Influence marketing, it doesn’t matter if you are familiar with the phrase or not. Let’s go through the basics together. It’s a tactic used by brands to accelerate their products growth by allowing influential people to mention their products on different platforms.
Since 2017 this strategy has become a go-to marketing tactic for big brands like Coca-Cola, Dollar Shave Club, and other lifestyle brands. You could argue companies like Nike were some of the earliest adopters of influence marketing.
To learn more about this marketing medium we reached out to the team at Rankit and asked what to look for when a brand is wanting to leverage influencers to promote their business.
It really comes down to having a good relationship with the influencers themselves. Celebrities promote products they’re familiar with and enjoy.
We also probed them for some tips that startups need to know considering the influence landscape is bound to change and increase in complexity in 2018. Here’s a couple of tips you can implement in your next campaign.
- Make sure influencers disclose it’s an advertorial within the social platform or your brand could be liable along with the influencer.
- Send a free copy of your product to your influencer. A lot of people will post about your item at no cost. People pitch products they like and have used, better.
- Remember that influence marketing is just an evolutionary step for “word of mouth” business growth. Treat it as a social matter.
Another factor for 2018 and beyond is the increase of utilizing big data. Influencer platforms are emerging with millions of data points for businesses to leverage. Whoever has the freshest data is going to come out on top in the influencer space.
From what we gather some platforms are better than others too. Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube are all great venues to promote your brand because they’re media rich unlike other contenders like Twitter which limit your scope.
Do you know your buyer’s persona?
Demographics play a major role. You need to know where your ideal buyer lives, works, and what their ideas are. Look at previous customers or do competitor research to ascertain where your viable market product should be placed.
Platforms like Instagram and Snapchat are better for targeting youth markets. Facebook is the perfect place for family-oriented content and middle-aged audiences. You need to know your customer, the platforms they like, and then build relationships. That’s the order of operation.
The government has started to regulate influencers. Now it’s legally required for each influencer post to include disclosures that they’re being paid to promote the brand. If you want to slide in the disclosure without a link consider utilizing a hashtag like #AD.
Just remember, any good marketing campaign doesn’t start with the platform or technique, rather it relies on the Startup to know their audience beforehand and develop the right product. Always start with the business basics and your influencer marketing campaign will work.