Brand promotion is a complex program that seems ineffective without influencers. However, more and more often companies fall into the trap of pseudo-bloggers and suffer from competitors' black PR. In the pursuit of the image, brands spend huge sums on photos with celebrities, advertising posts, and digital. The result of expensive and energy-consuming PR campaigns is a poor fit back.
One of the modern ways of delivering advertising is to work with so-called "agents of influence" - people who have weight and influence on your target audience and who can tell them about your product in simple and understandable language. Let's try to figure out how to use this new influencer marketing format most effectively.
Follower growth
Influencer marketing for business is one of the most effective ways to attract customers. Today's buyers are blind and deaf to advertising. They want to make their own decisions about brands based on the opinion of those whom they trust. To fully engage your audience, you have to use multiple ways.
Followers hate advertising, but what they get from an Influencer is not advertising, but for advice and recommendations that they trust. When an Influencer wears, eats, drinks, or does something, it gets attention. Attention in this context is the key word, notes Forbes.
Influencer data
We can say that micro-influencers are people who have their own "personal brand" and business (a set of qualities that distinguish them from others). They are perceived as authorities in a particular niche or area. They have something that others do not have: the attention of the audience.
Micro-influencers generate content about a brand, recommend it to their subscribers and immerse them in discussions about that brand. With these opinion leaders, you can get a "targeted bang" in your target audience among those who have an interest in the product. Flipping through Instagram, subscribers see a sea of promotional posts. But many of them don't look like ads - people are just sharing their impressions of certain products.
Reputation management
Reputation management is a task for any self-respecting company. Continuous monitoring of negativity will allow you to control the information field in real-time. If there is a negative review of a product/service/specialist on the Internet, a representative of the company should give an exhaustive response. Not to insult and settle scores, but to respond politely. In this case, in the eyes of visitors to the site, the company will present itself with a more favorable side than if you leave the feedback from the community without attention.
Black PR
Black PR is easy enough to identify. Your competitors also work according to KPI, which means that a stable quantity of negative responses without arguments and supporting photos is suspicious. The task of influence agents is to react in time and gently interrupt the negative quality score as well. In addition, do not forget about the information security cushion. Take care of your reputation beforehand, and warm up the information field with positive feedback, otherwise, it opens with negativity, which becomes more problematic to interrupt.
How to pass moderation
The leadership of many medical institutions makes the big mistake of publishing all patient reviews in one day and worse on one resource. This should not be done categorically. First, messages sent from one IP address are blocked. Secondly, posting a large number of messages on one portal with no interval looks suspicious.
On complex sites successfully pass moderation of 1-2 reviews per month. Unfortunately, not all marketers implement promotions from the category of "write a review of the clinic - and get a 10% discount on a repeat visit. But it works. People are generally reluctant to write positive reviews on Facebook (not enough motivation), but the negative - is always welcome. If your organization has accumulated a lot of live feedback from the community and the owners do not mind publishing them on Internet sites, then entrust this task to professionals. They know exactly where and with what sauce to serve content.
Finding bloggers: important aspects
The blogger market is huge and unstable. Half a million followers read you today, and tomorrow your page is deleted. Everything is very shaky and unpredictable. The number of subscribers and likes is often inflated, and posts are deleted. That's why other brands are wary of advertising from Facebook bloggers. However, despite this, the channel works if you think through the campaign effectively and choose "your" blogger. When checking social pages manually, about 70% of followers' accounts are rejected. The remaining 20% are rejected by the customer, and you are left to work with 10% of the followers.
When choosing a Facebook blogger, it is important to pay attention to his target audience, geography, the quality of text and photo content, and the commenting system of followers. Unfortunately, not everyone works on barter terms. When the number of subscribers crosses 100k, many switches to commerce. This is another problem that reduces influencer search. And most importantly, work with bloggers on a contract basis. No conditional agreements or friendly handshakes.
The power of social media
Marketers have already understood the power of influencer marketing in social media. They can instantly spread the word to tens or hundreds of thousands of their followers. Marketing-schools.org cites this as an example of successful brand collaboration with influencers. The company lord & Taylor dressed 50 famous Instagram women in the same dress. These posts garnered anywhere from 1,000 to 13,000 likes from followers. The followers were shocked and didn't understand why all the girls were wearing the same outfit. The result - the chosen dress model sold out in a week among followers.
