Influencer marketing is one of the best ways to present your brand in front of your target audience. This influencer marketing guide for 2020 is the only guide you will ever need to learn everything related to influencer marketing.
You have probably heard of phrases like; “This video is sponsored by x brand or thank you x brand for sponsoring this video” by one of your favorite YouTubers.
The YouTuber further delves into the details of the product/service the x brand offers and illustrates how it has significantly helped them, which most of the time is greatly tied and related to the content of that video.
And then boom! That product that you never really cared about now becomes a necessity, because if your favorite content creator recommends and uses it, then it must be awesome.
What is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing means collaborating with content creators that have built an impressive community in the digital space, either surrounding your brand’s niche or have made a name for themselves, to achieve your online marketing goals.
Influencer marketing can help your brand accelerate sales, gain more traffic, build a strong social media presence and get more leads.
The impact that Influencers have on your target audience or ideal consumers gives them a level of influence on their purchase decisions.
Influencer marketing has grown in popularity over the past few years and has proven to be effective.
It merges the idea of social proof, referrals, personalized reach and word of mouth, which is one heck of a successful marketing recipe.
Influencer marketing tends to feel more real and human, and less salesy, due to the fact that it is promoted by someone people kinda admire and trust, than some brand simply interested in making sales.
These content creators operate across different types of social media channels and also fall into different categories.
With 80% of marketers finding influencer marketing effective and the Influencer Marketing Industry expected to hit $10bn by 2020, it clearly shows that this mode of marketing is here to stay and will simply continue to grow.
Types of Influencers
We can all low-key relate, 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations.
Most of us can testify to buying something because either your fave YouTuber or Instagrammer recommended it.
And that is Influencer Marketing, love it or hate it, it works, 89% of marketers say ROI from Influencer marketing, is comparable to or better than other marketing campaign channels.
Because when people follow a certain person, it simply means they are interested in and supports their type of content niche.
Businesses in that niche use that opportunity to reach out to them because they have their target audience.
There are 3 types of Influencers:
- Social Media Influencers by followers count
- Internet Influencers by types of content
- Niche Industry Experts
By Followers Count
1. Micro-influencers
These influencers’ following numbers range from a thousand to 100k followers. But, don’t let their numbers fool you, as they only defect in terms of quantity and not quality.
Micro-influencers have a more personal and purposeful relationship with their audience.
They are beginning to gain more attention to brands as 35% of marketers believe micro-influencers will play a large part in the future of digital marketing, in comparison to the more known celebrity influencers.
Here’s a travel micro-influencer, she shares info on restaurants, hotels and travel agencies.
Here are facts about micro-influencers you should know;
- Their followings are considered more engaging and loyal, therefore they tend to produce better results.
- The use of micro-influencers is proving to be more effective, especially for brands that want to connect personally with their target audience because they are niche-based.
- They are better and mostly associated with authenticity.
- They build trust and better connections with their followers.
- Their price range is affordable and friendly for small businesses.
- Their audiences are usually bound with typical interests.
- They are beginning to garner attention as Micro-influencers with fewer than 100k followers are responsible for the majority of posts on the platform.
- The use of Micro-influencers isn’t really geared towards improving brand awareness, rather it is about getting more sales.
- Their compensation is not limited to money, it could be free products or services, shout outs, and special treatment.
- They are usually seen as genuine influencers because they take their followers seriously, and are more likely to promote products they truly believe in.
2. Macro Influencer
Macro- influencers are also known as social media sensations, and their following number ranges from 100k to a million followers.
They are regarded as internet celebrities who have grown their presence on the web, they can be highly influential bloggers, authors, vloggers, and even podcasters.
They also grow a following by simply sharing their lifestyle and daily experiences.
Not all macro-influencers are niche experts, but they garner a level of influence in their followers’ purchase decisions because they are greatly adored and admired by their audiences.
Here’s a vegan food macro-influencer: @avantgardevegan
Their followers take their recommendations seriously because they perceive them as their Idols. They will also deliver on the purpose of creating brand awareness.
