Influencer marketing
In today’s world, influencer marketing is a form of social media marketing, with Instagram ranked as the number one platform for engagement, although YouTube and Snapchat have their own defined place. Influencer marketing essentially comes down to finding the right person who can help your brand build a connection to your target audience. Influencers tend to be highly specialized in particular niche markets, sectors or passion projects.
It’s tempting to define influencer marketing as a relatively new form of marketing, but it’s been around of years, think brand endorsement by celebrity. In the 1950’s, big names such as John Wayne, Alfred Hitchcock and Doris Day all got involved in lucrative celebrity endorsements and associations with products. Going back to the mid 1700’s, Josiah Wedgwood and sons were the ultimate early-adopters – using royal endorsements to boost sales of their pottery.
Micro, mid or macro?
Many companies are moving away from the celebrities and mega influencers because the return on investment isn’t there and are finding a sweet spot with smaller influencers, who have a committed active group of followers. Starting from ‘micro’ influencers with between 2000 and 50,000 followers through to power mid-influencers who might have up to 200,000 followers – you can potentially get a better return for your spend. As a benchmark, work on an average of $1k per 100,000 followers per post plus any expenses. So, if you want to work with someone with 10,000 followers, you could be looking at only $100 per post.
Size isn't everything...
Using micro-influencers offers a great way to spread content to a niche target market and offers completely different opportunities for an ongoing relationship that partnering with a mega-star just can’t reach.
Bear in mind, that around that around 40% of North American consumers are now using adblockers on their computers while online, according to the Digital snapshot survey conducted by GlobalWebIndex. And while the number doing so on their mobile devices is a lot lower, more and more consumers are taking control of what ad’s are served to them online.
Sizzle, don't fizzle
Partnerships in marketing are just like those in other areas of our lives. They work best when there is an ongoing affection that builds overtime as you get to know and understand and appreciate each other. Working with a smaller but active influencer provides the best opportunity for lasting collaboration and authentic communication with committed followers.
A high-profile influencer or celebrity endorsement may sizzle for a few, sweet days but can fizzle out just as fast if no attention is paid to the build and post-campaign strategy, then the partnership may come across as purely transactional rather than authentic.
7 keys to successful Influencer marketing:
If you’re looking at how to collaborate successfully, then it pays to look in detail at how this partnership should start, develop and expand to create long-term value and a positive halo for both parties. Here are seven key areas worth considering to ensure that an influencer campaign works for you.
- Believable and genuine brand and value alignment
- Genuine real content
- Clearly defined goals and expectations
- Engagement metrics
- Consistent messaging across multi-channels
- Post campaign strategy
- Think long-term