Most companies build up a presence in social networks. And social networks are not just an alternative to traditional media. Many used to make purchasing decisions based on advertising. Today, recommendations are valued and much easier to obtain than before - all you need to do is go to a social network. What is influencer marketing, let's look at some tips?
Tip 1: Be original
Don't use influencer marketing to promote primitive "just buy it" commercial offers - your audience will quickly recognize commercial appeals, which will cause the agent's audience to be negative not only to the agent but to your brand as well. Learn a little more about the agent's audience, their interests, and hobbies, and consider how your product might fit with them.
The time for "advertising head-on" is long gone - work with your agents to create really useful and engaging content that will be of equal interest to both the blogger's audience and that same audience but in terms of potential customers of your brand and its service. Contests, integrations - all these things work great and draw the engagement audience into the process of communication with the agent and the topic he broadcasts, rather than boring advertising publications.
Tip 2. Don't rely solely on influence agents
Many marketers think that working with influencers is a "magic pill for sales," which of course is a misconception. Influencer marketing is more like the "cherry on the cake" of a built and steadily working marketing strategy, which includes the whole range of activities: SEO, context, direct advertising, etc. advertising channels. And if you have not yet figured out what influencer marketing is, how to correctly count the conversions and ROI, then you should forget about working with influence agents for a while.
Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign is a prime example of this. The most famous people on this planet took part in her support: musicians, politicians, and actors (even Madonna promised to satisfy every man who would vote for this candidate). But despite all the efforts involved, she lost.
Tip 3. Choose influence agents based on relevance
When selecting agents, prioritize those who meet two key points:
- 👉 Target audience (gender, age, interests)
- 👉 Required advertising reach (views or impressions)
Some marketers ignore these simple indicators and buy advertising without looking at those who will be targeted with their marketing messages, and do not evaluate the true advertising potential. As a result - expensive and irrelevant advertising is totally unsuitable for this site and as a consequence - the absence of any tangible conversion from it and the complete disappointment in this format of advertising.
Tip 4: Look for the easy way
Do not make the job harder for yourself - for example, identify and build relationships with those agents of influence who already know or support your brand. Contact them, note what you notice about their predisposition toward your brand, and offer to discuss options on which both the brand and the agent could do something together that is valuable and beneficial to both parties.
Tip 5. Engage with everyone
We didn't write above about cooperating with an agent for nothing. Focus on co-creating high-quality content that he (and his audience) would like to share as much as you do. Ask the agent what he or she thinks about the advertising concept you've come up with, the materials and marketing mechanics that will be involved, and adjust them as needed. This information will make the ad more natural and unobtrusive, which will increase audience engagement and reach.
Tip 6. Build personalized communication
Everyone is different, especially when it comes to influencers, so don't forget to take a personalized approach when working with them and their audiences. For example, professional influencers usually work for pay, but some of them will be happy to work with your brand, for the opportunity to promote themselves (especially big international brands).
The same goes for an advertising format like "product for review," where an agent advertises a brand and its product on a barter basis in exchange for the product itself. In general, there are many variations - think, choose and work through the most appropriate for each situation.
Tip 7. Don't use one approach everywhere
As a summary of the previous two tips. Influencer marketing is a full-fledged collaboration, not just paying for a post about your product on a blog or YouTube channel. The peculiarity of social networks is that they have a large number or even a huge number of users who are united in social networks. Groups of interests and hobbies, and are the basis of all internal communications. Proceed from these principles in any marketing activities with influencing agents, and do not repeat every action "the same" - if it works for one audience or platform, likely, it may not work (or cause the opposite effect) in another.
Tip 8. Take a long-term approach
Keep in mind that influencer-based work should be an ongoing strategy, not a one-time, short-term activity. Brand credibility is not formed by one post or one phrase said by a blogger in the next video - it should become the blogger's attitude towards the brand, which he carries throughout his activities and which he periodically broadcasts and repeats in the minds of his audience. This is called contact with the audience.
Tip 9. Take care of the relationships you've built
There's nothing worse than a potential influencer who has stopped sincerely supporting your brand. First, it may be an indication that he has stopped being satisfied with your brand or product, which means there's reason to wonder if there's nothing wrong with the way he works.
