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With the rise of social media, influencer marketing has emerged as one of the most popular and effective ways for brands to connect with their audiences. According to Statista.com, the global market for influencer marketing is expected to exceed $15 billion by 2022. With numbers like this, it’s no wonder that more and more companies are investing in influencer marketing campaigns as they want to leverage the trusted relationships between influencers and their followers. However, many businesses still struggle with how to integrate this type of marketing into their overall marketing strategy. Past experience has proven again and again that short term and one-off campaign are not the most effective approach. If you’re ready to take your influencer marketing game to the next level and develop a year-long plan, read on:
What is an Influencer Marketing Strategy?
An influencer marketing strategy is a plan that identifies the brands, products, and services that you want to promote, as well as the specific social media influencers you want to work with. It also outlines the type of content you want to create, and the best channels for distributing it.If you’re just getting started with influencer marketing, you’ll need to put some thought into how you approach it. For instance, you’ll want to decide if you want to focus on working with micro-influencers or go after the big names. Additionally, you’ll want to consider the types of campaigns you want to run and how they’ll benefit your business.
Why You Should Develop a Yearly Influencer Strategy
The best way to get the most out of your influencer marketing campaigns is to plan them out in advance. By creating a yearly influencer strategy, you can map out exactly which influencers you’ll work with, what types of content you’ll create, and which distribution channels will be best for distributing it. This will allow you to schedule out your campaigns and give each influencer campaign the attention it deserves.If you don’t have a plan, you’ll likely end up haphazardly throwing together campaigns at the last minute, which will likely result in sloppy and unoriginal content. By having a strategy in place, you’ll be able to create thoughtful content that is tailored to each influencer’s strengths and will be much more effective.
Establish Partnerships and Relationships With Influencers
One of the first steps in any influencer strategy should be to identify the specific influencers you want to partner with. By doing this, you’ll start to build relationships with these influencers and create a strong foundation from which to conduct your campaigns.When you first begin reaching out to influencers, don’t pitch them on your product or service just yet. Instead, start by asking them if they’re open to collaboration and if you can send them samples of your product. If you’re able to get your foot in the door, you can then start to engage with these influencers on a more regular basis.By regularly engaging with influencers and sending them samples of your products for review, you can also begin to identify the types of content that works best for them. This will allow you to tailor your campaign content to fit their needs and help you to avoid mistakes.
Define Success and Create KPI’s
Any successful influencer campaign should have clear goals and KPIs. By creating a list of goals and KPIs for each campaign, you’ll be able to measure the success of each influencer partnership, as well as see which campaigns are working best.Once you’ve identified your goals, you should then think about how your campaign can best achieve them. This is where your content comes into play. You’ll want to consider what type of content you should be creating for each campaign.For instance, if you’re looking to increase brand awareness, you’ll likely want to create shareable content that appeals to your audience and gets them talking about your brand. If you’re trying to increase website traffic, however, you’ll likely want to create content that focuses on educating your audience and directing them to your website.
Create Content Strategies for Each Channel
Once you’ve decided which influencers you want to work with and have planned out your campaigns, you’ll then need to decide what type of content you want to create for each channel. This will vary depending on which channels the influencers you’re working with are most active on.By creating content strategies for each channel, you’ll be able to create content that is tailored to each channel’s unique audience. This will help to ensure that your campaigns are as effective as possible and aren’t just regurgitating the same old content across multiple channels.By creating content strategies for each channel, you’ll also be able to allocate your resources in the most effective way possible. For instance, if you notice that photos are performing best on Instagram, you can then allocate more of your resources to creating visual content for that channel.
Bottom line
The best way to get the most out of your influencer marketing campaigns is to develop a yearly influencer strategy. By creating a strategy, you can map out exactly which influencers you’ll work with, what types of content you’ll create, and which distribution channels will be best for distributing it.This will allow you to schedule out your campaigns and give each influencer campaign the attention it deserves. By following these steps, you can ensure that your influencer marketing campaigns are effective and help you to get the most out of your investment.
