Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a powerful short-term exposure tactic in which brands work with influential social media figures to get promoted to their followers.
You know you have a great product or service, but it hasn’t had its moment yet. You just wish you could pull a lever and put it in front of a hundred thousand or even a million people.
Social media influencers, depending on their niche, can deliver results with a single post, shoutout or similar piece of content.
When you work with influencers…
- See if their audience overlaps with yours.
- Determine the reach, potency and scope of a shoutout or other promotion from them.
- Determine something of value to them. In some cases, this is as simple as swapped shoutouts.
- Set clear goals for the promotional moment.
How Do I Find the Right Influencer for My Brand?
This requires research and familiarity with the digital landscape. Tracking a piece of viral content’s “tipping point” or moment it becomes viral typically goes back to a few shares by high-visibility accounts.
No one is capable of guaranteeing a viral moment, but expert digital marketers can set up all the dominos correctly.
Optimum7 can help you find social media influencers who are right for your brand, develop the creative exchange or shoutout that would be most effective, and measure the success of the project.
Interested in influencers? Call us at
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Our Process
Brand Research
Your brand needs an influencer with an audience that can be valuable to you in some way. Research applies to the influencer’s brand as well as your own.
Content Deal
Social media influencers have been known to give shoutouts for samples, payments or perks.
Evaluation
Data and analytics can be used to generate a report on the success of your influencer work.
How Does Social Media Influencer Marketing Work?
Your first step is to decide if influencer marketing is right for you.
It is an excellent strategy if…
- You will benefit from short-term, sudden exposure to a large audience.
- You are targeting a younger demographic. Most influencers speak to Millennials and Gen Z. audiences
- You have a lifestyle-oriented brand, a lux product or service, food goods, or some other highly visual and instant-to-understand offering.
We don’t deliver any cookie cutter solutions. Every business is in a different place with their marketing, and we would be happy to analyze your marketing efforts and figure out if this is the strategy for you.
Choosing the Right Influencer
Once you have determined that social media influencers are a marketing strategy that’s right for your brand, you have to choose which one you want to approach.
This decision is based on…
Acceptable personal branding on the part of the influencer
Some social media influencers have a brand oriented around leadership and entrepreneurship. Others are more comical or irreverent. This variety lets you find someone who is right for your brand.
Relevant audience
Before striking a content deal of any kind, most influencers should realize that a few questions about the reach and scope of one of their shoutouts is normal. Part of the game is knowing what questions to ask, such as “have you ever done a shoutout before?” Or “If so, what were the results?” Our expertise and familiarity with data let’s us look past surface-level metrics to find more valuable information.
Relevant location
Social media influencers and target audiences come in all shapes and sizes. For example, a Miami-based coffee shop could reap value from a Miami-based influencer posting “I stop here almost every morning!” along with a branded coffee cup on Instagram. However, a national service-based brand would need to think about location and content in a different way.
Acceptable content deal
Some shoutouts cost you a coffee. Some cost you a private jet ride. We’ve worked with influencers and projects of all sizes. Determining the right scope and scale of your influencer project is a combination of art and business. Sometimes a mega-popular influencer is outside of your budget, or you could get one for next to nothing that won’t produce results. This is why we emphasize research. Influencer deals have to add up in terms of both numbers and brand compatibility.
Need Help With This Service?
Call us at 866-848-6072
Strategies for Success with Social Media Influencers
Establish goals
Influencers live on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and LinkedIn. These platforms can SHOW people anything, but clicks and interactions become more complicated. Set the right goals for this project.
Brand Research
Brand compatibility is key when working with social media influencers. You have more options than you think. There are successful influencers in diverse spaces like real estate, law and entrepreneurship.
Data Research
Has the influencer in question ever done a shoutout before? What was the result? Do they have a standard rate or expected compensation for their promotions? What’s the profile of a typical follower?
Pitch Content Deals
Content deals can be as simple as a shoutout swap, but other influencers expect payments, products, discounts, deals, or other benefits from their sponsors.
Track KPIs
Simple exposure is easy to track, but you can always slice and dice data to get some more insights, and evaluate your performance. Knowing what to look for is part of the game here.
Follow up
Developing a long-term relationship with influencers can be a valuable resource for your brand. After all, you will have new products, seasonal updates, and more future marketing needs.
FAQ
Are social media influencers worth it?
Often, yes.
However, like all marketing strategies, it depends on your brand, circumstances and budget. We offer assessments and analysis of your brand, and which influencers would be the most relevant.
What should I look for in an influencer?
It’s a simple list.
1. Brand compatibility
2. Acceptable audience and reach, or other value proposition
3. Workable budget and content deal
How do I know my influencer campaign was worth it?
Set your goals ahead of time. Know what influencers can do, and what they can’t. They can deliver exposure reliably, after that things become more complicated. They can promote an incentivized CTA, for example, if there’s a conversion you want to drive attention towards.
Need Help with Influencer Marketing?
Social media influencers are more varied than most people realize. Learn whether or not this strategy is right for you with help from Optimum7.