Influencer marketing is becoming an increasingly important strategy for companies to increase their reach. Despite this, many brands are failing to take full advantage of the platform. If you want to grow your influencer base, you need a plan.
Influencer Outreach is a strategy that involves reaching out to influencers, who are people with high levels of influence on their followers. The goal is to use the reach and credibility they have in order to spread awareness about your brand or product.
This can be broken down into four main categories:
1) Influencer Discovery - finding relevant influencers;
2) Influential Marketing - building relationships with influential individuals;
3) Engagement & Content Creation- creating content for influencers' audiences;
4) Measurement & Audience Development – analyzing data from campaigns and measuring results.
Influencer Outreach is a great strategy to use for brands because it's incredibly cost-effective and can be used on many different levels:
1) Influencers - reaching out to influencers who are relevant in your industry;
2) Audience Development – using the reach of influencers as a platform to grow an audience;
3) Engagement & Content Creation - creating content that will appeal to their followers, increasing engagement with them. This can lead to more advertising revenue from these channels (see below). Finally, you should keep track of how much time you spend on each influencer and how much money you make from them.
There are a number of benefits that come with using this strategy to increase your reach, including:
1) Cost-Effective - there is no need for expensive ads or paid media in order to gain exposure;
2) Reach & Credibility - the credibility that comes from being an influential person means they can be used as a platform for increasing awareness about your brand;
3) Engagement – engaging with their followers will lead to a higher level of engagement, which can lead to more purchases.
There are some challenges that come with this strategy as well, including:
1) Timing - you need to be on top of your influencers and know when they're planning their next campaign;
2) Budget - you'll need an extra budget (either in cash or time) for outreach efforts;
3) Quality - you'll need to ensure that the influencers you're reaching out to are of high quality and can be trusted;
4) Reputation Management – if your brand is new, it's important that they have a good reputation so as not to damage their credibility. If there has been bad press about them in the past, this could also lead people away from trying them.
One of the first things to figure out is what your goals are with influencer outreach. Are you looking for an increase in brand awareness? Do you want to get a new customer or sell more products? Or perhaps even both at once! You'll need to decide which one will be most important and then focus on that goal.
To do so, you'll need to identify your target audience. You can do this by looking at the demographics of who is already buying from your brand or using a tool like Google Analytics to see where they're coming from and what they're searching for on Google.
Once you know exactly who it is that will be interested in hearing about your product or service, then you'll have a better idea of how best to reach them with outreach campaigns.
For example: if most people are already aware of the benefits and quality behind an item (such as beauty products), but aren't yet purchasing it, then it may be best to focus on influencer outreach campaigns aimed at bringing them over to the product.
Or if you're trying to sell a new item (such as a clothing brand), and most people are unaware of your company or products, but have heard about your competitors in the past, then perhaps outreach is not for you.
Focusing on Influencers that will help with Your Goals is important. One thing that's important when deciding who should receive an email from you is whom they can help achieve what it is that YOU want to be done - which means finding out:
There are a number of different tools and platforms that you can use to find influencers, but there's no need to spend unnecessary money on something when it's not necessary. However, for a more holistic approach, consider investing in comprehensive influencer analytics platforms. These allow you to not only discover influencers but also track their activities and assess the return on investment from their engagements.. There are plenty of free options available online - which is great if what you're looking for isn't too expensive!
Here are some tools and platforms I'd recommend:
Once you've found an influencer that will be a good fit for your brand, then it's time to build up the relationship.
The best way to do this is by sending them regular updates on what you're doing and how they can help promote your company. If there are any discounts or freebies available through their social media platforms, send them links to those as well (it's important not to spam these people).
You might want to start off with just one email per month if this is all new territory for you - but don't worry about overdoing it! It'll get easier in time.
Don't be afraid to ask for help! If you're struggling with something, don't hesitate to send them an email asking if they can answer any questions that you might have about their platform or how it works - this will show that you really do care about the relationship and want to learn as much as possible from them so that your brand is successful.
Keep building up relationships over time, and eventually, your influencer will become one of the most important people on your social media marketing team (not just because they are great at promoting but also because they'll understand what you're trying to do with your brand and know how you can help).
The future of influencer marketing is bright!
Once you've got your influencer on board, then it's time to get down to the nitty-gritty of social media marketing.
The first thing that needs to be done is a thorough strategy for how you're going to promote your brand via their platforms - this will vary depending on what platform they use (Facebook, Twitter etc.) but make sure that everything has been thought through and put into action before launching.
It can also help if there are people within the company who have experience with influencer marketing as well, so they can give advice when needed! This isn't always possible, though, so don't be afraid to ask for help from your team!
Once you've got a strategy in place, it's time to get the influencer involved. This is where things can start getting messy and tricky - but if done correctly, it will really pay off in the long run.
The first thing that needs to happen is a meeting between yourself and your influencer (if they aren't already on board!). During this meeting, you need them to understand what sort of content they'll be posting about (remember: no inappropriate pictures!) as well as how often they should post on your behalf.
You'll also need to explain how you're going to promote the content (if this is a paid campaign, then make sure that they know what kind of things will be promoted).
Make sure that these posts are relevant and helpful, too - don't just throw out any old thing! Make it clear what your brand stands for and why people should care about it. If there's a specific problem or issue with which you want them to help solve, then make sure they understand exactly what sort of post would work best in order for their audience to take notice...and maybe even help you out!
Once the influencer is involved, it's important to keep them up-to-date with everything that's going on. You'll want to send them a link for all of your posts and then make sure they know when these are live - this way. They can promote your content, too (if there isn't already someone else doing so).
You should also be sending them any relevant information about what will be promoted in their post...this could include things like links back to your site, images or videos etc. Again, don't just throw anything together without thinking it through first.
You should also be keeping an eye on what content they're posting too so that you can make sure everything is working well and that their audience is engaging with the post (if it's not doing this, then change your approach).
Once all of these things have been set up, you'll need to keep a close eye on how effective any posts actually are. You don't want to spend money promoting something which isn't getting enough attention...and if people aren't taking notice of anything at all, then maybe it would be better just to leave them alone!
If you've followed all of the steps above, then it should be pretty easy to see how effective this approach has been. You'll have a lot more followers on your social media channels, and they will also be much higher quality than those who aren't being targeted by influencers!
However, if you're just getting started with Influencer Outreach or are unsure about whether some things need changing, I'd definitely recommend taking a look at what's working for other brands too. This way, you can get an idea of exactly where to start and which tactics work best...and hopefully avoid wasting money in the process!