Macro-influencers also possess a degree of relatability that consumers highly value, compared to the almost impossible lifestyle of celebrities.
Some of these Macro-influencers brand collaborations are not limited to any industry, so they can promote just about anything.
Finally, their price range is on the higher side, because in influencer marketing, the larger the following the higher the cost.
3. Mega Influencer
Mega-influencers are also called celebrity influencers. These are real celebrities that have gained fame either on reality Tv shows, Athletes, TV presenters, Actors, Models, and Singers.
They are responsible for the origin of influencer marketing before the social media explosion, and their following range is from 1 million above.
Here’s a celebrity influencer, Kendall Jenner, a model and reality TV star.
Remember those TV ads that feature your favorite Actors, Musicians, Athletes, because seeing them excites you and grabs your attention to make you care and actually listen to the message, rather than some random dude in a fancy business suit.
You can also find their faces on billboards, and print ads. These influencers are really diverse and go beyond social media.
Mega Influencers are perfect examples that a larger following does not translate into a higher degree of influence.
In this category, the audience doesn’t really feel personally connected to them because they are celebrities, but they have die-hard fans who are willing to do anything promoted by their icons.
Also, they would do all they can to have a taste of their lifestyle which they so much love, so using the same product or service as these influencers, give their followers something to relate to.
Collaborating with them means your brand is going to gain an insane amount of popularity because if a celebrity claims to use your service or product, that’s some big deal.
They are also beneficial during product campaigns, since having a wider reach pretty much drives sales.
This is a paid partnership from a jewelry company @tiffanyandco with @kyliejenner.
Mega Influencers have the ability to reach various audiences, which means there’s the inclusion of your target audience.
They are only approached by major brands with huge resources, because of their high price tag, they go as high as 500k – a million per post.
Internet Influencers By Types of Content
This type of Influencers allows for a more niche and purposeful content creation, compared to social media random postings.
They have a dedicated platform that they post content frequently that their audience looks forward to on a regular basis, and have built a community in which they are considered influential.
1. Bloggers
These are not amateur bloggers, they are well known trusted high profile bloggers known for their huge audience consisting of vast readers and subscribers.
Collaborating with them is an ideal form of content marketing as their sponsored posts attract your ideal consumers.
They get informed on a particular topic and learn further about how your brand’s service or product can help them produce more effective results they seek.
With the trust already built with their readers, these bloggers’ recommendations come very handily.
For example, a successful writer can reveal how he/she used this particular hosting and domain services for their website that has converted many leads, or email service for their email list. Furthermore, a successful writer knows the importance of using an email verifier to help maintain a clean and effective email list by ensuring that all email addresses are accurate and up-to-date.
The readers will be eager and interested to use those services their idol blogger used because they believe it contributed to their success.
They can even go as far as making a succinct tutorial as to how to make use of your product.
2. Vloggers
This group of influencers is similar to bloggers except their content is video-based and can be considered as video marketing.
The use of Youtubers are quite popular, they have successfully collaborated with brands in the past and continue to do so, especially in the fashion and beauty industry.
They can make videos subtly related to your brand product or services and it can also be totally unrelated, but their wide reach and authority give them the potential to influence their followers.
Youtubers in your niche already target your ideal consumers, so they can produce content based on how they have used your product to achieve an amazing result.
Here’s an example, a tech and productivity YouTuber; John Fish collaborated with Amazon on this video, where he shares a tutorial on how he thought Alexa to help him study.
This video garnered over 600k views, not only did they let the audience be aware of Alexa, it explored Alexa’s unlimited possibilities.
3. Photographers
These are greatly skilled photographers known for their exclusive and creative pictures which have amassed them a following.
Here’s a photography influencer; @captainbarto
They can collaborate with brands in different industries.
For example, @captainbarto collaborated with a car company and a perfume brand.
Photography influencers can also promote the brand of the camera equipment they use, editing application services that are effective or a class they enrolled in and recommend them.
There are different ways photographers can be creatively used for endorsements. Furthermore, they can also work with international brands and travel agencies as they document their adventures and escapades.
