Influencer marketing is often used to raise brand awareness and increase sales. However, a more effective target is to hone in on what your brand's needs are. For example, perhaps you want to increase your customer base in a specific demographic or expand into a new user group with a new product. Your message is as important. Without stifling your influencer's creativity and uniqueness, determine how you want to structure your influencer marketing campaign and message.

Decide on goals and message

<ul><li>Start by choosing the platform you want to focus on, ideally where you already have a presence. You can always expand to other platforms at a later stage.</li><li>Look at the type of influencers you're interested in. Are you looking for celebrities with huge followings, micro-influencers with less than 2000 followers, or somewhere between 5-10k followers? </li><li>Social listening can help identify where people are discussing your industry and brand and help you find the most influential voices in your industry.</li><li>Consider the expected ROI of your social influencer marketing campaign.</li></ul>

How to find influencers

<ul><li>Create a specific hashtag to track what your influencers are doing.</li><li>If you're aiming for more sales, affiliate codes or tracking links can help establish how much is generated from influencers.</li></ul> Success may vary between brands, so don't give up if your first one does not meet up to your expectations. You may find using influencers as part of your marketing strategy is very beneficial to everyone.

How to track influencer marketing campaigns

Instagram influencer marketing is a well-known strategy, but there are many other networks for influencers, such as Snapchat, YouTube and TikTok. In a 2018 survey, 89% said ROI from influencer marketing was comparable to or better than other channels.

The value of influencer marketing

<ul><li>When creating a budget, ensure to factor in time for planning, executing and reviewing your influencer program. A successful influencer marketing campaign is not an automated ad strategy but involves monitoring and follow up.</li><li>If you have time and money, consider setting up a formal ambassador program.</li><li>An influencer marketing agency is a good bet for brands that need a wider set of influencers to do the research and coordination.</li></ul>

Set a budget and management strategy

Step one is to research how to find the right influencers to work with. Consider the following:<ul><li>Does the influencer already post about similar things to your service?</li><li>Are they legit? A sign of a fraudulent account is a poor engagement ratio to follower count and spam-like comments.</li><li>Have they worked with similar brands before?</li></ul> Step two is determining how you'll be reaching out to them.<ul><li>Micro influencers can be contacted directly in a private message on the same platform.</li><li>More established influencers may list contact information for business inquiries in their bio.</li></ul>

How to contact influencers

Influencers are individuals who have a dedicated social following and are viewed as experts within a niche. Influencer marketing is a kind of social media marketing where influencers endorse and mentions products. Influencer marketing works because of the high trust that social influencers have built up with their followers. Therefore, recommendations from them are seen as proof to the brand's potential customers.

Influencer marketing

If you're planning on starting an influencer marketing strategy, read our guide that breaks down the process into actionable steps.