Influencer Marketing [GUIDE]

The way we communicate with our audiences evolves each day, and in the digital sphere, it changes in leaps and bounds. What’s a trending topic one day, may be replaced by a new topic the next.

Using influencers, celebrities, and figureheads for marketing purposes is not a new tactic. These individuals already have cult-like followings, which can have a positive impact on the sales of the products that they advertise. In fact, several studies carried out by CPI Celebrity Performance confirmed that:

Brands that use the image of well-known celebrities, influencers, for their ad campaigns earn more credibility and sympathy with their audience. Ultimately, this translates into higher chaces of sales.

The use of Influencers marketing in your digital strategy activates the persuasion principle of “authority”. 

The principle of authority establishes that a user who receives a recommendation from an ‘influential’ person will be more predisposed to take an action or make a decision. 

Brands realized this phenomenon and started collaborating with YouTubers and Instagramers: they would publish photos and videos of a product in exchange for the free product itself. Finally, this type of collaboration became more professional, high-level influencers started to work with agents and request formal contracts for their collaborations and economic remuneration in exchange. This type of collaboration started to be considered as another type of advertising. This is when the term Influencer Marketing was coined.

What is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer Marketing relates to communication or marketing actions carried out by influencers. An influencer is any person or figure that has the ability to affect the behavior of their followers through social networks, blogs, or other digital media. 

These communicative processes across largely followed platforms (such as social networks, blogs, etc.) are considered influencer marketing actions.

Influencer Marketing is an exchange between users with certain authority on digital media and a brand. The Influencer promotes a product, service, or brand in exchange for monetary or in-kind remuneration. 

Types of Influencers

Influencers are classified into different categories based on the number of followers in their community and their nature. There is much controversy about how many followers an influencer should have, however, now there are spaces for all kinds of influencers.

Let’s take a look at the differences.

Types of influencers based on the number of followers

⚡ Nano influencers: People who have up to 10,000 followers on their social networks.

⚡ Micro influencers: Influencers with a community ranging from 10,000 to 50,000 followers on Instagram or other social networks, and a range of 10,000 to 100,000 on YouTube.

⚡ Mid-tier influencers: From 50,000 to 250,000 followers on social media networks, and 100,000 to 1,000,000 million on YouTube.

⚡ Macroinfluencers: From 250,000 to 1,000,000 million on Instagram and from 1M to 10M on Youtube.

⚡ Top influencers: Top influencers are those who have a community of more than 1M followers in networks or more than 10M on YouTube.

Types of influencers based on their nature

⚡ Natives: They are those influencers who have become famous through the social network they influence. They are Instagrammers or YouTubers by birth.

Think the Alex Earle’s, Charli D’Amelio’s, Sommer Ray’s, and Cameron Dallas’s of the world…

⚡ Non-native influencers are those whose fame comes from other non-social channels (television, music, sports, media, film, art, etc…)

Think of Dwayne Johnson, Selena Gomez, or just about any other celebrity who has worked with a large brand…

How to Collaborate with Influencers 

If you are considering the possibility of including influencer marketing in your digital strategy, keep in mind the following tips before getting in touch with any influencer. 

Make sure they ‘influence’ the right audience

To ensure your actions get the expected results, you must search for the right collaborator. Influencer marketing doesn’t center around the influencer but around the audience that follows them.

You must analyze whether the followers of the person that you are planning to contact are part of your target audience or not.

The best tool to find influencers on social media

You can perform the search yourself, typing in the details of potential influencers for your campaign. This task is quite time-consuming and the data may vary over time.

If you want to optimize your time, use a tool that helps you to see the data of potential influencers.

With Metricool you can analyze influencers on YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter by simply including their names in the tool.

At a glance, you get the data from their social networks and you can compare by reach, and followers, see their posting frequency, their best posts, etc.

Followers are not everything

When on the search for an influencer, you must consider more things beyond the number of followers. First, check the interaction and engagement that they generate. There have been some cases of influencers that bought their followers, especially on Instagram. Assess the comments and likes that their photos receive. In short, their engagement.

It could happen that a person with half as many followers as someone else has more engagement.

