6 steps to planning an influencer marketing strategy

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It’s clear that influencer marketing will become an even more critical component of any digital marketing mix in the coming years, considering that 92% of consumers trust the opinions of digital influencers more than traditional advertising, according to the Nielsen Consumer Trust Index.


92% of consumers trust the opinions of digital influencers more than traditional advertising

Nearly half — 42% — of marketers said they are already employing a year-round strategy around influencers, and we predict that number will double in 2020.


If you haven’t mastered this topic yet or want to improve your digital influencer strategy to take it to the next level, this post presents 6 steps that will help you create strategies based on the needs and desired results for your brand, while maintaining your authenticity.


Since authenticity is what is connecting your brand malta whatsapp lead to consumers, it is important to ensure you choose and/or have the right set of influencers who will speak to your audience with authority.




STEP 1 - Identifying digital influencers

Today's influencers are people who have the ability to make a huge impact in their niche markets and sometimes even control the conversations of an entire

industry.


It is important to know the size scale of influencers, what it means,

and when to use each size or combination of sizes.


Influencer categories are often seen as unique, but they are not. To ensure that your work complements other marketing initiatives, it is best to focus on what we call the “Core 3” – Micro, Macro and Mega.


You also need to figure out what you expect from your influencers.

so you can properly measure success. You simply want to

increase website visits or increase brand awareness in a particular target market? Do you want to increase sales or generate leads? Based on

what you are trying to achieve, how an influencer complements

something you are already doing?



STEP 2 - Identifying trends and opportunities


To make the most of influencer marketing, you need to treat it like any other marketing strategy in your arsenal – which means you need to have a firm idea of ​​your goals and what you’re trying to achieve.


One of the most important parts of an influencer strategy is planning and timing. You need to decide when to activate your campaign and what’s trending at that moment. Are there trends we can capitalize on to gain traction?


Check your annual marketing calendar. These dates will already be widely publicized on social media, so it’s a great way to capitalize on a conversation that’s already happening.

happening. Based on your product, you can define which holidays or special days make the most sense and which of those days your ideal consumers will be most actively engaged on.


As a general rule, we’ve seen most brands planning and preparing for these opportunity campaigns somewhere around 3-6 months in advance.



STEP 3 - Constant Activation

Influencer strategy is most effective as an “always on” part of your marketing mix, you’ll need to integrate it into your thinking for your year-round strategy, not just for product launches and holidays.


It’s important to think about your year holistically. Don’t worry, there will still be specific launches and campaigns, but building an annual calendar of all the activities you want to activate influencers for will help you stay in the forefront of your audience’s minds 365 days a year.


In addition to having influencers post during your biggest campaigns, you can do smaller, coordinated actions over shorter periods of time and even sporadically throughout the year as well.



STEP 4 - Beyond organic channels

Some of the most common channels for engaging with the public are the brand's social media channels, website, and blogs - as well as some of our favorites:


Landing Pages: Update your landing pages by showing your product in use with real influencers. Many of these pages are just images that are of the product or maybe a very sterile image of the product with a random stock image.


Email Marketing: Email helps keep the conversation going between purchases, reinforcing brand loyalty and showing unique uses for your products. If you’re a food brand, you could showcase different influencers using the same product in different recipes—and even link to the influencer’s recipes. Or, if you’re a hair product brand, you could collect multiple images of different hairstyles and showcase them all in one email to help the customer find the exact product they need.


Display and Programmatic Ads: With such a high CTR, it is proven that influential content on programmatic channels can achieve strong results. Consumers are looking for more authentic content even when browsing the web. When they see an asset created by an influencer, they are more likely to engage with it and this allows your brand to appear more honest and authentic.


STEP 5 - Measuring Results

You probably know the benchmarks you want to evaluate, but you might not

learn how to track them specifically. Measuring success is the most important aspect!


What you can't measure isn't worth doing.

The first important metric of a digital influencer marketing strategy is the engagement rate. Engagement takes into account the actions taken, such as: comments, likes, clicks, shares and retweets.


After running thousands of campaigns, these are the average engagement rates

divided by influencer size and industry:


STEP 6 - Choose a partner

It’s dangerous to do it alone! That’s why you should hire a partner who knows the ins and outs of influencer marketing.


When writing your request for proposal (RFP), it is important to find a partner who

offers well-managed services and will take care of all the heavy lifting for you.


They should be concerned with matching their brand with the appropriate influencers to drive business results, not just delivering media metrics.


You should also be sure that the partner you choose will provide scalable quotes, proven experience, and utilize accurate and reliable measurement tools.