Influencer Marketing

Influencer Marketing: How Small Businesses Can Make a Campaign That Boost Sales

Modern marketing gurus choose influencer marketing over traditional marketing, and for a good reason. According to the recent statistics, the average earned media value per $1 spent on influencer marketing is around $5.20. And that’s a fantastic result!

If you own a small business and struggle to boost sales, influencer marketing might be the best solution for you. Let’s see what steps you should take to make influencer marketing work for you.

Step #1 – Outline your goals and set your marketing budget

The first step you should take is to set the goals of your influencer marketing campaign. You should define what specific results you want to achieve. Do you want to boost sales only? Or, do you also want to increase reach and raise brand awareness?

Keep in mind that all your goals must be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound. Here is an example of a well-defined goal: “To increase sales by 15% till the end of December”.

At this stage, you should also calculate how much money you need to spend to achieve the goals set. You should be realistic and set the marketing budget your small company can afford.

Step #2 – Choose the right influencer

The most challenging thing about running an influencer marketing campaign is to choose the relevant digital celebrity. Here are a few tips that might help you to make the right choice:

• Search for influencers at such marketing platforms such as Heepsy, BuzzSumo, and NinjaOutreach.
• Focus on engagement rather than It’s better to choose an influencer who has 15,000 followers and a high engagement rate of 17.5%, rather than someone who has 100,000 followers and a low engagement rate of 1.5%.
• Choose key influencers in your specific niche. For instance, if you sell bodybuilding supplements for teens, you should collaborate with influential teenage bodybuilders only. You shouldn’t consider any other candidacies (e.g., adult bodybuilders, teenage swimmers).
• Check from what countries and cities the influencer’s followers come from. For instance, if you own a small family restaurant in New Delhi, there is no sense to collaborate with influencers whose followers come mostly from Kollam or Dhaka.
• Look for authenticity. Find an influencer who has a bright personality and produces 100% unique content.
• Make sure that the chosen influencer promotes the same values your company does.
• Avoid influencers who partner with your major competitors or who partner with dozens of different brands simultaneously.

Step #3 – Make a plan

Once you have chosen the influencer, you should negotiate the following aspects of collaboration:

• What type of content do you want the influencer to create: Instagram Stories, Facebook feed posts, IGTV videos?
• How many pieces of content should the influencer publish?
• How often do you want the influencer to post new content (e.g., once a day, two times a week)?
• At what time of the day do you want to publish fresh content (e.g., at 6 a.m., at midday, 10 p.m.)?

Discuss these questions with the influencer and create a content plan. Keep in mind that the influencer knows his followers better than you, so you should listen to his suggestions. For instance, if you want to publish new posts at 7 p.m., but influencer says that his audience uses social media more actively at 8 p.m., you should agree to postpone publication for one hour.

Step #4 – Be creative

There are many ways in which influencer marketing may help you to boost sales. To grab the target audience’s attention, and maximize your marketing efforts, ask the influencer to do the following:

• Start a social media challenge that will be associated with your product
• Throw a giveaway or contest (For instance, ask followers to “tag a friend” to get a prize. It will help you to boost reach and raise brand awareness)
• Use interactive content to collect the feedback (e.g., use polls in Instagram Stories to find out what does your target audience think about your product)
• Make an unboxing video to generate curiosity

“Posting ordinary product photos on social media, you have little chances to grab the customers’ attention. If you want to get the most of your influencer marketing campaign, you should be creative and find a way to impress and intrigue your target audience,” says Brittany Kingston, a blog writer for Studicus.

Step #5 – Control the process of content creation

Even if you collaborate with an influencer who has a great reputation, you still should be involved in the process of content creation. You pay money for the influencer’s work, so you have a right to check its quality.

You should make sure that captions written by an influencer are perfect in terms of grammar. To proofread the text fast and easily, you can use such tools as TrustMyPaper, Grammarly, or GrabMyEssay.

But don’t get it wrong. You shouldn’t micromanage the influencer. You should give him enough freedom to create compelling content. And you should feel free to ask for a revision if it’s necessary

Step #6 – Track the results

It’s important to track the results of every sponsored post. You should analyze the statistics to understand whether the investments in influencer marketing have high returns. If you do not achieve the expected ROI, you should review your strategy and make some changes.

In case if collaboration with the chosen influencer seems to be ineffective, you should find the influencer who better appeals to your brand. You should learn from your mistakes and continuously improve your marketing strategy to keep your small business afloat.

In conclusion

Influencer marketing opens up a whole new landscape for small businesses. So if you want to succeed, don’t hesitate to collaborate with influencers in your niche. Let influencers help you to find new customers and take your company to a brand new level.

If you want to increase sales, apply the tips given in this article. It will help you to build a strong marketing strategy and avoid big mistakes.

BIO: Angela Baker is a specialist in digital marketing. She is currently working as an editor at BestEssayEducation. Also, she writes articles for her own blog LiveInspiredMagazine and other reputable publications.