Establish a clear proposal

So, what’s your proposal? What are you planning to offer and what are you expecting to receive in exchange? You should have an answer to these questions before you ask for a collaboration. You must know what you offer:

• Your products/services
• Media coverage
• Compensation

You should also know what you will ask influencers in exchange for your marketing strategy:

• A blog article
• A discount for their subscribers
• Sharing on social media
• Video reviews, written testimonials, etc…

Writing a blog and generating content for social networks requires a lot of time and effort. Don’t undervalue their work and be sure to make them a fair offer in line with what you are asking them to do. Make sure to create a budget before the proposal, and this is something you can share with the influencer. Creating these relationships should always include transparency.

Discover the best way to contact

Normally, their email address will be available on their blog, Instagram Bio, Twitter, or in their Facebook Page info.  

When you send them an email, remember to explain who you are, what you need, and what you can offer in exchange. You never know when you are going to need to contact them again.

Some of the advantages of introducing influencer marketing in your digital strategy are the diffusion and attention it brings, the reputation, as well as the increase in the number of followers on social media. If you make a good selection of influencers and propose an interesting and creative collaboration, success is guaranteed. Are you ready to start your influencer marketing?

If you have any questions about how to work with them or analyze their work, we will read your comments…

Explore the influencer’s media kit

Influencers or content creators usually work with an influencer media kit. This is a portfolio or presentation which shows the effectiveness of their work.

This work can help a brand decide if the influencer is the best option for their campaign: take the time you need to review it as many times as you need, study it, etc.

Analyze your Influencer Marketing Collaboration

For a marketing strategy to be successful and effective it is important to collect all the important information and analyze the statistics throughout the process: before, during, and after the partnerships; this way you will be sure and can guarantee that you have achieved the expected results.

If you want to know which are the most important metrics to analyze in the world of influencer marketing I leave you an article explaining the main metrics to be taken into account:

Top Influencer Marketing Platforms

If you want to use a platform to streamline your influencer marketing efforts or are struggling to find the right influencer for your brand, consider using one of these platforms to assist your collaborations.

These five different platforms allow you to recruit influencers, manage your collaborations, and track the ROI of your campaigns.

Captiv8

Captiv8 is an all-in-one influencer marketing suite for both brands and influencers to get the most out of their partnerships.

With social insights, influencer discovery, workflows, and measurement, this platform will make sure you hit all the essential steps for a successful collaboration.

They also have a Creative Collection, to create and view affiliate marketing campaigns, to drive e-commerce sales.

Grin

Grin.co specializes in influencer marketing for e-commerce brands.

In addition to offering multiple influencer search options, and having a large database, the platform also displays influencer campaign metrics.

Grin also offers a communication system with influencers that goes beyond email, such as SMS or Slack. Undoubtedly the new means of communication for Generation Z.

Creator.co

Creator.co is another platform made for both brands and creators.

With over 300 million profiles across all social media networks, brands are able to find the best influencers for their brands.

Creators can also find the right brands to work with, allowing both parties to create a positive relationship and powerful campaigns.

Upfluence

Built for e-commerce businesses of all sizes, Upfluence helps brands drive sales from their collaborations.

With their discovery suite and recruiting tools, brands can narrow their results to find the right influencers to work with.

Then use the centralized campaign management platform to launch campaigns, and then track sales and ROI.

impact.com

impact.com is a partnership management platform, for brands, creators, and influencers of all kinds.

Brands can use impact for anything ranging from influencer marketing, affiliate marketing, mobile partnerships, and business development, to Saas partnership marketing.

This platform also has a wide range of creators they partner with, including affiliates, influencers, content publishers, and media publishers.

Examples of Social Media Influencers

Speaking of influencers and their success, especially in social networks, here are a few articles on influencer’s rankings, their metrics, and some of their strategies to achieve success.

Check out the posts! They will help you learn more about each niche of influencers…

✅ Amazon Influencers

✅ Sports Influencers

✅ Mom Influencers

✅ Podcast Influencers

✅ Body-Positive Influencers

✅ Political Influencers

✅ Food Influencers

✅ Lifestyle Influencers

✅ Food Influencers

✅ Fitness Influencers

✅ Beauty Influencers

✅ Mental Health Influencers

There are a TON of opportunities with influencer marketing, and it’s definitely worth checking out, whether you’re a brand or creator yourself! If you have any questions, leave them in the comments!

To make your overall social media strategy as easy as possible, consider becoming a Metricooler! Its so easy to sign up and it’s FREE! Click the button below:

sophie , 06 November 2023