There is a phrase, “I do believe the modern sales leader has to be a marketer.” by an eminent business leader. Sales are the backbone of any business and marketing is the support system of sales.
The current age of social media has phased out the conventional marketing methods and induced a new process called influencer marketing. Influencer marketing services have taken a huge leap since their inception in 2006 and advanced many steps to reach their current position where it is now one of the most effective ways of marketing.
The conventional ways of celebrity endorsements have been overtaken by its sheer success among the masses and higher ROI.
Surveys indicate that every dollar spent on influencer marketing gets returned as ten out of a successful campaign. Like any other marketing campaign, influencer marketing has to be done properly to be effective.
Doing it is not particularly easy and needs both knowledge and expertise on the subject to be able to utilize the campaign to its full potential.
It is very successful for mega-brands, as well as small businesses, to gain a drive for the organization involved to push a product or service.
Small businesses are particularly inclined to use social media influencer marketing, as it is not very costly and effective at the same time. The use of social media platforms as marketing tools need a strategy.
Rather than haphazard posting, they need to be used intentionally for benefits out of every post and a measurable return on investments. This involves posting after planning the posts so that they feel natural and authentic.
Influencer Marketing Services
Businesses can conduct their own social media marketing campaign, involve an influencer to collaborate with, and also involve an influencer marketing agency for the project as the requirement may be. Small businesses might not find it very easy to conduct a campaign by themselves and involve an influencer or an agency to do it.
So, who is an influencer?
Influencers are popular users, who have many followers and have a high rate of engagement on their posts. In other words, a social media influencer is a social media user with an impact on an area of engrossment. Their authority and prowess within an interesting area get people to follow them. The followers view, like, comment, and share the posts, spreading the word around.
Anybody can be an influencer and need not be a major celebrity. Influencers can be individuals like,
Brand advocates
Entrepreneurs
Journalists
Industry experts
Bloggers
YouTubers
Podcast hosts
To explain how to make an influencer campaign successful for a small business, you will need to understand the process. Let us discuss the process to see how it can help a small business grow.
Setting up goals
The process of influencer marketing is not easy. The first step is the setting up of goals appropriate to the needs of your business. The goals need to be set as per the business requirements of the brand from the campaign. Once the goals are set you will need to clearly outline the targets and your expectations and proceed on. The campaign needs to be well planned to be effective.
Setting Up Goals
You will need to research the target audience demographics, their preferred social media presence, and their choice of media. This will let you plan your campaign in a manner that you will be able to reach the target audience with ease.
Their age group will explain their usage behavior and consumption habits. Their choice of social media platform will explain what application they prefer to spend their time on. The choice of media, dependent on the above factors, will let you know them better and allow you to plan the campaign based on one or multiple platforms.
The Density of Your Target Audience Compile a list of influencers
The next step is building a list of influencers that fall in the genre of your industry type. You will need to research through the multitude of influencers and find out their comfort zones. Every influencer has expertise in one field or another. They are industry experts in their own right.
The list of your influencers should consist of all types of influencers with a presence on your planned social media platform.
Compile a List of Influencers Select the influencer
Beyond the creation of a list, you must select the influencer you will be collaborating with. The choice of the influencer will need to be done on the basis of your planned campaign.
For a small business, you will be inclined to use influencers that will not be heavy on your finances. Micro or macro-influencers should fit your budget and you may be even planning to work with multiple influencers instead of one.
See their campaign history to understand how they work and if it fits with your brand value and business goals. The selection should be done in a way that the influencer aligns with your brand and work in parallels so that both of you cater to the same audience.
Connect with your influencer
This is a major step as you being a small business might find it difficult to get your message across. Influencers have offers from many brands and your presence and foothold might not have made you a known name. There are chances that your offer might not even be checked and responded to.
To break the ice, try sending a product or a service offering to woo the influencer and start by creating a genuinely positive impact. This approach works and who knows, this might be the first post of the influencer about your product or service without even asking for one.
Work on the content
With an influencer involved in your project, you might not need to create any content at all, however, keep the options open and create some if you feel the need for it. On the other hand, avoid exercising creative control on the influencer.
Track and measure
Once the campaign is underway, start tracking and measure the campaign to see the results, assess the success, and weigh it against the campaign goals. This will easily let you calculate the ROI and understand the success of your campaign.
Being a small business, always remember that the success of your campaign via influencer marketing services will rest vastly on the amount of research that you do. Planning and implementation is also another major contributor to its success. Lastly and most importantly, remember that the campaign is as good as the influencer itself. Select wisely and reap benefits.