Social Media Influencer Marketing for Beginners

Social media influencer marketing, or branded creator content, is a set way to expand your brands reach and social influence. Social media influencer marketing is a huge and growing industry, with many large brands successfully including social media influencer marketing in their marketing strategy. Social media influencer advertising is an easy and effective way to reach a targeted audience , with 86% of women using social media to look for purchasing advice and 49% of consumers taking into account influencer recommendations when making purchase decisions. Social media influencer marketing needs to be tailored to your brand, however, with research it can have large impacts on your brand’s success.

Firstly, social influencer marketing is collaborating with influencers on social media to promote a brand or product, similar to celebrity endorsement. Social influencers with niche and targeted audiences can add value to brands, as they can be used to target dedicated and engaged groups of people to promote your brand’s product or services. More than two-thirds of US brands will use some form of with the figure expected to increase to 72.5% in 2022.

The first step to social media influencer marketing is selecting the right social media influencer platform for your brand. Instagram influencer marketing remains the most popular platform for social influencer marketing. 93% of US marketers plan to use instagram for influencer campaigns in 2021. In addition to Instagram, marketers have begun using TikTok for influencer marketing. In 2019 only 16% of US marketers planned to use TikTok for influencer campaigns, however, 68% of marketers plan to use the

app as part of their strategy in 2021. Facebook influencer marketing and Twitter influencer marketing can also be used, however they are less popular platforms. 

There are several types of influencer brands can use for their  social media influencer marketing. Nano influencers are creators with 10,000 followers or less. Micro influencers have 10,000 to 100,000 followers. Macro influencers have around 100,000 to 1 million followers, while mega influencers are top social media influencers, with 1 million followers or more. Each size of influencer has benefits and selecting the correct influencers for your brand will depend on your brand’s goals for the campaign. Smallest influencers tend to have higher engagement rates and engaged audiences, while larger influencers have a wider reach and more credibility. The cost of social media influencer marketing depends on the size of the influencer. Nano influencers may create branded content on a gifted basis, however, larger influencers require a campaign budget.

It is also important to determine your brand’s goals for your social media influencer marketing. Social Agency can also help your brand find a strategy which works for you, as well as assist your social media community management. Measurable goals for a campaign should be set so the success of the campaign can be tracked and recorded. A campaign to drive sales and drive reach will use different influencers and tactics. Your influencer marketing strategy should also fit within your brand’s wider marketing strategy.

Defining your audience for the campaign is a key step to social media influencer marketing. 

Developing audience personas within your target market is a way of understanding who you are trying to reach. Once your target audience and consumer persona has been identified, influencers should be selected who align with this in order to effectively reach your target. 

There are three Rs to keep in mind when hunting for influencers for your social media influencer marketing; relevance, reach, resonance. Relevant influencers will share content which aligns with your business and industry and have a target audience which aligns with your target audience persona. Reach is the number of people you could potentially reach through your chosen influencer. Finally, resonance is the potential level of engagement the influencer can create with an audience relevant to your brand.

When deciding what influencers to work with, you need to compile a short list. When finding influencers, engagement is a key metric to consider. The engagement of an influencer demonstrates if their audience is engaged with the content and trusts and respects the influencer. A strong engagement rate also demonstrates their audience is loyal. It is important to look for views, likes, positive comments and shares from the audience you are aiming to reach. In addition, the tone of voice of the influencer must match that of your brand in order to represent your brand effectively. The tone of voice should be appropriate and matched to ensure the collaboration is seen as authentic by the audience’s following and your consumers.

Once the influencers have been selected, reach out to them personally and privately and then collaborate with them to create a content strategy to ensure content is authentic and will work for their audience and pick up on social media trends. Once the content is approved and posted, the results of the campaign should be tracked. You are able to track the likes and comments of the content, link clicks, and sentiment to analyze if your social media influencer marketing was successful. When done correctly, the impact of social media on business can be large and successful.

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

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@ Socially Powerful

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