Influencer recommendations are powerful. In fact,
Digital Marketing Institute claims that 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations. These recommendations can be found on social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram. And it doesn't stop there. 86% of women consult social media for purchasing advise and 70% of teens look up to influencers more than celebrities.
What does this mean for your business? Well it is about time you use influencer marketing. Companies such as
Hunting Bow Lab have reported a 30% increase in sales after starting an influencer marketing program. In this article, you’ll learn about what influencer marketing is, why you should use it and how you can get influencers to promote you on social media.
What is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is the process of asking an influencer to promote your brand for you. This works because of the power of leverage. Instead of seeking other sources of traffic like the search engines or social media channels. You ask influencers to promote you to their followers instead.
Why Use Influencer Marketing?
There are many marketing methods that you can use to promote your business. But why influencer marketing? Well, there are three reasons.
It Increases Your Brand’s Credibility
There is no
marketing method that can increase your brand’s credibility better than influencer marketing. By asking an influencer to promote your brand, you are instantly associated with that influencer’s name. This will make your customers trust you more. There is more to building credibility than
excellent customer support. Sometimes, it is just choosing the right people to promote your business.
You Get More Sales
55% of customers check reviews when buying. So if an influencer reviews your product positively, you can expect that it will likely convert into a sale. As you can see, it is not only your credibility that increases, your sales will increase as well. So you can expect your
shopping cart abandonment to decrease as well.
The Positive Effect on Your Business Lasts
Unlike other marketing methods that require constant effort and money, influencer marketing can be done one time and the effect can last in your business’ life span. Not only can it give you a constant stream of traffic, it can also aid in SEO making your website rank higher on the search engines.
How to Get Influencers to Promote You on Social Media
From here, you are probably wondering how you can get influencers to promote you. Well, here are 10 ways to get influencers to promote your brand on social media.
Product Reviews
One of the quickest ways to get an influencer to promote a product on social media is to ask for their review. This can be done by asking if you can send them your products or by simply asking them for a review. This also works if the influencer has bought from you. You can simply ask for his or her feedback on the product.
Product reviews are powerful because it gives the influencer’s opinion on your product. This is powerful because this is what their followers rely on when they make a decision. However, there can also be an advantage to this. If an influencer did not like your product and he or she reviewed it badly, it can backfire. But if you are confident that your product is good, then you can also be confident that the influencer will give your product a positive review.
Product Giveaways
One of the quickest ways to grow your follower base is to host a giveaway. Influencers know this but they usually don’t have the luxury of hosting one all the time. But if you will approach them and offer to sponsor their giveaway, they will be happy to oblige.
The great thing about giveaways is that it instantly connects your brand with the influencer’s. You also have the freedom to set the mechanics so that you also get new followers to your page. By doing this, both you and the influencer will gain new followers. So it’s a win-win for both of you.
PRO TIP: You don’t need to give away your own products to host a giveaway with an influencer. You can brainstorm about what’s the best things to give away to their target market and just sponsor them. Your brand will still be promoted when you do this as long as you include your brand in the mechanics of the contest.
Product Collaborations
If you want to give influencers a good reason to work with you, you need to think outside of the box. Often, influencers are tired of brands asking them for a review. So if you want to stand out, you have to offer them something more than that.
This is where product collaborations come in. This is where you create a product with the influencer. This works best for brands or companies who create their own products. Influencers would often feel excited about putting their unique spin into your own products. This is a good way to invite influencers with 10 to 100 thousand followers to promote you. After all, the opportunity to create your own product doesn’t come often.
I’ve seen this in the brand Ava Clothing when they worked with an influencer named Tricia Gosingtian - a fashion blogger. So what they did is create a collection that is named after the influencer. And true enough, the influencer promoted them and their items got sold out in the first day it was released. This goes to show how powerful product collaborations are if you do it right.
Sponsorships
You saw the power of sponsorships in giveaways. But you can also sponsor an influencer in other ways. For example, you see that an influencer likes a particular place. You can ask to sponsor their travel there in exchange for promoting your brand to their followers. Will this cost you? Of course! But more than the cost of advertising, you should look at the relationship that you will have with the influencer after the sponsorship.
