Digital marketing has evolved over the years and the conventional strategies are no longer enough to get your business ahead. And if you know the current landscape well enough, you will realize that influencer marketing is an essential element of a successful branding mix. The last few years have been big for influencers, with brands eagerly investing in collaborations with them. The fact that these partnerships bring genuine results within desired time spans makes it an attractive proposition for brands.
No wonder, every brand is doing it and the ones that aren’t will soon pick it up. Despite its booming popularity, brands need to realize that the strategy serves results only if you do it the right way. If you want tangible results with your campaign, you need to have the right planning and implementation in place. Additionally, fine-tuning it with the latest trends in the industry is equally important. Here are some useful hacks that you can use to amp up your influencer marketing strategy in 2020.
Nail your objectives right from the start
The biggest mistake that a marketer can make is to start without planning. First things first, you need to define your objectives clearly even before the campaign starts. The objectives may vary from growing the audience to creating awareness about a newly launched product to fostering long-term relationships with your customers. It is important to understand the goal right from the initial stage because it determines the right direction for making your campaign a success.
Focusing on clear objectives empowers you to create the right program and come up with the most relevant tactics for successful implementation. Brands that rush with this phase are not able to get effective results from their campaigns, simply because they don’t have a clear road map to move ahead. So this is a step that you should definitely address carefully.
Have KPIs in place
Once you are sorted out with your campaign’s objectives, the next step is to have the Key Performance Indicators in place. Essentially, these are the metrics that help you gauge the performance of your influencer program. Though it may sound strange to think about the KPIs at such an early stage of the campaign, it is actually the right time to define them. Obviously, these KPIs will differ according to the campaign objective as you cannot measure an increase in direct sales and awareness building with the same metrics.
Fortunately, there are tools available for gathering accurate information and metrics that really help. What’s more, you can combine data from diverse sources to get a complete and correct picture of the campaign’s results. For example, you can use data from Google Analytics, Instagram Analytics, Facebook Insights, and YouTube Statistics to see the extent of success that you have achieved with your program.
Identify the right influencer
Perhaps the most important aspect of driving a successful influencer marketing campaign in 2020 is the choice of the influencer who would help it. Influencer identification is easier said than done though platforms like SocialBook have made it easier to connect you with the right one. To start with, you need to understand what really goes into choosing the right person to promote your brand. While the reach of the influencer is important, their relevance is critical. Moreover, you need someone who has the authority and credibility in the niche to make a significant impact on the buying decision of the followers.
Further, the number of followers an influencer has and the engagement levels also decides their suitability for your program. There are macro-influencers with millions of followers and micro-influencers whose following is confined to just a few thousand. The objective and scale of your campaign decide the one which is going to be the right choice. While the biggies help you with a greater reach, micro-influencers are the right partners if your campaign is more about creating closer connections and building loyalty with the targeted audience.
Establish a content strategy
Collaboration with the right influencer is just half the work done because you have to create the right content strategy for leveraging their reach. With influencer programs, you have two options. Firstly, you can rely completely on the influencers for the promotional content and secondly, you can develop content as a team. Unless you have stringent regulatory requirements or challenging brand guidelines to follow, it is best to leave the content strategy to the influencers.
You can easily trust them because they have relevant experience and understanding of audience expectations when it comes to content. This makes them capable of creating content that yields greater participation and drives effective results. Close collaboration is important and so is ensuring that the influencer understands your brand’s tone of voice and messaging. At the same time, influencer creativity can be the secret ingredient for a successful content recipe.
Create a relevant compensation model
When it comes to fine-tuning your influencer marketing strategy for 2020 and beyond, you cannot ignore the value of a relevant compensation model. You can either incentivize them with cash or offer promotional gifts for spreading the good word for your products and brand. Some campaigns have a mix of both the payment models as well. The choice of the compensation model depends on the business model, the objective of the campaign and the relationship with the influencer.
For example, you can compensate on a pay-per-sale basis if the objective is to boost direct sales. Pay-per-post and pay-per-engagement models are apt for brand awareness campaigns. The gift-a-product approach is a good one for leading brands as influencers may even be willing to collaborate without financial remuneration but just for getting amazing products for free. Whatever model you plan to follow, be sure to pay them on time, every time. After all, this is bread and butter for them!
Mutual trust is the name of the game when it comes to building influencer campaigns that drive real results. Collaborate with someone you really believe would bring value to your business. Also, focus on long-term relationships rather than only short-term collaborations because influencers who stay with you can serve as brand ambassadors in the long run. This is definitely a good approach to consolidate consumer loyalty and trust.
