If you’ve been thinking about using influencers in your marketing, it’s time to stop thinking and start doing. As a business owner, you know how difficult it is to reach people through traditional marketing channels.

But with the help of social media influencers, that is no longer an issue! It doesn’t matter what type or size of business you own because there are many ways for all businesses to use influencers as part of their strategy.

In this post, we’ll be going over some best practices on using them effectively and why they’re such a good idea for any business looking for growth and exposure.

What Are Influencers?

First things first, what exactly is an influencer? An influencer is a person with a large audience to whom your target market looks up to and trust. This might be someone who has built up their profile through blogging, vlogging (video blogging), podcasting or social media such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

Influencers will have a strong following on social media. Although they might not always be famous outside of their community, the people who follow them idolize them.

How Influencers Help Businesses

There are many ways that influencers benefit businesses and here are just a few of them:

Building Trust

Building trust in your brand is essential for any business. The internet is full of information about every company out there; it’s easy to turn to the web for extensive research when looking at who you want to buy from.

Reach More People

Also, remember that people don’t just search for products online; they also look for the opinions of other customers. Influencer marketing allows you to tap into their extensive networks and potentially reach more people than you would on your own.

Find New Customers

Influencers are great when engaging with potential new customers — imagine having an influencer talk about your latest product launch on their social media feed. They can make a bigger impact than you ever could, even if you spent thousands of dollars on traditional marketing methods.

Improve Conversions

Influencers also know how they work best, meaning they can put certain things in place to improve conversions from clicks to sales. For example, they might use a call-to-action button on their post to send users directly to your website.

How to Use Influencer Marketing in Your Business

A successful influencer marketing campaign will depend on the approach you take. With this in mind, let’s go over some steps to follow when looking for influencers and planning your campaign:

1. Research the Right Influencers for You!

There are many influencers out there who can help you promote your business. However, as I mentioned earlier, it’s important to do some research before simply sending them a message asking them to work with you (influencer outreach). This involves digging into their social media accounts and looking at how they interact with their audience.

You should also pay attention to their follower count, engagement levels and how long they have been in the game. All these factors will go a long way to determining whether or not your content is likely to be shared by them.

2. Keep Your Expectations Realistic

One of the biggest mistakes you can make when working with influencers is thinking it will lead straight to massive exposure and thousands of new customers. The truth is, influencer marketing is a long-term strategy that requires patience and consistency.

Even if your campaign is amazing, don’t expect it to send you viral traffic instantly. Instead, you need to think of influencer marketing as part of your business’s marketing mix; about 5-7% of the people that influencers talk about will end up engaging with the content (whether this is clicking on a link, sharing it or signing up to your newsletter).

3. Set Reasonable Goals

Since influencer marketing is not an overnight success remedy, you also need to set realistic goals for how many customers you expect the campaign to bring in. Try not to let your expectations get the better of you!

Setting SMART goals is a good way to approach this, so you need to set yourself up for success by ensuring that your goal meets these requirements:

Specific – What do you want to achieve? Make sure that it’s clear what you are looking for rather than just saying “increased sales.”

Measurable – How will you measure the results of your campaign? Will it be based on a certain number of engagements or simply new website traffic?

Attainable – Is this goal possible given the time and money you have for this specific effort? What would success look like — is it realistic within the timeline?

Realistic – Is this what it will take to achieve the desired result? Do you expect too much?

Time-related- When do you want to see results? If your campaign is only one week long, expecting 5,000 new customers might be unrealistic.

4. Plan Your Influencer Campaign and Get Organized

Influencer marketing needs a clear plan with specific goals. Once you have your ideal customers in mind and have found the right influencers for your campaign, put together a detailed strategy to get you from point A to B.

It’s also important to keep everything as organized as possible so that you can track what’s working and what isn’t. This will make it easier for you to gather the results of your campaign once it’s over.

5. Get Ready to Engage with Your Influencers!

Working with influencers isn’t just about asking them to promote something for you -it requires a lot of communication and collaboration on your part too! So before you even start talking with influencers, you need to have a good idea of what they do and how it relates to your business.

At this stage, you also need to come up with the best way for them to promote your offer in their unique style. Once you have discussed your influencers’ needs, give them enough information to create engaging content on your behalf.

