By Mollie Leal
Although the social media industry is ever-changing, influencer marketing is a growing industry and a valuable promotional tool for businesses. Shopify reported that 61% of consumers put trust in influencers’ recommendations–far outweighing the 38% who trust branded social media content alone.
According to Influencer Marketing Hub, the influencer marketing market grew to a whopping $16.4 billion industry in 2022–up from $13.8 billion the year prior–due to the popularity of short video content on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, as well as consumers’ increased social media consumption as an effect of the global pandemic.
As the influencer marketing industry continues to grow, here are our top five tips to get the most out of your next influencer campaign:
Micro-Influencers Are Key To Authentic Brand Partnerships
The key to a successful campaign is to partner with influencers that have an engaged audience. While nano- and micro-influencers (1K-100K followers) have fewer followers compared to macro- and mega-influencers (500K – 1M+ followers), the former group typically has a more engaged audience that is more likely to take action and positively impact a business’s bottom line. Consumers are also drawn to content that feels authentic and relatable, making nano- and micro-influencers’ content more appealing compared to mega influencers. Your marketing budget can also go further when partnering with nano- and micro-influencers considering they typically charge lower rates (and have a more engaged audience), compared to mega- influencers.
Authenticity Is Key
Authenticity distinguishes a dynamic influencer campaign from an average one – with the best-performing partnerships occurring when there is symmetry between the brand and creator’s voice.
A creator’s loyal followers trust them, so seek out partners that align with your brand. To do this, you need to get specific about the kind of audience you’re trying to reach. The more precise you can get about audience demographics – where your ideal customer lives, what kind of content they consume, etc., the stronger your pool of content creators will become.
Once your partners are locked in, it’s best to trust the creator’s voice and allow flexibility for them to create content they know will resonate best with their audience. What makes nano- and micro-influencers so successful is the authentic connection they have with their audience, so strict scripts or content regulations that steer away from the influencers’ typical voice won’t resonate as well.
Video Content Reigns Supreme
Short-form video content continues to increase in popularity across social media platforms and influencers are prioritizing creating high-performing video content over static images or blog posts. When ideating an influencer campaign, assess how the concept and vision can best come across over video.
Provide Audiences with a Call To Action
Encourage creator partners to feature a call to action in their post – such as interacting with a coupon link or using a promo code. This creates an opportunity to track the effectiveness of the campaign (by viewing how many followers use the link provided) and gives audiences an incentive to interact with the brand. According to the PTPA awards, 68.8% of consumers surveyed are looking for in-store coupons to make ends meet with the increasing price of grocery bills, so coupon links are a valuable option to explore now.
Make It An Instagram Collab Post
Taking advantage of Instagram’s latest feature, Instagram Collabs, can optimize the reach of your campaign content by enabling brands and creators to co-author content that shows up on both feeds. This new feature pushes content to both the brand’s and creators’ audiences at the same time, increasing the potential audience reach of the post and typically lending to higher engagement rates with produced content.
Want to learn more about strategizing a successful influencer campaign? Reach out to the Double Forte team for more information.