As early as January of this year, it was predicted that brands would spend as much as $15 billion on influencer marketing. That gives you an idea of how big this part of social media marketing is becoming.
If you’re thinking of dabbling in some influencer marketing of your own, we’ll go over what you need to know about it today.
What is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is a type of marketing that relies on product placements and endorsements from influencers. Influencers are people who have a strong following online, especially on social media.
One might ask what an influencer does. While different influencers obviously do different things, you might say that they all create content.
This content is what makes them influential, as it draws attention and allows them to reach others (usually their fans or followers).
Sometimes, the content is in the form of a video about a specific topic. At other times, it’s an off-the-cuff post or tweet stating an opinion about something that they heard about.
What matters is that this content is of interest to their followers and resonates with said followers. That’s what makes influencers valuable marketing partners – they’ve proven they can reach people.
How to Create an Influencer Marketing Strategy
You’ve probably already guessed that there are many potential benefits to this type of marketing.
You can build credibility and trust, improve brand awareness and reach, provide value to your audience, and build long-term partnerships.
But mind that in order to see those benefits, you need a viable influencer marketing strategy. Here, we’ll break down the process of developing one.
1. Determine your goals, budget, and audience
First things first! You have to set limits and a direction for your activities.
To do that, get a pen and piece of paper (or a device with a word processor) and answer these questions:
What’s your marketing budget? What can you afford to spend on this? What assets can you dedicate to it?
Who’s your target audience? How can you find members of it? What defines the demographic?
What do you want to achieve? How can you measure that using KPIs or key performance indicators?
The answers will inform what type of campaign you create. They’ll also help you narrow down your list of potential partner influencers to the right ones.
2. Choose the right social media channels
The right social media channels for an influencer marketing strategy are the ones your target audience frequents.
Here in Singapore, probably the most common platforms for influencers are Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Remember that each of these tends to have a slightly different distribution in its audience demographics.
The largest age group on Instagram is composed of people aged 25-34 years, for example. On TikTok, however, it’s users aged 10-19 who dominate.
And YouTube seems to straddle both with most of its users being 10-35.
To understand which type to use for achieving your goals, do an assessment of each channel and potential influencer partners on it. Check out our article too on the most effective types of social media platforms in Singapore for more ideas.
3. Find the right influencer
An effective influencer marketing strategy requires you to speak to the right people (audiences) using the right tools – and of course, the right influencers.
Before reaching out to influencers or building a list of potential partners, there are several things to note.
First, you should be ready to invest time in observing your options. Check out the 3Rs: Relevance, Reach, and Resonance.
Relevance asks if their niches and audiences overlap with yours (they should).
Reach checks how many people follow them (numbers depend on your goals).
Finally, Resonance checks how much engagement they get (more is better).
Second, you need to know that there are different types of influencers. Let’s break them down based on their follower sizes here, as it’s a major factor in your budget and selection:
4. Prepare a clear campaign brief
Once your influencer (or influencers) for your campaign has been chosen, you now need to clarify what you expect from the campaign.
Here are some things to lay out in the brief:
Brand information
A campaign overview with objectives
Copy points and creative guidance on deliverables (include content do’s and don’ts if necessary, but don’t be so prescriptive that you stifle your influencer’s voice)
5. Negotiate rates and draft a contract
Now you have to settle on the matter of compensation. What form it takes depends on what your brand is offering or your budget.
For a paid posting, most influencers have a rate card with predetermined compensation figures depending on deliverables. Photos, videos, Instagram Stories, Reels – all of these have different rates.
In any case, once an agreement has been reached, all parties should sign a legal contract outlining all of the agreements. It should cover payment, deliverables, publishing schedules and licensing rights, terms and conditions, etc.
6. Check and review the campaign content
Before launching the campaign, you should always review and approve the content proposed by your chosen influencer before publishing. Here are some things to consider
Make sure it includes the necessary copy points.
Make sure it aligns with your messaging.
Make sure it meets your stated standards for deliverables.
Make sure it adheres to the community guidelines for the chosen platform and the guidelines for the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS).
Checking all of these things can be time-consuming. That’s why it’s wise to set a reasonable schedule for delivery of the content, as well as for tweaking it if needed.
7. Launch the influencer marketing campaign
After all content has been vetted and approved, go ahead and launch.
Bear in mind that sponsored content is likely to garner the greatest social attention right after publishing. Constantly monitor, optimize, and record the campaign and any notable engagement both right after launch and later on.
It’s wise to gather all campaign report metrics, such as reach, views, impressions, and engagement. All of that data can help you assess campaign performance.
You can even compare pre-campaign KPIs and compare social engagement data to determine how branded content stacks up against organic content.
This helps you make an informed budget, allocation, and influencer choice for future marketing initiatives.
Get started on influencer marketing now
From this you can see that influencer marketing is a viable social media marketing strategy for a lot of brands. It takes some organisation and wisdom in influencer selection, but it can be a rewarding venture.
If you want to understand more about social media marketing, you can refer to our article on optimising social media strategy.
Or, if you want more personalised help with any part of your social media marketing, influencer-based or not, contact us for a chat for your digital marketing needs.