Podcast EP7 – Engaging influencers
Welcome to episode 7…
Typography – a creative presence that a lot of people overlook and take for granted, little do we understand the history and importance of typography. Your choice of type could make or break a campaign, which is why our graphic designer, Miles, is here to educate you on everything you need to know on the topic.
ENGAGING WITH THE CORRECT INFLUENCERS
It’s essential that you are reaching out to influencers that are relevant to your brand, if you’re trying to engage with an influencer who reviews tech when you’re selling shoes, then we have a problem…
Start by reviewing your own target audience, what are their interests? Match up your target audience’s personality with the personality of the proposed influencer, are they likely to trust this person? They should be relevant & combined with the trust and authority of the influencer, this will push people to conversation.
Don’t be afraid to look at who your competitors are working with for inspiration. Hashtag searching is also a great way of matching up certain topics and interests to people.
You want to gather as much information about these influencers as possible, scratch below the surface. Buying followers is extremely easy, so people who appear to be influencers may have followers with fake accounts, which won’t do anything for your brand. Review all of the social platforms that this person is present on, do their likes to following ratio match up? If this person has a following of 10,000 and is getting 5 likes per post, this paints a clear picture that they aren’t worth collaborating with.
BE AUTHENTIC
People are interested in talking to like-minded people, not robots, so when you’re approaching an influencer, make sure you get your personality across. Whilst it’s perfectly ok to have an email template if you’re reaching out to a large number of bloggers, make sure you’re tailoring each email to the individual, you want to come across as approachable so they’re excited to work with you.
Prior to reaching out to the influencer, engage with them on social platforms so they’re aware of your presence, like and comment on their posts or @ handle them every now and again.
Ensure you know what you want and have a strategy in place before collaborating. If their main platform is Youtube, how can you utilise this? Product placement in vlogs, reviews or unboxing videos. If their main bulk of following is on Instagram, are you looking for a series of posts, or just 1 post featuring your product? (Top tip – 95 million photos and videos are shared on Instagram per day, so this is an unmissable platform to utilise).
Be transparent – if you’re currently not in a position where you want to be paying influencers, explain that you don’t have the budget but would love to send a complimentary gift for them to review. On the other hand, if you are prepared to pay, lay down the groundwork, let them know your expectations and strategy that will take place if you do collaborate.
IT’S NOT ALWAYS A NUMBERS GAME
Don’t be fooled by the blue verification tick or influencers with hundreds of thousands of followers. Although the big time bloggers can have a large impact on your brand, in some cases micro influencers are just as important. Micro influencers range from a following of 5,000 – 200,000, consumers see them as relatable and trustworthy, enabling a closer relationship with their followers.
Research carried out by The Influencer Marketing Hub shows that influencers with a following of 5,000 users tend to have better engagement rates, averaging around 5.7% on Instagram, whilst a celebrity like Kim Kardashian has a rating of 1.53% on the same social channel.
So, working with micro influencers not only means you can control your budget to ensure lower cost-per-engagement rates, but it may also be just as effective, if not more than working with the influencers with a larger following.
MEASURING ROI
In order establish what is what is working well for the benefit of future campaigns, it is essential to analyse your content. You’ll need to measure the amount of traffic being directed to your website via the content, along with how much engagement posts are getting through likes, comments and shares. Evaluate whether your goals have been achieved, and if not, why?
Re-marketing is a clever way to reconnect with visitors to your website who may not have made an immediate purchase, vastly increasing your chances of a high ROI. Re-marketing allows you to position targeted ads in front of a defined audience that have previously visited your website as they browse elsewhere – simple!
MAINTAIN RELATIONSHIPS.
To conclude, you’ve conducted a few successful collaborations with bloggers that are perfect for your brand, what now?
Don’t just see influencers as temporary forms of marketing, you may need to utilise their services for future campaigns, so maintain the relationship. Make sure you’re keeping up to date with what they’re posting, thank them for working with you and keep engaging with their posts. If a brand is hosting an event, it is common for them to invite certain influencers in the hope that they will post some coverage of the event on their social media, this is a great way to gain long-term coverage with little budget.
If an organic relationship is formed, they may even become the face of your brand – you never know!