A Guide to Influencer Marketing Goals for 2023

The world of social media marketing can oftentimes be unpredictable, particularly with its constantly evolving landscape. Because of this, influencer marketing campaigns can sometimes miss the boat with what they thought would be an instantly successful campaign. However, there are steps that can be taken to minimise the risks of this happening again. These steps come in the form of carefully thought-out influencer marketing goals. 

The good news is that influencer marketing is not going anywhere, nor is it showing any signs of slowing down. The bad news? It’s showing no signs of slowing down…

This means that the way consumers want to experience influencer marketing is changing. Fast. In order to keep up with these moving targets, brands will have to adapt their influencer marketing goals and strategies to engage a restless audience and emerge on top.

Think long-term and think business. These goals will form the basis of whatever it is you choose to run with online and so they must be strategically set out. If you are looking to implement influencers into your marketing strategy for the year 2023, keep reading to find out how to do this. 

Why set out goals?

I think a better question to ask would be, why not set out goals? 

After all, setting out goals sets you up with a good foundation upon which to build a successful marketing strategy. 

Defining your influencer marketing goals and the KPIs (key performance indicators) that measure a campaign’s success is crucial. Though there are multiple ways to incorporate influencers into your campaign, not all of them will have the same results. If there are specific goals you want to achieve, then adopting a one-size-fits all approach will see your campaign crash and burn. 

If you already have an idea of what campaign outcomes you are specifically looking to achieve, then here are some influencer marketing goals you should be considering in order to be successful. 

Goal 1: Brand Awareness

Whether you are new to influencer marketing or a seasoned veteran who is looking to add a product/service extension to your business, ultimately, the goal is to be getting your product in front of your target audience via as many different touch points as possible. To do this, you need to be looking at reach, views, impressions and engagement. As 2023 approaches, the number of social media users is increasing while attention spans are decreasing. Getting your product in front of your target audience from as many different places as possible is fast becoming the only way to grab a consumer’s attention. 

If brand awareness is your primary goal then you need to be prepared to give a lot of products away for free or provide a free service for the influencers you choose to promote your brand. To achieve this, you need to go big or go home. Seriously. You must build up a large network of influencers whose image and values align with your brand’s and who are excellent content creators. Don’t worry about not marketing directly to your target audience, as the content your influencers will create for you will reach them in no time. 

Focusing on brand awareness as one of your influencer marketing goals won’t necessarily generate sales and ROI, but it is important for longevity. The more effort you put in, the more you will get out later down the line. 

Goal 2: Generate Sales

Notably one of the most common influencer marketing campaign goals, however, also the one entailing the most misconception. Marketers tend to think that simply running an influencer marketing campaign alone will equate to an automatic increase in sales. This is not the case.

If generating sales is your primary influencer marketing goal, consider the following strategies which can be tailored with this in mind:

Affiliate marketing – encourages influencers to support a brand while receiving some benefit from doing so. 

Discount codes – are great for giving consumers an incentive to make a purchase.

Building long term relationships – with influencers who have a highly engaged following. Yes, running sponsored posts with them could be pricey, however, their audience are more likely to make a purchase based on their recommendations.

Host a flash sale – influencers promoting flash sales offer an incentive for their followers to go and check it out as they don’t want to risk FOMO (fear of missing out).

Optimise content that is doing well – for example, add a paid ads budget to a Facebook post that is doing really well after it has received a certain amount of organic reach.

Top Tip: If your aim is to generate sales, you must be wary of what platform you are operating on. Ensure that it is a platform that can convert impressions into sales instantly. 

Goal 3: Attract a New Target Market

Influencer marketing goals in 2023 look a lot like finding almost every last person that fits your buyer persona on the internet and providing them with content that they can engage and interact with and influencer marketing is the key to attracting this new target market. You can completely shift the perception of a brand, or build authority in a new space, with the help of carefully selected influencers. 

The key is in creating buzz builders. These are people in your new target market who can drive qualified, targeted website traffic and make noise about your brand in the space you want to be in. A trend we will be seeing in 2023 is niches becoming niche-r. This means that finding these influencers to become your buzz builders is as crucial as ever, as they will be responsible for marketing you to the exact demographic. 

Top Tip: to achieve this influencer marketing goal you’ll need to think big. By big, we mean starting at the top of the food chain with the biggest and the best influencers to give your chance at being known to a new target market as much of a headstart as possible. 

Goal 4: Increase Social Media Followers

This influencer marketing goal may not seem as effective or serious as the others, but hear us out. Social media followers are the key to providing real-time feedback and insight. 

Typically, hosting giveaways and competitions will be your go-to strategy if this is your primary influencer marketing goal. It could look a little something like this:

1. Announce that you are having a competition/giveaway on your Instagram. In order to gain followers and encourage brand interaction, the requirements to enter this competition could be to follow the brand page and reshare your content on their story using a hashtag you have come up with. Only accounts who do this are entered into the draw.
2. Leverage influencers to promote the competition by entering themselves and then encouraging their followers to do the same. 

Not only will you gain more followers, but you will also begin to build a community around this hashtag that you can then utilise in the future.

Goal 5: Customer Retention

What is customer retention?

This refers to the rate at which a customer stays with a business within a given period of time. For example, high customer retention means that they tend to continue to return. 

As an influencer marketing goal, customer retention is an important part of the sales process. Once you’ve put the work into gaining new customers, you want those efforts to be made worthwhile by turning them into loyal, long-term customers. Come 2023, turning consumers into returning customers will be harder than ever because of those attention spans we mentioned a while back in this blog. However, laying down a strategic method for locking them in early is not impossible. 

To incorporate this influencer marketing goal into your strategy you will need to think long-term; specifically at who is capable of being your brand ambassador. Having a brand ambassador/a handful of brand ambassadors aligns your brand with a key personality who will then go on to act as the face of your brand to promote new collections, recommend products and speak on your behalf to curious new customers. 

Overall, influencer marketing goals need to be looked at from a long-term perspective and implementing brand ambassadors does just that. When you have an ongoing relationship with an influencer, you also have an ongoing relationship with their followers; increasing the likelihood of customer retention. 

Influencer Marketing Goals: Key Takeaways

1. Think long term – your strategy must be able to serve you for as long as your brand is alive and kicking.
2. Be patient  – results won’t happen overnight.
3. Each strategy reaps different rewards – understanding this is key to success. There is no point in launching a campaign that increases brand awareness if you are looking to generate sales. 
4. Choose your platform wisely – if you want to generate sales, choose a platform that can instantly turn impressions into sales. 

FAQ’s

What are KPIs in influencer marketing?

Key Performance Indicators are a type of performance measurement that allow you to evaluate the success of a marketing strategy.

What are the key benefits of influencer marketing?

1. Quickly builds trust
2. Improves brand awareness
3. Enriches your content strategy
4. Effectively reaches your target audience 
5. Provides amazing value to your audience
6. Builds winning partnerships 

Our Influencer marketing agency and Social agency are located worldwide, with our agency network based in the USA, UK, UAE and China.

If you want to receive our industry insights, visit our Influencer Marketing & Social Media blog.

@ Socially Powerful

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