Second, a lost agent is wasted effort, money, effort, and time invested. Even if you do not have any marketing activities planned for the near future, do not be lazy to write to the agent and ... just ask him how he is doing.
Tip 10: Don't start with tools and techniques
There are plenty of useful tools to facilitate influencer marketing and find influencers, from free and open-source Instagram blogger databases to paid services. But all of them are tools for solving the tasks formulated in the advertising briefs. Remember, quite specific goals lie at the beginning of the work:
- 👉 Target audience (a complete portrait of the consumer);
- 👉 Objectives: brand awareness, increased outreach, sales, etc. things.
It is from them should be derived any activity associated with the work with agents of influence, and it is a clear understanding of these two things is 80% of the key to any successful advertising campaign.
The effectiveness of audience size
The role of influencers is only increasing with the spread of social media. We can cite this research: 47% of online shoppers use ad blockers; 90% of people don't notice ads online, and the conversion rate of clicks on ads is 0.06%. 88% of shoppers consider online reviews and community review a very important factor in their purchase choices; 90% of people trust recommendations, and only 33% trust ads.
Influencer marketing is an opportunity for effective promotion with a minimum of investment. That's what all marketers say. Few things move sales as effectively as follower count and brand ambassador. Follower count brings more than twice as much sales as all the advertising of your small businesses. Also, not unimportant will be demographics. The bottom line is that with the right analysis of marketers, it is demographics that give a complete picture of the consumer and the main audience.
People attracted by recommendations from macro-influencers or relevant hashtags, or using demographics data, are 37% more likely to return for repeat purchases than "advertising" customers. Companies get to use influencers to drive the power of recommendations through personalities that your small businesses' consumers trust and admire. But you have to find influencers first.
The Best Influencer
When companies plan to promote with Influencers, they must determine which audiences they are targeting. And think about what type of posts, blog posts, or tweets will have the "ideal impact" on them. This is important for brand values or small businesses.
The industry has three attributes of the best Influencer for a business in digital marketing. But the same criteria will work for influencers needed for non-profit organizations.
- 👉 Context. This is the most important characteristic. Influencers must match the brand in terms of context. You can't call Justin Bieber to promote software, even if he has 80 million subscribers and his Instagram stories are viewed. Because most of his followers are 12-year-old girls, in this case, not the target audience.
- 👉 Reach. Once the audience and contextually appropriate influencers are chosen, the content or positive recommendation "must reach" the audience. To do this, the way and form of the "message" must be determined.
- 👉ncitement to action. The ability of the Influencer to encourage the audience to take action. If the first two conditions are met, this practically works itself out. Influencers are not imposed on the audience. It's the audience that chooses whether or not to follow them.
Massive database
Recently, there have been a lot of suggestions for automating influencer finders. Various influencer platforms, already more than 200. They offer clients with "find Instagram influencers in a few clicks. For example, InstaJet, an Instagram influencer platform, provides an open database of bloggers and helps automate posting to Instagram Stories.
The influencer search sites are full of rosy promises. They claim to have access to several thousand Instagram influencers from various fields. But few of them deliver on their promises. Most of them "seek out" micro-influencers in the same circle, from the same audience demographics databases. Instagram professionals are wary of this "automation" for now. They're afraid the software might frame the brand with inappropriate context or mentions.
Network monitoring and influencer search
In the industry, the best way to find Instagram influencers is through social media platform monitoring. There you can find people who genuinely like a certain brand and have said it so many times. If potential influencers already like your brand and are loyal to it, offering them cooperation will not be difficult. Now the influencer search item can be considered accomplished.
Find Instagram influencers you can also use hashtags, google alert search, and social media monitoring software social mention.
Unlimited lists
In the industry, many advise choosing an Instagram influencer not to be fooled by large numbers. An Instagram blogger can have millions, but a passive Instagram audience. You need an Instagram influencer with an active audience. Micro-influencers may not have very many followers, but every post generates active discussion, comments, shares, and retweets. These are indicators of Instagram audience engagement and mean they are paying attention to Instagram influencer posts.
Keeping track of analytics in your niche is the first step toward influencer search. You need to identify those whose opinions are most authoritative in your field, and who influence the most "active users." A search tool can help you do this.
