Influencer Marketing – A Strategy Development Guide for Marketers

Is influencer marketing important for your business? If it’s not a priority, it should be!

After all, 80% of consumers have purchased something via an influencer recommendation and that number is only expected to grow.

If you’re interested in learning more about influencer marketing and how to develop a successful influencer marketing strategy, then read on.

What Is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing is a form of social media marketing that uses endorsements and product placements from influencers – trusted personalities – to promote a particular brand.

Influencer marketing isn’t a fad. It has proven benefits over other forms of marketing, including a higher Return on Investment (ROI) and an expansive and ever-increasing reach.

How to Develop an Effective Influencer Marketing Strategy

Successful influencer marketing campaigns require forethought and planning. Here’s how to develop your a effective influencer marketing strategy.

1. Identify the Right Social Media Platform

The success of your influencer marketing efforts will depend largely on where you focus. If your typical audience is on Facebook, for example, then working with Facebook influencers will get you higher return than Instagram or TikTok.

So the first step is identifying the social media platform or platforms with the largest percentage of your audience. You can do this by examining visitor demographics and social media profile engagement.

2. Set a Budget

How much do you want to spend on influencer marketing? This is necessary to answer before you start your search for the right influencer.

Remember that what you get out of it is proportional to what you put in.

Every influencer will have their own price list. The larger the following, the more you pay. You can expect to pay anywhere from $250 to $1,000 per social media post. So keep that in mind while creating your budget and building out your overall strategy.

So consider how many campaigns you’d like to run per month, and how many posts each campaign will require. Then multiple by $250, $500, and $1,000 to determine your low-, mid-, and high-end budget range.

3. Set Brand Goals

What do you hope to achieve with influencer marketing?

Remember that marketing goals don’t necessarily have to be increased revenue or higher conversions. Just as important is social media followers, brand engagement, and overall brand awareness.

So set SMART goals for your influencer marketing strategy. That is, goals that are specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time-bound. This will help you to gauge the success of the program over time, no matter how you define that success.

4. Create a Brand Messaging Guide

Before you finalize deals with influencers, it’s important to have a set of standards you expect the influencers to follow. This is how you want your brand to be presented to the larger world.

In your brand guidelines, you’ll want to include things like brand voice, brand assets (e.g. font style, colors), and do’s and don’t’s.

To ensure you’re on the same page, you should also include expectations surrounding deliverables (i.e., when to send for approval, posting deadlines, etc.).

5. Find an Influencer

You have a influencer marketing strategy in place, now it’s time to find the influencer!

Of course you can usually find influencers in the wild just by perusing social media. Influencers accepting work will often have a management email address in their bio.

There are also agencies who connect marketers with influencers for a fee. They often connect the two based on an algorithm that determines them to be a match.

Whichever method you choose, remember that clear and direct communication is best. This will ensure a healthy, happy relationship for you and the influencer.

Do you have questions about influencer marketing strategy development? Let us know in the comments!