Influencer marketing is a full-fledged and independent promotional tool. It used to be used mainly in selected segments: beauty bloggers promoted cosmetics, food bloggers promoted restaurants, and so on. Today, marketers have already realized that influencer marketing is applicable to almost any niche — you just need to find the right approach to opinion leaders and build a long-term strategy for working with them.
Who can be considered as an “Influencer”? In fact, it could be anyone: a popular actress or performer, a cybersports player, a tech market commentator, an artist, or a mom who blogs about the family, etc. The main thing is that these people have a large and loyal enough audience — you can figure that out by the number of subscribers and views under each video or post, the number of likes and comments.
How to Find Social Influencers
To work with this segment, it is important to choose the right opinion leader. There are several important issues to consider:
The brand should correspond not only to the topic but also be close to the blogger himself. That’s great if he or she has actually purchased the product and is genuinely happy with its use.
Long-term interaction with the advertiser is preferable. It is important for a professional Influencer to have a strategy to work with, so that the result looks effortless, which coincides with the goals of the company.
The issue of working with this category is discretion. Influencers are unlikely to promote your product according to a script because they have their own style of presenting the information. The advertiser also benefits from the fact that the content does not look ordered. Freedom of action according to an agreed plan is the best way to collaborate.
Opinion leaders often choose with whom to work. If their preferences coincide, they get high-quality content and productive cooperation. Do not collaborate with creators who advertise anything, according to TYB, the credibility of their recommendations is very low.
Finding influencers is a task that requires understanding exactly who is needed, what field they work in, and how to make the interaction beneficial for all parties. To do this, check the engagement of the audience.
- Stock exchanges (e.g. Buzzsumo)
- Creator ecosystems (AIR Media-Tech) that develop Influencers and collaborate with brands or Influencer marketing agencies
- BrandConnect от YouTube
- By yourself. You can reach out to influencers directly through managers, Influencer agencies, and exchanges.
What indicators you should pay attention to after the advertising campaign
According to Later 79% of companies measure the effectiveness of their campaigns based solely on the reach and engagement of a video, post, or story from a blogger. This influencer marketing campaign is good, but it is not always the best — a lot depends on the product and the format of the advertising campaign. For example, when promoting a product of the FMCG segment, such as juices that are sold in every supermarket, you can focus on increasing recognition and loyalty to the product through coverage and attention from the audience. But if you are advertising a more narrow brand, for example, a new collection of a fashionable, but not widely available, clothing brand — then it would be more appropriate to designate the results in leads or actions on the site.
Here is a shortlist of important metrics that are important to evaluate after the campaign:
Engagement rate — likes, comments, shares, and so on.
Brand sentiment — a measure of brand awareness.
Traffic on the site — how many people visited the site and how much time they spent there.
Ways of rewarding Influencers
Commercial Collaboration
Commercial collaboration in Instagram involves payment solely in money. The cost of Influencers varies depending on the statistics of their account and the type of cooperation.
All details are discussed in advance, after which the brand transfers payment, and the blogger fulfills the established obligations to him. Single grain provided the common formula of estimating a reward: $100 x 10,000 followers + extras = total rate
Barter
Barter is a cherished desire of all advertisers because it is usually 2-3 times more profitable than the cash payment to the opinion leader. As payment, you can offer the Influencer goods or services of your brand.
As a rule, bloggers with a small audience of subscribers willingly agree to cooperate on barter. Bloggers with a million subscribers prefer mostly commercial cooperation. But everything is individual and depends on the specifics of the blogger’s brand and beliefs. Sometimes you can cooperate with the top Influencer by barter, and sometimes the owner of a blog with a few thousand subscribers may refuse. Mostly it depends on the goods of your brand.