4. Podcasters
These Influencers content are audio-based, they have established authority in the podcast scene, their podcast reaches thousands to millions of people.
For example, Jay Shetty who is widely known for making content on wellness and self-improvement has collaborated with different brands on his podcast; “On Purpose with Jay Shetty” which currently ranks No1 on iTunes.
For example, he collaborated with Blinkist; an app that gives key insights from a variety of non-fiction books, which is great for his audience, because they typically consist of people interested in self-improvement.
This collaboration will increase Blinkist awareness and drive traffic to their website, as links were inserted in the description box.
Niche Expert/ Thought leaders
Also known as key opinion leaders, these are high degree well-known experts in a specialized niche, they are known for their authority in the industry.
Their recommendations, suggestions, and content are not taken lightly in any sense, in fact, their content is regarded as the standard.
Their resources are go-to for in-depth knowledge on a subject matter. So, naturally, they have a following of those who are locked in on this field.
How To Find Influencers In Your Industry
Knowing the types of influencers is not enough, the key is to find the right influencers in your Industry.
Becoming an Influencer is now a trend, almost every kid wants to become an Influencer, so, it’s pretty much a saturated industry despite the segmentation.
Finding genuine influencers is hard, with 69.4% of influencers choosing to be influencers so they could earn revenue compared to making an impact or change.
In an influencer study by Launchmetrics, 30% of professionals claimed that influencer identification was the main challenge in their influencer marketing strategy.
You have to be clear on the details of what Influencers are going to do for your brand, this way, you know the specifics of what you are looking for, instead of ending up with just any Influencer.
To lighten the burden of finding Influencers, here’s a list;
Your research is also dependent on the type of influencers you are interested in or fits the budget of your brand.
1. Google Search
This is the simplest and most common approach, type your brand-related terms and keywords to view Content creators that regularly produce content that covers topics on your industry. Also, you can make individual searches on people you have heard of.
Another clever way to find influencers that have already established social proof of producing results is to Google “successful marketing campaigns in your industry” then check the influencer behind it.
Furthermore, you can google “top micro-influencers on Instagram or YouTube” and the results of blogs that have published an influencers roundup would come up.
For example, if you are in the food industry, type; top food macro-influencers
Also, be specific as possible, the type of influencer you want and the industry for better results.
2. Social Media
Another effective method is the use of social media, by typing hashtags of industry keywords, types of influencer and making specific individual searches.
#microinfluencers
Or #ad, #sponsored
To search by industry, for example; if I am looking for a travel influencer
You can also find industry experts there, so this search is not simply limited to social media influencers.
I searched for an expert in the tech industry, so I typed #techexpert
and I found @jessicanaziri, who is not only a tech expert on the digital space but also works for a well-known broadcasting and media company called @cbsla
For example, she collaborated with @InfoArmor, a company that deals with protecting you from Internet threats like hackers, and made a video on how she uses their service to practice great internet hygiene on her IG page. Post video
So, if used strategically, social media can become a goldmine for finding not just social media Influencers but Niche experts too.
3. Competitors
Check out influencers that have successfully worked with your competitors, because they will be more likely to work with your brand. This can also give you ideas on how to go about your influencer marketing.
This can be done by using Instagram hashtags of either the name of a specific brand or industry-related keywords. You should also check the social media profiles of your competitors and see which Influencers are tagged on their posts.
You might not necessarily use those same Influencers, but you can see the type of Influencers they collaborate with.
You can get Inspiration by seeing which tactic was employed, for example, did it include a giveaway or a discount code for those who purchase products through the influencer’s link.
For example, if you run a fitness wear company, you can simply type #fitnesswearbrand, #fitnesswear, #gymwear or #sportswear even by location, #fitnessuk
I clicked on fitness wears, then a myriad of Influencers pop up
I am looking for a male influencer, so I scrolled further;
I found a fitness wear brand called @teamchange_official who worked with a micro fitness influencer @steve_trum
You can see the website link of the brand on the bio, which drives traffic to the website. They also have a catchy slogan hashtag that their consumers can associate themselves with, #teamchange and #bethechange, which is also included in his bio.