NOTE: Sponsorships are not cheap. So it is important that your business have enough marketing capital to do this. It may be good for brand new brands as long as they have the money for promotion. Instead of spending that money on Google or Facebook ads, it may be better allocated to an influencer sponsorship.
Product Commercials
Product commercials represent the traditional route of influencer advertising. You know how brands use to do it. They look for a celebrity that has enough fans. Then they ask this celebrity to promote a particular product or service. Product commercials work equally well in social media as they do in traditional media. Only that the format can be different.
The format for product commercials is often video. But this can also be done through an article or a single image. It all depends on the product that the influencer will promote.
However, unlike the other types, you will need to work closely with the influencer with commercials. In the other strategies mentioned in this article, all you need to do is ask the influencer to promote the product. But in a commercial, you will need the influencer’s help in the creation of the content. You can do this either by shooting them, interviewing them or by taking their photos for image promotions.
Do commercials still work? Yes. They do. But it may be more expensive. The only advantage is that you don’t need to go through the trouble of convincing the influencer to promote you. Instead, you invite them into your commercial project and that’s it.
Product Placements
Influencers are not just bloggers. Some of them are vloggers too. Vloggers is a type of blogger that creates video content. They can be found in video streaming websites like Youtube.
Vloggers promote products in different ways. Instead of just posting about the products that they like in their social channels, they usually do an in-depth review of the product through video. But reviews are not the only way vloggers can review products. They can also create a video on a different topic and just show that they are using a particular product. This is a product placement. They don’t have to talk about the product itself but they will show their followers that they are using it.
Is this effective? Believe it or not, it is actually very effective. When influencers use a particular product, a search on that product usually follows. It may not be a blatant promotion but their followers are quick to take note of their products that they are using and they will search and buy it as well.
Exclusive Discount Codes
How can you get an influencer to refer more people to your website? Well, you need to give them more than just a discount code. You need to give them a discount code that is named after their brand.
Here’s why an influencer love exclusive discount codes. First, it helps them stand out from other influencers. While there may be competition in promoting products, there is also a competition among influencers. They want to be paid for their promotions and collaborations with brands show that they are influencers who are being paid for what they do. Second, it gives them a reason to share the product to their followers. Sharing a product that is sold at full price is not as enticing as it is sold on a discount. And if the discount code is named after them, that means that their followers will be thanking them for the discount.
Exclusive Industry Events
There is a reason why brands often host events and invite influencers to it. It is because it allows them to get multiple promotions from different influencers at the same time. This works well for product launches. By inviting influencers to see your product as it launched, you give them a reason to promote you.
However, it is important to make the event exclusive. If it is an event that everybody can attend, the influencer may not be as motivated to attend. But by informing them that you have invited several influencers in the industry and you have chosen them to attend, they will be far more likely to oblige.
NOTE: Exclusive industry events are not limited to product launches. Creativity is key. I have seen some brands host yacht parties and floating restaurants invite vloggers for a taste test. It is about hosting events that are worth the social media share of the influencer.
Industry Collaboration
Collaboration is not limited to products. You can also collaborate on content. If you have seen those music videos with multiple celebrities in it, it works better than those individual music launches because it encourages all the featured celebrities to promote the music video. The same is true for collaborated content. This is where you invite several influencers in the industry and ask them to help you create a piece of content. This can be a blogpost, a podcast or video. By asking them to join, you’ll give them a reason to promote your brand. Why will they do this? Well, they will often be excited to share that they have been featured with their followers.
Another benefit to industry collaborations is that it instantly links the influencer’s name with other names in their niche. Plus, it also gives them a chance to network with each other. These collaborations also creates a group image in the eyes of their followers. Instantly, their followers will see some influencers as friends of the main influencer that they are following.
Promote Products for a Cause
You don’t always have to pay an influencer to promote your products and service. Sometimes, all it takes is a good cause for them to support it. The cause doesn’t have to be big. It can be as simple as sending a dollar to charity for every sale or it can be creating an event that supports a particular organization. The key is to choose a cause that appeals to the influencer.
NOTE: When it comes to asking an influencer to promote a product for a cause, getting to know the influencer is crucial. You can do this by becoming the influencer’s follower and looking at their content. This will show you the type of causes that they will likely promote.
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