The world is now way past settling for only traditional means of marketing. If you want to get along today, you need to take part in one or all of affiliate marketing, digital marketing and social media marketing, to mention a few.
Whichever one you go for though, you will need to stay on top of your influencer marketing game too.
Uh-oh! New word right there, yes?
That’s why I am here today with a fresh piece on how you can take advantage of this hot niche to push your business to even more customers and make better conversions. If you are that kind of entrepreneur, here is that ultimate guide to influencer marketing that you have been looking for.
What is Influencer Marketing?
This is a reasonable place to start, wouldn’t you agree? Now, let’s look at this little scenario.
You were just surfing the social web like always and that image of a nice shoe comes right at you. You know the handle/ account that posted it too. Afterall, you followed them of your own accord.
You go into the tweet/ post and check out more details about the hose. Then, if you like what you see, contact the seller and in a few minutes, your order is on the way to your home. You must be grateful for being social media friends with that person who posted the image that caught your attention right now, aren’t you? Chances are, they are an influencer.
In simple terms, influencer marketing involves leveraging of a highly-engaged community of followers that an individual (also referred to herein as the influencer) has to promote your products. It is like the affiliate marketing of social media in some ways, and it is a great fit for your business growth strategy.
Who Uses Influencers?
Everyone and anyone that wants to grow their business makes use of influencers. Even top brands still make use of influencers to get their products out there. Don’t believe me? Let me give you some instances I know you are very familiar with.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are the two most popular names in the footballing industry. It is no coincidence that the both of them are signed to the world’s two biggest sports outfits – Nike and Adidas. Combined, Ronaldo and Messi boast a followership running into hundreds of millions across their social media accounts.
With such an engagement level, don’t you see how easy it is for both brands to launch a product and create awareness for it ASAP, just by asking their star men to post something about it online?
That’s how influencer marketing works, and again, the big brands are in on it too.
Choosing the Right Influencers
Now that you know what influencer marketing is and how it applies to your business growth, it is sure that you may want some influencers to work for you too.
While you won’t be getting Beyoncé to give you a shout-out anytime soon (unless you’re that tight, in which case we, at NTG, will also like to be your friend), you can get equally solid contacts in your niche to help you get your business to the next height.
Speaking of niches, we have the first point.
1. Niche
Picking an influencer is as important as picking a niche in which they will make the most impact. Ronaldo and Messi are sports icons so it is understandable why they would be signed to sports outfits.
You would not expect a company that sells bras and women wears to reach out to both of them. While such a brand would still be able to rake in some sales, it would not be as much as getting in touch with the likes of Kim Kardashian or Nicki Minaj.
Note that those are just examples to help you get the idea of what we are discussing.
When choosing an influencer, look at the kinds of things they are affiliated with. Look at what their audience likes, and what makes their audience engage with them. That way, you will be able to target just your target market and put advertising money to better use.
2. Audience
That person is not an influencer if they don’t have an audience. What you want is for someone to get you out to people. If there are no people readily available to listen to them, why bother using them in the first place?
When choosing an influencer based on audience, you should note that numbers don’t always matter. Some social media profiles have tens of thousands of followers that they do not keep engaged. Some others have just a few thousands that they have managed to keep tight with relevant content. The latter, although with a smaller followership, has an audience. The former just has followers. Choose wisely.
3. Platform
Believe it or not, the best influencer on the planet might not be the best one for you. It all depends on the platform that such an influencer is on, and where you think your target market is. If you want to sell a product that is, say, particular to senior citizens, reaching out to an Instagram influencer might be a waste of time.
The influencer is right, the message could be awesome but the platform is not. Check Instagram demographics and you’ll find a very meagre percentage of accounts from senior users. Most times, they are usually even dormant.
This time, you could have gone the way of Facebook (which has a decent mix of everyone) or go offline (if your influencer has a very good offline presence too)
4. Experience
Your influencer could have the right audience in the right niche for you and still not be able to convert. That is not for lack of trying but because they are trying wrongly. That is not the influencer you want. You want one that knows what they are doing, not someone that wants to learn on your (paid) job. In fact, the latter could do more to ruin your brand’s image than project it.
The right influencer knows all the buzz words that will get their audience’s attention: young people will be captivated by slangs, execs will see their hearts leap at top-management lingo. That’s just how it is.
Your ideal influencer will also be a great content creator. Finally, they will be people who will be passionate enough about your brand to want to talk about it. True, that’s their job in the first place but they will do so much more because they love it anyways.
Wrap Up
From all the headings and subheadings up there, you have a complete guide to influencer marketing which is sure to get you started on your journey. The question now is, what are you going to do with it?
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