Influencer search tools, which are our next point, also come very handy for this purpose, they have features that allow you to research your competitor brand influencers.
4. Influencer Search Tools
The increasing popularity and dominance of influencer marketing have birthed the creation of influencer identification and tracking tools.
There are quite a number of tools that can aid you in seeking influencers like Reelio which verifies these influencers of possessing real audiences, plus a special feature called “featured creators”. Others include Buzzsumo, Buzz stream, Follower wonk and Klear.
For example, Klear is an Influencer marketing tool that uses complex algorithms, and machine learning to efficiently categorize Influencers with over 60 thousand topics.
It gives you the opportunity to filter your Influencer searches based on
- Influencer type
- Audience demographics
- Social channels
- Niche topics
- Engagement levels
- Influencer gender
- Location
- Level of Influence
- Skills, and more.
With Klear, you can find (with amazing filters) Influencers, analyze if this Influencer is right for your brand, (through their content, audience demographics and Network), manage and finally monitor your campaign message.
Clear is one comprehensive Influencer marketing tool that can ease the task of finding the right Influencer.
5. Influencer Platforms
These platforms don’t just help you find Influencers, they assist you in managing your entire Influencer marketing campaign.
Here’s a list of 55 Influencer Marketing Platform. There is a more in-depth detail on this below.
How To Prepare Your Own Influencer Marketing Strategy
This step is the core of a successful influencer marketing campaign, this is going to either make or break your success. Without a strategy, you should simply expect failure.
This is a detailed strategy that will set you on track, and protect you from making grave mistakes in all aspects of your influencer marketing, including building an amazing relationship with your brand influencer.
1. Set Clear Campaign Goals
You have to be clear on what you want to achieve with this form of marketing so that you can effectively measure your ROI and track the success of your marketing strategy.
Typical goals include brand awareness, drive traffic and an increase in sales, but these are broad goals and almost every brand objective.
For more effective and relevant results, you have to key into the major needs and wants of your brand.
Like which kind of audience do you really want to attract, where do you want to drive traffic to, the message you want to be spread for your brand, or a whole new product or service you want to market to a specific audience.
You should know your exact KPIs, which could range from higher social media engagement, boosted website traffic or increase in sales.
2. Know Your Ideal Target Audience
It’s all about the audience, if you don’t know who you are trying to reach, you will end up in circles, you have to know who they are to know which influencers to contact, which social channel they spend their time on.
Make sure your buyer personas are prepared, been clear on your audience will make you create the right content that will appeal to your audience.
You can easily make buyer personas for your business by:
- Creating surveys
- Looking into the database of your current client’s
- Interviewing your customers
- Researching on what your most engaging audience have in common
This will help make everything aligned, your content, influencer, the platform will be in sync to your target audience.
3. Make Your Investment Plan
The next thing is to prepare your resources for investment, how much your brand is willing to spend, this depends on the size of your brand which will, in turn, determine the type of influencer you select.
Work with your marketing team on how broad you want your campaign message, if it’s going to be focused on a single platform or a cross-platform.
Then depending on your resources, select the most suitable type of Influencer.
For example, If you run a local business, then you should consider working with either a Nano or Micro-influencer or both, if it’s a mid-sized business, macro or mega influencers are options to consider depending on resources, for large and stellar brands, mega influencers should be highly considered.
But large companies can still decide to work with micro-influencers, this is dependent on the objectives of the business. Any type of business can collaborate with Niche Experts.
4. Choose The Influencer Wisely
You should by now have an idea of the specific type of influencer you want to collaborate with, then comes the task of actually picking the influencer.
The process of picking an Influencer is critical and one that should be carefully done, since they will be responsible for the success of your Influencer marketing.
Here’s a checklist to guide you through;
- Make sure this Influencer is the right fit for your brand goals if you are keen on developing personal relationships, a celebrity Influencer is not a good option.