Program engagement rates
There are analytics engagement rates programs that allow you to analyze Instagram influencers: the types of posts they publish or follow, what blogs real followers visit, what authors they read and follow, etc. Having this information is an advantage when contacting an Instagram influencer. It also helps with influencer searches. Such programs include, for example, Klout. Engagement rates the first service (since 2008) that evaluates Instagram followers according to their social influence: how well their Instagram post resonates with their readers. The main thing is that they are not fake followers.
The impact is a more sophisticated analytics program. It identifies top Instagram influencers in advanced filters and given destinations, the social impact of their content, the buzz they raise, and the reach of the Instagram influencer audience. It also gives a complete profile of the Instagram influencer: the sites (blogs) they are associated with, the content they write in blog posts, etc.
How to work with influencers
Influencer marketing involves a double benefit - for both the brand and the Instagram influencer. The company must determine which people's opinions will be authoritative for the target audience.
Types of Influencer Benefits for the Campaign
Understanding the types of Influencer and influencer marketing platforms for a campaign will help determine what exactly you want to achieve and who exactly can help you do it. Choose which types of activity are best suited to your goals.
1. Right influencers amplify your brand or content with their target audience.
2. Quality campaign management.
3. Writing about your brand as a journalist (articles, reviews, etc.).
4. Gives identity to the brand and content on the platform.
5. Links the brand and content to the new influencer marketing platform.
6. With unique Instagram campaign strategies (such as audience demographics) and moves make your brand is different from the competition.
7. Offers your campaign innovative ideas, content, products, and services.
8. Promotes you with your authority in "your" niche by connecting your brand to meaningful conversations.
9. Brand relevancy to google search or any other platform.
10. Best influencers protect the brand in "bad times.
Engagement rate
Remember that consumers expect credible information about a brand on social platforms. If a brand provides Instagram influencers with a full range of its products or services, they will know all their pros and cons. And, therefore, will be able to share information about the brand or its product with its audience more vividly and authentically on the social platform. This is called engagement rate.
Focus on the experience of using the product. Create the right influencer experiences that they will want to share on their social media platform and from which they can create interesting content. It will be very relevant for search engines.
For example, the company Barilla pasta sent Influencers "test dinner kits" with their products (pasta, sauces, etc.). Relevant influencers gathered guests, cooked dinner, and posted pictures of the food on social media. Engagement rate is a very natural way to promote a food brand, isn't it? The photos collected were also used for a "barilla and its real customers" advertising campaign.
What could influencers possibly want? You'll find the answer in the search engine. They constantly need new, fresh, unique content to share. So think about what kind of content might be useful to an Influencer. Offer him content that he can use to build an audience and increase the value of his brand.
Create posts that people want to see and share on Instagram. No matter what form it takes (infographics, fun facts, reviews), make sure the message is unique and interesting. Marketing campaigns will work well. Help Instagram influencers not only with text content but also with decent-quality photos. This is especially true for Instagram.
How to work with influencers
It is recommended to send out "the most influencer" samples of your products without any prior agreement on how to proceed. If they like them, the Influencers will wholeheartedly recommend them. Don't forget to encourage your Influencers. You can do it with money, but you'd better not: what's the point in recommending them for money? But it is necessary to disseminate your influencer posts as much as possible. Also, always thank them - a small thing, but very important, which many people forget. This is the basis of marketing campaigns.
One of the most popular myths is that influencers want money. Money is far from being at the top of the list of primary motivations. Most influencers want to expand their audience and create marketing campaigns. Then come the goals of improving their image, getting new experiences, and "cookies" (discounts or free accounts).
Keep it in mind when you offer cooperation to the selected Influencers. And before that, it's better to get acquainted with the influencer lists. If you use this tool competently, influencer marketing gives a return many times greater than you expected.
For the benefit of non-profit organizations
In the nonprofit sector, emotional involvement is very important. After reading the impressions, reflections, or opinions of an influencer about the activities of a foundation or charity, thousands of readers can at least be interested in the information presented. And spread it around so that even more people will learn about the non-profit organizations. The most impressionable can join the action or activity of the foundation. This is a great opportunity for non-profit organizations to conduct their activities.
Do you want to advertise on Instagram Influencers?
Try InstaJet, an Instagram influencer platform, provides an open database of bloggers and helps automate posting to Instagram Stories.
