Are you looking for insider tips on how to get started with influencer marketing? Studies show that influencer marketing is being used by more and more small- to mid-sized businesses to grow their sales and revenue. If you’d like to learn how to get started, watch the IN:60 video below, or scroll past to read the transcript.
Transcript:
According to research conducted by Vamp, 61% of those surveyed interact with an influencer at least once a day and 87% were inspired by an influencer to make a purchase.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that many brands that want to use influencers to grow their sales and revenues make a classic mistake when choosing which influencer to use.
What’s the mistake?
They focus on influencer breadth instead of depth.
In other words, they choose influencers based on the number of their followers, which is breadth, instead of on the engagement of their followers, which is depth.
Which would you rather have – someone with 1 million followers on Instagram who has no engagement, or someone with 10,000 followers who has a ton of engagement.
The answer, of course, is that you’d rather have someone with 10,000 followers who has a ton of engagement.
So that’s tip #1 for you – all delivered in 60 seconds – which is that when you’re picking an influencer, focus on depth of engagement, not breadth of engagement.
Okay. 60 seconds is up. But I have 6 more tips for you if you stay tuned, so let’s dive in to our second segment.
Okay, we’ve already given you tip #1 which was to focus on depth, not breadth.
Tip #2: Check the analytics of the influencers you’re considering.
I’ve got a great tool for you on that front. It’s called Socialblade, which is free, and it provides you the analytics behind any influencer you’re thinking about engaging with.
Tip #3: Before hiring an influencer, track their activity using Agorapulse.
You know I’m a big fan of Agorapulse. They’re the sponsor of this episode and they’re also the tool I use to track influencers and follow what they’re saying.
Agorapulse has a special listening tool that allows me to target and then track the conversations that my potential influencers are having.
That way, I can find out if their personalities or their engagement is a match for my product or service. If it is, great – then I can reach out to them directly and hire them as an influencer.
Which leads me to tip #3.
Micro influencers achieve an average of 7 times more engagement than influencers with larger followings.
That’s good news for smaller businesses that can’t pay $1 million for Kylie Jenner to share an Instagram post about their brand. It means that even if you have a smaller budget, you can still take advantage of what influencer marketing has to offer.
Tip #4: If you have zero budget for an influencer, consider an affiliate relationship.
An affiliate relationship is one where your influencer gets a slice of the action instead of getting a specific fee. The advantage to that is that they’re then incentivized to promote your product or service.
The more they promote your product or service, the more money they make. So it’s a win/win.
Tip #5: Instead of hiring an influencer with a lot of followers, hire one with expertise in your industry.
Remember how we talked about the secret to influencer marketing is about depth of engagement?
When you hire an influencer with expertise in your industry, that match-up pays dividends down the road.
Here’s an example. Let’s say you make tennis rackets. If you hire a Hollywood actor with 1 million followers, you’ll get some impact.
But if you hire a professional tennis player with, say, 100,000 followers, their social shares are going to carry a lot more weight because they’re going to be an authentic match to your brand.
Tip #6: Be sure you have an offer in most campaigns you run.
People follow influencers because they like their personalities.
But studies have shown that when there’s a specific offer tied to an influencer post, the click-through-rate increases significantly.
In other words, make sure there’s something in it for the person following the influencer. If there’s a special offer for the follower, they’re much more likely to click through.
Tip #7: Use branded links in order to increase clicks by as much as 39%.
What is a branded link? It’s a shortened link that has your brand name in it.
Some examples include Virg.in, Pep.si and NYTi.ms.
A study by Rebrandly showed that the click-through-rate on branded links can be as much as 39% higher than on un-branded links. Where can you go to get your URL shortened?
Rebrandly, of course!
Okay, there you have it. That’s 7 tips you can use to kick-start your influencer marketing campaign.
A quick recap:
- Focus on depth instead of breadth
- Check the analytics of the influencers you’re considering
- Before hiring an influencer, track their activity using Agorapulse
- If you have zero budget for an influencer, consider an affiliate relationship
- Instead of hiring an influencer with a lot of followers, hire one with expertise in your industry
- Be sure you have an offer in your campaign
- Use branded links in order to increase clicks by as much as 39%
I have one bonus tip for you … just because I like you.
Here it is — none of the tips here will help you grow your business if you don’t put them into action.
It’s one thing to learn about influencer marketing. It’s another thing to put them into action. So be sure to take what you’ve learned here today and execute your plan.
If you like what we’ve talked about here today, be sure to hit the subscribe button and the little bell. That way, you’ll be notified when I upload another IN:60 segment.
And feel free to let our viewers know what your favorite influencer marketing tip is by leaving a comment down below. Our viewers love to hear from other marketers like you.
My name is Jamie Turner. You can find me online by Googling Jamie Turner. I’ll catch you next time.
About the Author: Jamie Turner is an internationally recognized speaker, author, and CEO who is a recipient of the Socialnomics “Top Keynote Speaker” award (along with Tony Robbins, Ariana Huffington, and Richard Branson). You may have seen Jamie in Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, Business Insider or the Wall Street Journal. He’s also a regular guest on CNN and HLN where he contributes segments on marketing, persuasion, and leadership. He is an assistant professor and lecturer at Emory University and the University of Texas and has been profiled in the world’s best-selling advertising textbook. Jamie is the co-author of several essential business books including How to Make Money with Social Media; Go Mobile; and Digital Marketing Growth Hacks. He is the founder of 60SecondMarketer.com and has a new YouTube series called IN:60 which is available on YouTube. If you’d like to find find out more about having Jamie speak at your next event, click through to JamieTurner.Live.
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