- Ensure that this Influencer can or has done this type of promotion with brands similar to yours, that way it would be easier to communicate your brand message.
- The influencer’s audience should align with your target audience because marketing to the wrong crowd is a disaster.
- Check the past history of this influencer, is he/she scandal-free? what kind of reputation does he/ she have in the digital space? What is he/she known for?
- This influencer will be representing your brand, so ensure that the influencer reflects your brand value, ethics, and image in general.
- If you intend to work with a Celebrity Influencer, with their multiple audiences, ensure your target audience is active on their page.
- As mentioned in the previous point, the cost of this Influencer should match your Investment plan.
- And finally ask yourself, why you are choosing this influencer over others.
5. Connect With The Influencers And Develop Your Brand Campaign Message
After making the choice of your brand influencer, the next thing is to connect with them and create your campaign message that will efficiently communicate and resonate with your target audience.
One that will reflect your brand values and yield positive results.
Ensure your marketing team goes over the content thoroughly with the influencer, they should both be on board with the guidelines, the do’s and don’ts, the use of language that is more appealing to the target audience.
Everything should be done with the target audience in mind, the influencer should also detail how they intend to make the posts perform well, like timing, format, and quality.
There would also be a discussion of who will be solely responsible for the creation of content, or perhaps decide to work together in creating the content, which is best because both of your creativity would be unleashed.
It is very important that no aspect is left untouched because this influencer will be reflecting and representing your brand.
6. Sign An Agreement With The Influencer
You have taken the time, energy and resources to choose the influencer, work through the campaign message, the last thing you want is to be on different pages.
It’s now time to set your expectations from this investment.
You both have expectations from each other, be sure to discuss what they expect from you and what you are expecting from them.
And each type of influencer has their own expectations that are peculiar to them, depending on their business ethics and category of influencer they fall. You can’t have the result expectations of a macro influencer to that of a micro-influencer.
Lastly, it is essential that you both sign an influencer contract that is going to guide your relationship to avoid any misconceptions and slip-ups.
The contract will contain all your expectations, agreements, the term of relationship, form of compensation, way of communication, etc.
7. Track, Measure and Optimize Your Results
Most importantly, it is of great essence that you track your degree of success and the results of your influencer marketing strategy.
You will assess which of your goals are being met, or if you are making any significant progress towards your goals. And seek different ways to optimize your result by continuously reviewing your strategy.
You can measure your results using the KPIs attached to your goals, which could be the level of brand awareness, conversions, social media engagement, increased sales or higher traffic.
Influencer platforms are really excellent for this purpose. They will be further discussed below.
Even Inbuilt app analytics tools like Twitter analytic tool will work too.
Popular Influencer Marketing Platforms
Finding the right influencer, managing your relationship, tracking the progress of your influencer marketing strategy, content management, ultimately, the art of simply staying on top of everything without feeling torn and overwhelmed is one heck of work.
This is where Influencer Marketing Platforms come in, they provide different resources to assist brands with their Influencer Marketing campaigns.
Influencer Marketing Platform help ranges from:
- Discovery tools
- To making contact with the chosen influencer
- Managing your campaign message
- Optimizing and amplifying your Influencer’s content.
- Down to the Influencer’s compensation and finally;
- Measuring and analyzing your influencer marketing strategy progress.
Here are three Influencer Marketing Platforms to consider;
1. Upfluence
Upfluence has a database is really impressive, it allows you to easily specifically search for the influencer you seek, you can make searches based on the influencer’s type, location, rate of engagement, traffic history.
It also gives you insight into the selected influencer social media content and access to contacting them through the software.
Upfluence further has a management system for you to manage your relationship with your influencer, and also measure your campaign performance.
It also has a team collaboration feature if you want to collaborate on creating your content.
2. Aspire IQ
This platform has certain criteria to be met before one can be considered an influencer, those who meet these criteria now become part of the Aspire IQ database and can be easily searched by brands.
This kinda ensures credibility and be protected from getting into an Influencer fraud.
