Channels for Effective Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is all the rage these days, and rightly so. It does have a lot of benefits and can have a huge impact on your business. People trust word-of-mouth opinions more than advertisements, and influencer marketing can be paid or unpaid. So why not give it a shot? Here’s how you can get started, and which channels you should choose.
What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing is when a business targets an influencer – someone who has the reach and an audience, and who can sell your product or your brand well. It is essentially a form of third-party advertising.
Which influencers are right for you?
To answer this, you first have to know what you are looking for from the relationship. Are you looking for brand awareness, or do you want to sell more products? What is your budget? What platforms does your audience use? What platforms are your potential influencers on?
Then, you need to figure out whether you want to use micro-influencers who have a niche in your domain, or a macro influencer – a well-known celebrity or brand.
Once you have established a relationship with your influencers, there are many channels for marketing that you can go with.
Social Media Platforms
Instagram: Good for engagement and marketing, works for businesses like fashion, food, lifestyle, art and décor. However, you don’t get to see any analytics and can view only the public data – comments, likes, etc. This makes it hard to measure your Return on Investment (ROI). However, there are many third-party analytics tools that can do the job for you.
Snapchat: Again, good for brand awareness. If your target audience is below 20 years of age, this is the platform for you. Like Instagram, you can’t view any analytics and measure your ROI. But this is a good platform to increase your number of followers fast!
Facebook: Facebook is the biggest social media channel for influencer marketing that there is. Its audience spans all age groups and its analytics are brilliant. It’s a good choice for engagement and branding, as well as sales.
YouTube: YouTube is great for engagement as well as sales. Videos are an effective way of engagement and YouTube also allows you to view analytics. So you can see the demographics of your influencer’s audience such as location, age, gender and this can help you tap into the right market.
Email Lists and Blogs
Believe it or not, there are audiences out there apart from the ones on social media. And inboxes are a legitimate way of getting their attention. Influencer marketing via email lists can bring in new leads and more business.
When influencers blog about your product, you get a stamp of recognition instantly! If their blog redirects potential clients to your website or product it can increase your sales dramatically.
Giveaways
Influencers are always looking for ways to engage with their audience. Instead of offering a product to an influencer directly, you can tie up with your influencer to do a giveaway. The influencer holds a contest amongst their followers and your product is given away as the prize. This is a sure-shot way of brand awareness for you, and also brings your product into market visibility.
Finding the right channel for influencer marketing is not the end of the game. Remember to maintain a good relationship with your influencer, and engage actively with them and their audience. Like, comment and re-post (with permission) wherever you can. Be an approachable brand, and you will soon gain customers and authenticity.
