Your Guide to Running an Influencer Marketing Campaign on Social Media
These days, many brands are making the move to partner with social media influencers in an effort to take their businesses to the next level.
That’s because these collaborations are mighty powerful when it comes to generating awareness, boosting engagement, and even driving sales. After all, people trust their favorite influencers and they take their recommendations seriously!
So, it only makes sense that you’d want to create the same results for your brand. To do that, you need to learn how to create an influencer marketing campaign. And that’s what you’re going to learn all about in this post.
Your Guide to Running an Influencer Marketing Campaign on Social Media
To get started with influencer marketing, be sure to follow these tips to increase your chances of success.
1. Know Your End Goal
As with anything in business, you need to take action with your end goal in mind. So, what are you hoping to get out of running an influencer marketing campaign? Do you want to generate more awareness and boost your social media following? Are you looking to drive sales on a specific product? Knowing this information will allow you to track the appropriate metrics before, during, and after the campaign.
2. Get Clear on Your Target Audience
Odds are, you already have a good grasp on who your target audience is. However, it’s always worthwhile to take a moment to refresh. Knowing who you’re trying to reach will be instrumental when it comes time to select an influencer for your campaign.
To find your target audience, aware of things such as:
- Demographics: Age, gender, location.
- Interests: The products, services, and content they resonate with.
- Favored Platforms: Where they spend the most time online.
3. Brainstorm Ideas for Your Campaign
The great thing about an influencer marketing campaign is that it’s a collaboration. Two minds can come together to come up with amazing ideas. However, it’s still helpful if, when you pitch an influencer, you have some idea of how you two can work together. Plus, it makes the offer sound a bit more exciting when it lands in their DMs or inbox.
Consider the content you envision the influencer posting for your brand. Will it be a feed post or Stories on Instagram? Or do you think a short TikTok is the way to go? Either way, it’s helpful to know this information beforehand since it plays a part in this next step.
There are also different types of campaigns you can run:
- Provide the influencer with an affiliate code so they can profit off any commissions they make.
- Have them offer a giveaway to their audience.
- Create a standard sponsored post where the influencer introduces their audience to your product and discusses its benefits.
4. Find the Perfect Influencer
You can’t choose just anyone to partner with your brand, otherwise you won’t get the results you desire. The perfect influencer will have an engaged audience of people that you want to reach. This influencer will also be active on the platform you’d like to run the campaign. And not only that, but you want someone who has proven themselves to create great content time and time again.
But that’s not all! In this day and age, it’s crucial that any influencers you work with are aligned with your brand. Choose someone whose values are aligned with your own. Keep in mind that this person is representing your brand.
5. Pitch the Influencer
Once you have someone in mind, it’s time to reach out. You can contact them via DM on social media or send over an email. Let them know you’d like to run an influencer marketing campaign with them and share any ideas you have.
Be clear about what’s in this collaboration for them. If it’s not mutually beneficial, they won’t be interested. Will they be compensated for their posts? If so, how much will they be paid? Will they be provided with an affiliate link that’ll allow them to generate a commission from sales? Make the offer as enticing as possible.
6. Give the Influencer Chance to Offer Input
As you begin shaping the details of this campaign, give the influencer a chance to offer their suggestions. After all, they know their audience best. They know what kind of content resonates with them based on past experience and analytics. So, be open to what they have to say. This will only make your influencer marketing campaign more effective in the end. Plus, it makes it a truly collaborative process.
7. Run the Campaign and Track Metrics
Now that everything is ready to go, the campaign can begin. As the campaign is running, be sure to share the influencer’s posts on your social media platforms to generate additional engagement. Don’t forget to also monitor your analytics to see if there’s more growth, engagement, traffic, and sales as a result.
This will let you know whether or not the campaign is working. If it didn’t perform as well as you hoped, you may want to chose another influencer in the future or change your strategy. If it went well, then you’ll know to repeat this campaign again later on, creating a long-lasting partnership.
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