It has an impressive feature called Quickmatch which matches brands and influencers to suited campaigns.
It also possesses an excellent range of campaign management tools that will hugely assist you in effectively managing your campaign message.
This tool makes it easy to measure the ROI of your influencer campaign.
3. Tapinfluence
This platform showcases both Social media influencers and content creators.
With over eight years of data and their experience with top brands, makes Tapinfluence one of the best and popular Influencer platforms.
Tap influence has an interesting feature called Tapfire, which helps enhance the performance of your content.
They mainly deal with four industries for Influencer Marketing, they are; Food, Lifestyle, Fashion, and Beauty.
They also provide promotion opportunities on their social media channels and blog, so with their authority, you can gain traffic.
Brands also have the opportunity to work directly with the Tapinfluence team to create an effective Influencer marketing strategy.
Their influencers are credible because they go through an opt in-network, so no need to worry about their credibility.
Finally, their campaign management and tracking tools are comprehensive and efficient.
Influencer Marketing Examples
1. Superwoman x Olay
(VLOG INFLUENCER)
Lilly Singh who is commonly known as Superwoman is popular for her comedic sketches with nearly fifteen million subscribers on her YouTube channel.
She made a video titled: Expectations vs Reality; Self-care to promote Olay’s skincare products.
The video accumulated 2.5 million views, and over 4k comments.
Olay’s target audience is women and most of Lilly Singh’s viewers are women.
The ad was seamlessly smooth, not only was the video funny, which is a plus, she illustrated how tedious it is to actually practice traditional ways of self-care and turns out to be less than our expectations which is high key relatable.
Lily Singh showed how using Olay is the only easy form of self-care that actually delivers beyond expectations.
The campaign message was brilliant, as it advocated Olay’s products beyond being a skincare product but also a self-care product, which is perfect with everyone being obsessed with self-care lately.
This has refreshed Olay’s awareness in their consumers’ mind and instilled another idea of taking care of their skin. This is a video that will be frequently watched, so the ad is kind of timeless.
2. Jorden Makelle x Bluehost
(BLOG INFLUENCER)
Jorden Makelle is an Influential blogger in the digital writers’ space, she blogs a lot on how to become a successful freelance writer and one of the key things she promotes is the necessity of having a writer’s website.
So, she recommends the use of Bluehost services, in all of her blog posts for hosting and domain, she even has a special discount code for those who use her link.
For example, this post is a tutorial on setting a writer’s website from start to finish, it includes how she used Bluehost and their integration with WordPress to set it up. The post has 11k shares and links to Bluehost’s website are included, which drives traffic to Bluehost’s sales page or website.
Bluehost’s target audience involves anyone that needs a domain and hosting platform for their website and Jorden’s audience are writers who want to build a successful writing business. And having a website for their portfolio and showcasing their services is a huge factor.
Jorden uses Blue host services and she has a big online community who trusts her recommendations.
3. Daisy beet x Siggisdiary
(MICRO INFLUENCER)
Alex Aldeborgh or Daisy beet is a healthy food micro-influencer, who regularly posts photos and recipes of healthy and aesthetically pleasing foods on her page.
Siggisdiary which is a food and beverage company collaborates with her a couple of times which means it works for them, she posts about their different products and recipes on them.
She has their target audience which is foodies and those interested in healthy eating, since @siggisdiary tagline includes, simple ingredients not a lot of sugar.
Alex community trusts her recommendations and has qualifications in the health field making her an expert. From her content, you can easily tell that she is a frequent siggisdiary user.
She gives the brand awareness and drives traffic to their Instagram page and website.
Influencer Marketing Do’s and Dont’s
The Do’s
1- Remain Transparent
People can sense shady stuff from the onset, you want to build trust with your consumers and people value authenticity over everything. Be completely transparent with your Influencer and consumers in your contents
2- Have A Clear Strategy
We have already covered the importance of having a strategy, this is a step you can’t miss, in fact, it will make or break your influencer marketing campaign.