6. Optimize Your Campaign

One of the most important things to keep in mind is that influencer marketing is not one-time. Since this type of marketing requires consistency, you need to keep talking with your influencers to deliver on their promises.

If you are using a certain network to distribute your influencer content (such as Pinterest or Youtube), optimize these pages and ensure that they look good on all devices.

7. Measure Your Campaign and Adjust As Needed

It’s important always to be measuring everything about your campaign so that you can see how it’s performing (brand awareness). This will help you make adjustments accordingly to your promotion plan.

For example, if you discover that your influencers are struggling to acquire customers on their own, you may want to consider providing additional incentives or cash rewards for their efforts. On the other hand, try not to get discouraged if the results aren’t quite what you expected! Many influencer marketing can be trial and error, so you do need to account for that.

8. Use Micro-Influencers Over the Biggest Names

Although it’s tempting to choose a popular influencer with a massive following, you should consider their content as carefully as possible. Since they have such a large following, there is a good chance that some of their followers are already sceptical about what they say or buy from them.

Micro-influencers tend to be more affordable for businesses, but their content is also more targeted.

9. Start With a Small Budget

It’s important to remember that influencer marketing is not for everyone right off the bat. As tempting as it might be to make this your first marketing move, you need to set aside at least $500-$1000 (or even more) to see how your campaign performs.

Influencer marketing campaigns are not one-size-fits-all. Instead, experiment with different types of influencers and see what works best for your business! Over time, you’ll begin to gather a lot of useful data on how this strategy is impacting your leads and conversions.

10. Use Influencer Marketing Tools

Lastly, keep up with the latest tools and software that will help you make the most out of influencer marketing. More options are becoming available, so make sure to check them out!

11. Use An Influencer Marketing Platform

Although you can always manage your influencers independently, using an influencer marketing platform can make it easier for you! This is because these platforms allow you to manage your influencers, track their performance and even pay them for their efforts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are influencers good for business?

Influencers are good for business because they help you reach a more targeted audience and generate awareness about your products and services.

How do I choose the right influencers?

Influencers should be relevant to your business, so choose those that will generate interest in your offer. You should also investigate their content and determine if it aligns with your business’s values and mission statement. Remember to check out their followers too!

How do I contact influencers?

It’s important to use a professional tone when you’re sending influencers messages. You can use platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to get in touch with them. Make sure to look at their social media profiles for clues about what they like!

How much does influencer marketing cost?

Influencer marketing costs vary depending on the influencers you are working with. Keep in mind that it’s often more affordable to work with micro-influencers compared to extremely popular ones.

How do I get started?

Start by finding out everything you can about your target audience and their preferences for products and services. Then, use this information to determine which types of influencers you should be working with.

How often should I update my influencers?

You can send updates to your influencers as frequently as once a month. If you’re starting, try sending updates every week or every other week instead.

How many influencers should I work with at once?

Although you might want to start by working with just one or two influencers, you should start expanding once you see how your campaign performs. Aim for at least five influencers for a good campaign!

How do I measure my influencer marketing results?

Make sure to use tools and software to track the performance of your campaign. You can also analyze your sales funnel to determine if influencer marketing is working for you. For example, are your leads getting converted? Are people buying your products and services because of this campaign?

Should I share content from my influencers on my social media accounts?

Yes! Sharing the content that your influencers create will help you to increase their reach. You can share it on your accounts as well as the influencers’ accounts. Using hashtags will also help you to increase your reach.

How do I pay influencers?

There are different ways that you can pay your influencers. For example, you could work with them on a revenue-sharing basis or a flat fee basis. Often, influencers are paid in cash or via PayPal.

How do I create my influencer campaign?

Start by brainstorming a list of potential influencers that would be perfect for your business. Next, reach out to them and explore the different types of campaigns that you can work on together. You can also consider working with a marketing agency to help you develop a campaign that could be perfect for your business!

Last Thoughts

Influencer marketing is a powerful way to grow your business. With the right influencers, you can reach an audience that would otherwise be out of reach for companies like yours.

But remember, when it comes to using influencers in your marketing strategy, make sure they are authentic and relevant to your company’s brand and demographic target market before signing them on!