimum frequency for a Facebook paid campaign is 1-2 per week in order for your customers to recall your product, for instance. However we don’t talk about this when it comes to influencer marketing, but I would argue it’s just as important.
We know burst campaigns are not effective, people don’t recall the product when you only message them once. We’ve seen a few brands allocate small test budgets towards influencer marketing, run one burst campaign which then, unsurprisingly, fails to deliver. If you want to make a real impact, you have to go all in.
A 360 Approach
In my experience I have seen most influencer campaigns planned separately from other marketing activity - this is a big mistake. Influencer marketing can make a huge impact when planned in combination with other activity such as outdoor, paid Facebook/YouTube campaigns, and more importantly, in combination with owned social channels. This is why influencer marketing should be planned early.
For instance, if you’re running an influencer campaign with the majority of paid collaborations on Instagram, then you should definitely make sure your optimising content on your owned Instagram channel and website. Even if there you’re running a brand campaign where the objective is reach and there is only a small percentage of people landing on your owned channels, you still want to make a good impression. Every person that lands on your page is important because they could one day turn into a loyal customer!
Private groups i.e. Facebook communities, Slack, LinkedIn Groups
The way you execute this strategy is crucial. You'd only want to execute this approach if you have worked with an influencer on a long-term basis who genuinely supports the brand and your goals. For example, the influencer could share a long-form piece of branded content that they may want to share with the group anyway. Influencers will not want to include #AD and a caption in this environment, so it needs to feel authentic or else it will bomb.
This is an untapped market right now because of the intricacies involved with the messaging and difficulty of reporting. However, there are ways around this, a simple solution would be to ask influencers to screen grab the posts after people have liked and commented. Another solution is to work with influencers on a long-term basis through an ambassador programme so the sharing feels authentic.
The benefit of a private community is trust, they are in that group because the community trusts they will provide valuable information and participate in a respectable way.
There are so many different ways you can be more strategic and creative with your influencer marketing approach. However the key is to take the time to do your research, truly understand your audience’s needs and the influencer's audience, and finally co-create a unique message that deeply resonates.
For more information on influencer marketing, get in touch hello@inkwave.co.uk
Comments