3- Take Time To Pick The Right Influencer
This Influencer will be reflecting your brand and will be largely responsible for the results of your campaign, so it makes total sense to do a thorough research.
4- Track Results
If you don’t know your progress or what’s and what’s not working, you won’t know the next step to take or what to cut out.
5- Have A Contract
This can’t be stressed enough, you have got to be on the same page with your influencer.
6- Be Clear on Goals
Without knowing exactly what your goal is, you will be all over the place and work with no direction.
7- Set Realistic Expectations
Yes, influencer marketing is amazing and can do amazing things for your business if done right. But it is far from being a bed of roses, you need patience and be willing to go through trial and error. Don’t expect your Instagram page to blow up within hours or your sales page to be flooded in a matter of days, this stuff takes time.
8- Value Influencers
If your Influencer is happy and feels valued, they will work from their heart to see the success of your campaign. They want to be treated as humans not just mere tools to achieving your brand goals.
9- Create Content that Speaks The Language of Your Target Audience
You can’t create content for Gen Z in a tone that speaks to baby boomers, if you want your consumers to resonate with your content, let them feel you know and understand them. Simply speak their language.
10- Use The Right Channels
Perhaps your target audience spends more time on YouTube than on Instagram. It is crucial to pick the right channels for your influencer marketing efforts.
11- Follow The FTC rules
The Federal Trade Commission regulates your relationship with the Influencer. Here is the link to the guide – Disclosures 101 For Social Media Influencers.
The Don’ts
1- Not Selecting The Right Influencer
Ever heard of Influencer fraud? It’s a real thing you don’t want to become a victim of, that’s why you have to do in-depth research. Some influencers are fake, their followers ain’t real or don’t actually have specialty or knowledge on the niche they promote.
2- The Exploitation of Influencer
Not only is this plain ethically wrong, but it will also give your brand a bad rep.
3- Taking Full Control
Micromanaging your Influencer will be rubbing off their creativity and can reflect on your campaign message.
4- Rigidity
The Influencer marketing space is one with lots of changes, so be flexible to adapt to new changes.
5- Dumping The Whole Work On the Influencer
You also have a huge role to play in ensuring the success of your marketing strategy.
Influencer Marketing in 2020
The digital space is known for its constant changes and one has to be flexible as possible to keep up with the trends.
What influencer marketing looked like in 2018 wasn’t the same in 2019 and there would be changes in 2020 as well
Here are predictions and changes that Influencer Marketing will experience in 2020.
- Brands will begin to focus more on Micro and Nano Influencers as they gain more spotlight. Source; business2community
- Video content will get more spotlight and attention. Source; business2community
- Influencer platforms will rise in Importance and be taken more seriously
- Brands will adopt a more storytelling approach. Source; business2community
- Celebrities will lose relevance and Micro-influencers will have a greater impact. Source; Influencer Marketing Hub
- Brands will become more focused on cultivating long-term relationships, not one-off campaigns. Source; Influencer Marketing Hub
Like the example of sigidigest and Daisybeet, they are now her regular Influencer, that she is easily associated with them.
- Brands will Increase their use of Employees and Consumers as Advocates. Source; Influencer Marketing Hub
- Influencer regulations will become stricter. Source; Pixlee Blog
- Brands will repurpose their creator’s content. Source; The drum
- Consumers will be more skeptical about who they follow: Influencers have been given a bad reputation lately as their consumers feel they lose their authenticity for cheques.
- Cross-platform campaigns will become the norm.
Now, Over to You
The relevance of Influencer Marketing is not to be questioned, with this in-depth guide, get started with the plans to invest in Influencer Marketing.
Also, Influencer Marketing is great but it requires patience, don’t view it as the magic recipe your business has been waiting for.
Instead, work strategically with your marketing team to create an effective Influencer Marketing Strategy, and decide if you are going to invest in Influencer Marketing platforms.
Make a research on successful Influencer marketing campaigns in your Industry and see what you can model after. Always remember that it is about building a long term relationship with your audience.
Don’t push too hard, instead simply remain authentic, transparent and genuinely care about your consumers.
