Influencer marketing is officially in the “tried and true” territory at this point. In 2023, reports showed that eight marketers out of every ten consider mid to advanced skills on how to do influencer marketing a vital part of their social media strategies.
This is a big deal, and we’ve been a long way coming. Just a decade ago, influencer marketing was only within the reach of celebrities and a handful of bloggers. It proved quite useful for brand engagement and sales from the get-go, so it was only a matter of time influencer marketing became democratized the world over.
But this is all just the start, as influencer marketing is evolving full tilt. It means brands have to get serious about keeping up with tools, trends, best practices, pitfalls and so on.
If you’re dabbling into influencer marketing for the first time in 2024, learning these elements can get overwhelming. In this piece, we’ll show you how to do influencer marketing campaigns for your brand the right way.
Getting Started: Understanding 2024 Influencer Marketing Trends
Personalized Content is Key
In 2024, consumers want more niche targeting and personalization from brands, which is something influencer marketing – or any other form of marketing – must reflect.
As such, the goal should be to make deeper connections with targeted consumer segments, fielding campaigns that drive conversions and foster brand loyalty.
How can this play out for you? For starters, it’s a great idea to start out by prioritizing working with influencers who have smaller, highly engaged audiences within specific communities or interest groups. This lets you establish that much-needed brand connection from the get-go.
This works well, if you’re wondering. Brands now favor micro (10K–100K followers) and nano-influencers (less than 10K followers) over mega influencers. Turns out, smaller follower counts do pack a punch!
Nano and micro-influencers often achieve higher engagement rates, which makes their recommendations more influential. Their audiences are tight knit, making these influencers perfect for targeted, niche marketing strategies.
Short-Form Video Dominates
Consumers want as much information as they can get for their time. Brands recognize this and try to grab their audience’s attention right away with marketing campaigns.
However, current market trends show that the average customer’s attention span is waning. Prospects are now making their buying decisions within minutes.
As a brand, you might want to look into short-form content for the best reach. Start your influencer marketing campaigns with focus for short-form videos.
Beyond its effectiveness, investing in short-form content allows your brand to leverage the market’s cross-platform access. Today, influencers share their content across various channels – Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and more – to maximize reach. This approach amplifies a brand’s message.
Steps On How to Do Influencer Marketing For the First Time
Once you’ve gotten a hang of current trends in influencer marketing, it’s important to recognize the key steps of a successful campaign. Below are the steps to launching an influencer marketing campaign.
Goals and Budget
If you’d like to know how to do influencer marketing right, mustn’t you first count the cost? So, it’s best to begin by determining your campaign budget. Once you’ve allocated the necessary funds, establish clear campaign goals that align with your broader business and marketing strategies.
For instance, if the overarching marketing goal is to boost brand visibility, you could set a specific objective for the campaign. This could be gaining 500 new Instagram followers and raising social media engagement by 20%.
Influencer Type
Companies typically classify influencers based on their follower count. We’ve got:
- Nano-influencers: 1,000 to 9,999 followers
- Micro-influencers: 10,000 to 99,999 followers
- Mid-tier influencers: 100,000 to 499,999 followers
- Macro-influencers: 500,000 to 1 million followers
- Mega influencers: Over 1 million followers
To choose the right influencer tier, it’s best to consider both your budget and campaign objectives. We’ve established that smaller influencers are where the market’s at, thanks to how much more visibility they can deliver for less.
That’s not to mention that choosing smaller influencers also frees up budget space, allowing you to collaborate with multiple influencers across different campaigns for even broader reach and impact.
All told, larger influencers still offer greater reach but typically come with higher costs.
Influencer Research
If you’ve settled on the influencer type for your campaign, you still need to do some research.
These tips will help you:
- Conduct in-platform research: Use the social media platforms where you plan to market to discover influencers. For instance, a cycling apparel brand could search hashtags like “#cycling” on Instagram to find influencers within that niche.
You can also look for posts using branded cycling gear hashtags or those mentioning your brand to locate influencers already active in similar campaigns.
- Use a search engine: A simple Google search can help you find influencers in a specific niche. This works best if you’re looking for results for larger accounts. For example, a stationery company might search for “event planning influencers,” “lifestyle bloggers,” or “etiquette influencers” to identify potential partners.
Once you’ve identified potential influencers, evaluate their previous campaigns to assess content quality, consistency of style, and how well their audience aligns with your target demographics.
The Approach
It’s time to reach out to invite your preferred influencer to collaborate with your brand. You can contact potential partners through an influencer marketing platform, by email, or via direct message. Be sure to include the following key details:
- Brand alignment: Right out of the gate, You’d want to explain why you believe the influencer is a great match for your brand, highlighting the connection between their content and your products or values.
- Your request: Clearly state what you’re asking the influencer to do, such as creating specific content or promoting a product, and include information about compensation.
- Campaign goals: Outline your objectives and any key performance indicators (KPIs). This is so that the influencer can also assess if the partnership is a good fit. If they’re an experienced influencer, they may offer you suggestions based on what has worked for them in the past.
- Response deadline: Provide a specific date by which you’d like the influencer to respond, ensuring the partnership can move forward in a timely manner.
Expectations
The fit is right and the influencer marketing partnership is on. At this point, it’s important to develop a contract that clarifies expectations for both parties. Include the following information:
- Deliverables and influencer activities: Specify the actions the influencer will take and outline campaign deliverables. For example, you might want the influencer to create six Instagram posts featuring your products, post them to their account, and tag your company.
- Timeline: Include the contract start and end date and specify the period over which your partner will execute the agreed-upon activities.
- Compensation: Include information about how and when your company will compensate the influencer.
- Content usage: Specify who owns the rights to influencer content. If you plan to repost influencer content to your brand accounts, include that information here.
- Termination clauses: Over the course of the campaign, the influencer represents your brand, which is why it’s best to include information about any conditions that might nullify the contract.
This step is particularly important for brand ambassadorships and other long-term partnerships in which you’ll want to have a clear exit strategy in case the relationship goes south.
Measuring Results
Tracking performance metrics is essential for evaluating your campaign’s success and understanding what resonates with your audience. The insights you gain from your current influencer campaign can help refine and improve future strategies.
For longer-term partnerships, such as brand ambassadorships, it’s important to review performance midway through the campaign. Use these check-ins to assess progress and make adjustments as needed to ensure the best possible outcomes.
Wrapping Up
As you start out understanding how to do influencer marketing and successfully running a campaign, you’d do well to remember that a lot has changed – and still changing – in the space in 2024.
In the past, influencer marketing lived and died on follower counts. Now? Brand trust and engagement are all anyone cares about.
The steps we’ve discussed above ensures that you achieve effective influencer marketing outreach each time, whether it’s a long-term or one-off campaign.