Influencer marketing is a great tool to reach new audiences and promote products. Social influencers make your job easy in increasing brand awareness. They endorse products authentically and get their followers to buy your products.

But not all brands profit from their influencer marketing campaigns. Lack of strategies and the incorrect selection of influencers are reasons why businesses never get their campaigns right.

So, how can brands create influencer marketing strategies that will get them a good ROI? A good strategy has to start from the campaign ideation stage and end after the result analysis. If you successfully set your strategy, you get incredible results in influencer marketing that boosts online conversions.

Let us see the step-by-step process to create an influencer marketing strategy.    

Set yourself goals

Though the main goal remains the same (to increase sales and market share), brands need to give themselves and their influencers actionable and implementable goals. For example, if a startup denim brand has hired an influencer for brand awareness, an actionable goal could be getting a set number of visitors to their e-commerce website. The brand might need more than one influencer to achieve this if it wants to scale up quickly.

Know your target audience

If brands want to target the right people, brands will need the right influencer and the right platform to get to them. For this, brand marketers should make buyer personas that show who will buy the product and who they are likely to follow. Based on this, you then know how to connect with influencers that fit the bill.

Keep yourself updated on the current rules 

You need to know the local rules and regulations before you plan and implement your influencer marketing campaign. Many governments have specific rules and regulations to be followed by both brands and influencers for a level-playing field. For example, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK has put up rules to ensure there are no chances of ‘hidden advertising’ on any social media platform that could give a brand an unfair advantage in the market.     

The 3 R’s of influence

Relevance

Your influencer should post content relevant to your niche and industry. This ensures you target the right audience. For example, if you are selling camping equipment, the most relevant influencer could be adventure travelers.

Reach

This refers to the number of people you could potentially get to with the help of an influencer. Before zeroing on an influencer, you should ensure he has a following that aligns with the audience you aim to target.

Resonance

This is the potential engagement an influencer has with his audience. You will need to check the influencer’s previous posts to see how well his engagement resonates with his followers.

Choose the right influencers

This is easier said than done. There are hundreds if not thousands of people who claim to be influencers online. Choosing one that fits your brand’s identity is like finding a needle in a haystack. That’s why most marketers prefer choosing influencers through influencer marketing platform. These marketplaces regularly vet each influencer they onboard so that you can choose one that matches your profile. Some will even guide you for the entire influencer marketing campaign. 

Finalize terms

Once you have zeroed down on your influencer, you will need to draft a contract that protects both your interests. It should contain the scope of work, define the roles of each party, remuneration to be given, and so on. 

Keep a tab on the content that goes out

Once you have signed on the dotted line, let your influencer decide how to promote your products. This creative freedom is crucial for the success of the campaign. However, do vet each piece that goes out. You should know how your influencer is marketing your product. 

Measure results

The best part of an influencer marketing campaign is how you can track each sale and measure your ROI. With the help of social media website insights, you can know the sponsored post’s reach, engagement, and conversions. You can also track the traffic to your website through a link in the sponsored post. Many brands even make their influencers affiliate marketers by giving them special discount codes, promo codes, or commissions for each sale.

Wrap Up

Influencer marketing done right gives you enhanced online conversions. It is the world of social media! Now is the time to leverage its benefits with influencer marketing.  

Follow the above strategies from start to finish and tell us how good the results are!