- Word-of-mouth marketing, such as these campaigns, has a 37 percent higher customer retention rate than traditional advertising.
- An important thing to remember is that influencer marketing campaigns do not always translate to immediate sales. The main goal of this tactic is to gain exposure and get new customers.
- To truly understand the impact of your campaign, you should focus less on the likes and comments and more on your return on investment (ROI). One way to track your ROI is through UTM parameters, which are pieces of code that you can add to a link your influencer uses to advertise your content.
by Devin Partida
An increasing number of brands are seeing the advantages of influencer marketing. Customers want to purchase products that are used by people they trust, and that includes the influencers they follow on social media.
Influencer marketing is not just a way for retailers to attract new customers, but it is also a great way to retain customers through repeated campaigns. If the influencer trusts you, they are likely to continue to want to work with you and promote your products. Word-of-mouth marketing, such as these campaigns, has a 37 percent higher customer retention rate than traditional advertising.
Here are some simple steps for setting up a successful influencer marketing campaign to get and keep consumers:
- Know Your Influencers
- What Is Their Following?
- The Three R’s of Influencer Marketing
- Know the Goal
- Know the Rules
- Reach Out Privately
- Collaborate on Content
- Get Your Results
- Using Influencer Marketing for Your Business
Know Your Influencers
There are several types of influencers online, and there are likely to be more than one who could reasonably advertise your product or service. If you cater to a specific area, you may want to reach out to local influencers or contact influencers in areas you sell to, but are getting fewer customers from.
However, there are a few things you are going to want to look into before you start contacting these specialists:
What Is Their Following?
There is a series of follower milestones that influencers try to reach:
- Nano-influencers: Fewer than 10,000 followers
- Micro-influencers: 10,000-100,000 followers
- Macro-influencers: 100,000-1,000,000 followers
- Mega-influencers: More than 1 million followers
The larger the following, the bigger the impact your campaign will have — but be careful, because this also means the more you will be expected to compensate the influencer.
The Three R’s of Influencer Marketing
There are three well-accepted aspects of influencer marketing that retailers should consider in order to ensure a successful campaign:
- Relevance:
What type of content does the influencer put out? Does it make sense that this influencer would use your product or service, or will it seem out of place to their followers? - Reach:
What is their follower count? The higher up the chain they are, the more customers you are likely to get from the campaign. - Resonance:
The overall engagement potential from the influencer’s content, follower count, and typical engagement with likes and comments.
Know the Goal
An important thing to remember is that influencer marketing campaigns do not always translate to immediate sales. The main goal of this tactic is to gain exposure and get new customers. Influencer marketing should be part of a larger online marketing plan, rather than the sole way you build your online presence.
Know the Rules
As influencer marketing has grown over the years, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has issued rules regarding the disclosure of marketing campaigns. Influencers must clearly identify when they are sponsored to promote a product or service in a post. If the post is a video, they must have it written as well as verbally say it is a sponsorship in the video itself.
For images or written posts, the influencer must clearly state that a company has paid for a promoted item in a sponsorship. Using #sponsored or #ad can be a great way to disclose this as long as the hashtag is highly visible on the post.
Reach Out Privately
You do not want to bombard an influencer you are hoping to work with or try to pressure them by publicly asking to work with them. A relationship with these specialists should start slowly and respectfully. You might show your interest in their content by liking or commenting on some of their posts, without mentioning your desire to market with them. When you do finally reach out about a campaign, you will want to do it through a private message or email and not through a post comment or public forum.
Collaborate on Content
In order to have a positive relationship with the influencer you want to work with, you need to be willing to hear their ideas and collaborate on content ideas. Influencers know their audience best, so if they have an idea to reach them, it is important that you listen. While it is good to provide guidelines so that they are able to represent your brand accurately, it is also important for them to be consistent with their brand.
Get Your Results
To truly understand the impact of your campaign, you should focus less on the likes and comments and more on your return on investment (ROI). One way to track your ROI is through UTM parameters, which are pieces of code that you can add to a link your influencer uses to advertise your content. Retailers can then track how much traffic goes to that link.
Another way to track your ROI is by giving a discount or coupon code. If a customer uses that specific code when they make a purchase, then you will know the customer came from that campaign.
Using Influencer Marketing for Your Business
Influencer marketing is a great way to reach potential customers that may be harder to reach otherwise. It can also help you come across as trustworthy and make you memorable to consumers. By properly reaching out to and communicating with influencers, you can build lasting relationships that deliver results.
Devin Partida is a retail technology writer and Editor-in-Chief of ReHack.com. Her work has been featured on Retail IT Insights, Modern Retail and Worth. You can find more from Devin on LinkedIn and on her portfolio.