Today's marketing requires effective and immediate approaches. In search of new ways to gain a major market share, influencer marketing campaigns have become increasingly popular to reach wider audiences, build brand awareness and increase engagement.
Due to these benefits, it doesn’t surprise that influencer marketing generates 11 times more ROI than traditional forms of digital advertising. It is also estimated that nearly 93% of marketers have influencer marketing in their promotional strategies.
But it takes a lot more than reaching out to an influencer and splashing money to develop an influencer marketing campaign that delivers.
In this article, we will cover:
- What is influencer marketing
- How to develop a successful influencer marketing campaign for your business
- Influencer marketing examples
What Is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is a type of advertising where you partner with popular, influential people to promote your product or service. Influencers are people who have built up their authority within a niche and have the ability to drive meaningful conversations with their followers.
Marketers contact influencers to collaborate on content promoting their brand, product or service. This could be in the form of sponsored posts, reviews, giveaways or other promotional activities.
How Do You Develop An Influencer Marketing Campaign?
Reaching out to an influencer is a straightforward task. Before that, you need to develop your influencer marketing strategy to ensure your campaign is effective, maximizes your potential growth and allows tracking results.
Here are the steps to consider when developing an influencer marketing campaign:
Get Clear With Your Goals And Budget
Start by getting clear on the goals of your campaign. Why are you looking to partner with influencers? Depending on your objectives, create measurable targets that track performance against your goals. For instance, if the goal is increasing brand awareness, consider how many followers and views are necessary for success as well as what type of engagement you want to see from your audience.
Once you know your objectives, it’s also important to consider your budget. Influencers' fees vary widely, so you must clearly understand what you can afford.
Select Your Campaign Type
Next, you need to decide on the type of influencer campaign that is right for your goals. It could be sponsored content, product reviews, or a competition or giveaway. Consider which kind of campaign offers the most value and engages with your audience.
Campaign type also directly impacts the type of engagement you receive. For example, product reviews are better if you want to reach a large audience quickly. Whereas, product giveaways generate authentic engagement with your target audience.
Suss Out Your Best Influencer Options And Outreach
Now that you better understand your goals, budget and campaign type, it’s time to do some research and find the right influencers. You can use tools like Zoho Social to track potential influencers and analyze their engagement.
Once you have identified the right fit, start building relationships with those influencers. Be sure to provide them with clear information about your campaign. Give influencers the freedom to give their spin and perspective on your product/service. This authenticity can be key in driving engagement from their followers.
Influencer marketing is saturated, but that doesn’t mean you should not look for the best. When you have found the best fit for your campaign, write them a cold email that gets a response explaining everything you do and how you want to collaborate.
Manage The Campaign
Once the influencer outreach is done, it’s time to manage the campaign. If you’re creating sponsored content, agree on clear deadlines and expectations from both parties. Consider what kind of content will be created (photo/video/etc), how often it will be posted, and any guidelines or creative direction given.
Track Results
As the campaign progresses, tracking performance and measuring success is important. Monitor the key performance indicators, such as follower growth or website traffic generated by influencer activity. This allows you to adjust your strategy and optimize for better results.
By analyzing your results, you can filter your audience to focus your efforts on the remainder of the sales funnel. Using various marketing tactics to persuade potential customers, like email automation, is necessary to maximize conversions.
If you plan on launching an email marketing campaign to follow up on the customers from your influencer marketing campaign, implementing the email design best practices will ensure consistency and optimization across your marketing campaigns.
Successful Influencer Marketing Campaign Examples
The biggest brands in the world have used influencer marketing to achieve greater success. Here are three successful influencer marketing campaign examples to draw inspiration from.
Nike
Source: Instagram
Nike's one-billion-dollar lifetime partnership with Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most successful influencer marketing collaborations ever. The sports apparel brand used Ronaldo's immense social media presence to promote its products, specifically its soccer cleats. This collaboration increased brand recognition and a 3x return on investment, demonstrating the potential of influencer marketing campaigns.
Fashion Nova
Source: Instagram
Fashion Nova is a clothing brand that's killing the influencer game. They have tapped into some of the largest scale influencers like Kylie Jenner, Sophie Lewis, and many more. They have worked with around 5,000 influencers on social media for their latest campaigns.
Naked Juice
Source: Instagram
Naked Juice is making a splash on Instagram with the help of lifestyle and health influencers. Kate La Vie is just one of the lifestyle bloggers in their influencer marketing campaign. On her feed, you'll find several sponsored posts featuring her outfits, accessories, and beauty items placed with a Naked Juice bottle that pops up the colors and can be easily noticed. This is an effortless way for the brand to reach a large chunk of its audience.
Key Takeaways
Influencer marketing campaigns are lately the most successful form of digital marketing. It allows you to reach a massive audience creatively, which is more engaging than traditional advertising methods.
When developing an influencer marketing campaign:
- Set clear goals and a budget to begin your influencer marketing strategy so you can track your progress later.
- Select the type of campaign that best suits your objectives, such as sponsored content, product reviews or giveaways.
- Research the right influencers for your campaign and build relationships with them.
- Manage the campaign by setting deadlines and expectations for both parties.
- Track and analyze the performance of your campaign, adjusting strategy as needed.
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