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Digital Marketing

How to Create Your First Influencer Marketing Strategy

February 27, 2018

Influencer marketing is one of the biggest things in marketing nowadays. Businesses are making $6.50 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing. An influencer's support will help take your business to the next level. If you've never tried it and you want to engage in it, the following tactics will assist you in creating your first influencer marketing strategy.

BE AWARE OF YOUR GOALS

It is critical when communicating with influencers for you to be brief. It is difficult to get to the point when you’re not certain of what the point is. As a matter of fact, how can you be certain that you know what influencers you should be contacting if you have no idea about what you want?

The first thing is to figure out what you want to accomplish using the assistance of influencers. Some example objectives might be:

Also, knowing your goals is essential so that you know how you will measure the success of your efforts, which will assist you to establish ways of becoming more effective with your influencer marketing later on.

SELECT THE MOST SUITABLE INFLUENCERS

Now that you have your goals clear in mind, you need to choose the right influencers that will assist you to accomplish your goals and also to reach your target market.

You need to begin by examining the demographic that they appeal to. Is it the same as yours or is it the one you want to reach out to? After that, look at their interactions with their audience and the content that they come up with. Find out if they create YouTube videos, do Facebook live streams or even post articles on LinkedIn. Your decision will be influenced by the content that they create and the social media platforms that they mostly utilize. If they use a platform that your clients do not use or create content in a way they do not prefer, then it will be an effective partnership.

Ask yourself how the influencer you are targeting would best make use of your content. If you can’t envision them finding your content valuable and being able to share it with their audience, then they are most likely not the ideal partners for you.

RESEARCH THE INFLUENCERS

After choosing the influencers you prefer, you should carry out thorough research on each one of them. Get as many details as you can when researching, as this will assist you to establish not only what is important to them, but can also help you to establish the best way of reaching out to them.

Influencers are very crucial in this business. They constantly engage their audience and provide helpful knowledge and guidance. Ensure that you look for these traits when selecting your influencers. Go to their social media profiles. What are their listed interests? Who do they follow? You could, for instance, discern that a particular influencer enjoys surfing if you find that they regularly retweet posts by BookSurfCamp.

Look at their photos and even recent posts. Also, look at their websites (if they have any). Take your time to acquaint yourself with their content. Moreover, check out their audience. What kind of following do they have? How do they interact with their audience? You can even go further by approaching their audience and finding out if the influencers have a large influence over them.

If the influencers have a huge following but they interact less with their community, then it means that they might not have any huge influence within their community and thus might not be of great assistance to you.

SET THE STAGE

Influencers’ email boxes are more often than not full. Therefore, even if you write a captivating subject line, your email might not be read. However, you can increase the chances of success of your first email request by setting the stage. This can be done by familiarizing them with your name and your brand’s name.

Since by now you already know the social media platforms that they use and the type of content they create, you need to connect with them on each of their platforms. For instance, follow them on Instagram and Twitter, subscribe to their YouTube channel, etc. Once you've familiarized yourself with their community and content, go ahead and leave meaningful comments on their posts. Your main objective is to work toward initiating a discussion. While the occasional ‘great’ comment might be appropriate, it may not grab the attention of the influencer.

The primary objective of this interaction is for your name to be familiar to them when it appears in their email box. Combined with an interesting subject line, the influencer might be obliged to open your email.

SEND YOUR EMAIL REQUEST

The subject line of your email is very crucial here, as it can influence the success of your outreach to the influencers. Even though your name might sound familiar, if your subject line isn’t captivating enough, they will skip it and even end up deleting it with the rest of the junk.

Regardless of whether you choose an attention-grabbing headline or one that references some of their past works, ensure that it’s brief and informative so that they know what to expect.

Your email’s body should also be short and straight to the point. Etiquette is equally important. Begin your email with a personal greeting that includes their name. Complement them on their work. For instance, you can mention that you often read their blog posts and you are a huge fan of them. You can go ahead and mention your favorite post.

Then, you will want to focus on your purpose. Tell them the reason for writing to them (just a sentence or two (you don’t want to write a lot of things). Your objective is to figure out if they are interested and are a good match. State in a sentence or two what you require from them. Being precise will help to prevent time wasting on both sides.

Next, they need to be enlightened on their benefits from this alliance. Briefly explain why they should say yes to your request. Finish by letting them know how they can contact you if they have any questions, and then close with a suitable salutation. It would be good if you include your social media profile links as part of your email signature for them to easily research you and your brand. The email shouldn't be more than 5 to 10 sentences long.

If you don’t get feedback right away, wait for a few weeks before you write again. You might end up trying several times before you get a response. Patience is key.

CULTIVATE THE RELATIONSHIP

Once the influencer has agreed to partner with you, the effort doesn’t end there. The process of cultivating that relationship begins. It will take some time and effort. This can be done by replying to any communication from them and also by taking time to respond to any question or concerns that might arise.

Look for ways to add value to the partnership. You can give them a gift or something that they can share with their audience. Ensure that their audience will value the gift.

EVALUATE YOUR SUCCESS

While it may feel like you’ve succeeded when you establish the relationship with the appropriate influencers, it is vital for you to keep track of the success that each party contributes to every goal you set at the beginning.

It’s only through evaluating each influencer’s success in accomplishing what you wanted that you can now make appropriate changes to your influencer marketing strategy to get the best results.

Lori Wade

Lori is a content writer for EssayWriterSite who is interested in a wide range of spheres from education and online marketing to entrepreneurship. If you are interested in writing, you can find her on Twitter or Google+.

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