Fitness brands have a huge market, but conventional advertising will only be able to provide a limited reach and not a huge number of conversions as skeptical customers of today don’t fall easily for celebrity endorsements and televised ads as the masses did a couple of decades ago. Experts in fitness and Yoga have their own physical-transformation stories which are much more genuine, authentic and relatable than paid endorsements where celebrities claim to have benefitted from the said products or services.
An influencer marketing agency is a firm that specializes in executing and assisting fitness businesses in influencer marketing campaigns. They have the right connections, resources and are aware of the processes to make a fitness influencer marketing campaign successful.
A consumer survey revealed the following stats about fitness influencers.
Influencers are more trusted than brands
More than 60% of people believed influencer's reviews about brands, products, or services than the businesses themselves and their advertising.
Relatability beats popularity
Relatability is a factor that is 2 times more important than popularity and is a quality that attracts people to influencers.
Influencers earn trust and generate sales through genuine advocacy
More than 55% of consumers said they had bought a new product out of an influencer’s positive recommendation. Also, about 40% of consumers said they trusted a brand because of an influencer and about 33% talked about the brand because an influencer did so.
These are just some of the reasons why an influencer marketing campaign is one of the best ways to grow your brand.
The sports and fitness industry is nearly saturated with numerous products. This is why the expertise, goodwill, and charisma of an influencer are needed for success, and an expert influencer marketing agency is required to help you strategize. Without an apt strategy, even the best influencer will not be able to benefit your business.
Here are some more steps to guide you in the right direction on fitness influencer marketing.
Selecting the right fitness influencer
Every social media platform has thousands of influencers however only some will be the best fit for your fitness brand. As a brand promoting health and fitness you must be extra careful while choosing the fitness influencers for your fitness business. Your fitness influencers will create the perception of your brand in the eyes of the public.
Fitness influencers come in many variants.
Coaches or sportspersons
Fitness models
Personal trainers, nutritionists, and doctors
Fitness photographers
Local celebrities or actors
People with strong voices, deep reach, and engagement
Your choice of a fitness influencer will have certain desirable qualities like reach, engagement, content, and audience demographics. Focus on the below as you choose your influencer.
1. Your campaign’s purpose
Clarity about the campaign’s goals will let you select the right kind of fitness influencer. Whether you are planning to start a fitness and health stream or a new influencer program you need to have full clarity about it.
2. Influencer type
Also, you need to determine whether you are looking to use celebrity influencers or regular people to promote your business? What engagement rates and follower counts you are looking for? What is your preferred payment mode, budget, and campaign KPI’s? Answers to all these questions will help you make better choices.
3. Influencer’s content
Research well to grasp your shortlisted influencer’s values and voice. If they match your brand then the collaboration will be authentic and natural.
4. Social media platform
What platforms are you looking at to run the campaign? This also depends somewhat on the preferred media type. Just like Instagram is for pictures and short videos, YouTube is for long videos and reviews. Once you figure out the preferred platform of your target audience the choice and content strategy becomes easy to develop.
Plan the campaign
Planning the campaign effectively is also an important step. The campaign's strategies, timelines, and goals must be appropriately planned.
So, broadly,
Identify your campaign KPI’s, metrics, and goals.
Decide on the campaign platform and target audience.
Know your competitions activations.
Create a campaign brief for your influencers.
Setup a content strategy. Mix it up using,
Tips on fitness
Training videos
Challenges
Expert hosted live sessions
Carousel posts
Giveaways and contests
Nutritional recipes
Measure and assess the campaign
Tracking and measuring the campaign is of high priority for brands that wish to use influencer marketing as an effective means. Measuring data lets you understand the success of your strategy and individual influencers. This drives a culture of accountability in your relationships.
It also creates a direction for your future efforts and identifies areas of strength (AOS) and areas of deficiency (AOD). Many entrepreneurs and marketers still believe influencer marketing can be an additional marketing mechanism but not the mainstay.
However, performance evaluation is a must and there can be many indicators. Some of the main ones are engagement, clicks, impressions, conversions, reach, sales, audience alignment, etc. The top three metrics are,
1. Engagement
Counting the number of comments, shares, likes, mentions on your post or using social media management tools to keep track. Dividing the total number of engagements by total views can give an exact engagement rate measure.
2. Impressions and clicks
You can use social media management tools to track the impressions and clicks garnered by the influencer’s content.
3. Conversions
Tracking codes, promotion links, and conversion pixels can keep track of referral traffic.
Influencer marketing is very effective when done correctly especially for sports and fitness brands. With the pandemic forcing people to remain indoors people are concerned with their health and fitness. With appropriate support from an influencer marketing agency, a business can benefit by properly strategizing, planning, and executing a well-aimed marketing campaign.
Selecting the correct fitness influencer, having a well-drafted plan and correct measurement and assessment can make the campaign an astounding success for your health and fitness brand. In this industry, you are not just selling a fitness routine or a yoga regimen. You are selling a fit body and a healthy mind.