Today's market requires every advantage your company can get to be successful.
What can you do for an advantage?
Explore the world of influencer marketing.
Small business can use influencer marketing to promote their products. It's not surprising that small and large companies use influencers to promote their products.
What is influencer marketing and how can it help your business?
Setting Goals for Small Business Influencer Campaigns
Influencer marketing involves working with social media stars to promote your company. Before you start working with an influencer, ask yourself these questions: What are my goals?
Unclarity in your campaign goals is the greatest mistake when it comes to influencer-marketing.
Consider this: If you don't have a plan for your post, it will be difficult to explain to influencers what you are trying to achieve.
It's important to know the purpose of each campaign. What are your marketing goals Your goal is to increase followers. The strategy will look very different if your goal is to generate leads or boost engagement.
Your campaign plan should include physical goals such as increased sales or traffic to your company. The whole purpose of influencer marketing, as you can see, is to make you more money.
Once you've established clear goals for your campaign, it's time connect with influencers.
Influencers are Not Only for Large Businesses
Influencers can be used in marketing campaigns by anyone, even if they are large corporations. Influencer marketing can actually be a big boost for your small business campaign.
You can increase awareness about your brand by allowing influential people to share your message. Each influencer has built a following with their own pages. Even a micro-influencer with 10k to 100k followers can help you grow your audience at a fair price.
Working with influencers allows you to reach new audiences for a fraction the cost of traditional marketing banners.
Influencer marketing is so much more efficient! Brands earn an average of $5 per $1 invested in influencer marketing campaigns. This is 11x the return on investment of traditional banner ads!
Finding the Right Influencers to Your Business
Now you have your campaign goals. What now?
Next, find the right influencer for your campaign. Instagram is the most popular platform for small business to use for influencer marketing. 79% of brands consider it the most important. Tik Tok, however, is a rising star in social media and could soon become the next big thing. Tik Tok boasts 1 billion monthly active users, who spend an average 850 minutes per month on the app!
It can seem overwhelming to find an influencer to work with online. But don't let this stop you! There are several easy ways to narrow your search.
You can search your social media pages.
- Collaboration will be more exciting for people who already have an interest in your brand.
- When a collaboration is announced, it will have a natural feel.
- Find people who comment regularly on your posts.
- You can check to see if your account has been tagged in any posts. Potential candidates include anyone who engages regularly with your brand.
- Ask your audience questions.
- If you frame it correctly, such as with a poll or question sticker, you can both find influencers and increase follower engagement simultaneously.
Use hashtags to find keywords related to your business
- Are you not a well-known artist? That's okay! Your niche's influencers are already expressing their interest in similar products to yours.
Take a look at the competition.
- Do not try to be smarter. Look at the social media accounts of your competitors to find influencers.
Check Your Influencer Options
You've already sorted through your account and searched hashtags. Are you ready for them to reach out? Not quite yet.
You should take the time to review their accounts before you contact your influencers. AKA influencer targeting, it is important to be selective in who you work with to ensure a successful influencer marketing campaign.
You should ensure that their audience is similar to yours. Where is their geographical location? What is their age What is their age? Do they speak the same language that your market segment? This is where you can discover overlaps between your audiences.
Next, verify that the influencers you are considering are legitimate. In this instance, the expression "fake it until you make it" is counterintuitive. It is possible to buy followers in order to artificially increase audience numbers. There are several ways to identify fake followers.
Demographics. Consider the location of influencers' followers. Are they all in the same area as the influencer?
- How many of their followers have photos on their profiles? What percentage of their followers have names made up only of random letters and numbers? All of these are indicators that you have a fake following.
Engagement. Engagement rates are important, in addition to the influencer's audience size.
- Without engagement, a large following is worthless. Engaged followers mean that they are listening and taking action.
- To calculate the engagement rate, multiply the number of comments or likes on an influencer’s posts by their followers, and multiply it by 100 to get a percentage.
- For a credible influencer, you should aim for at least 2-3% engagement. A minimum of 5% engagement is considered to be great. Anything above 10% is viral, and most likely will lead to some amazing content creation.
Content. You don't want to forget about the quality and style of the content created by the influencers in your list.
- Are they in line with your brand?
- What influencers produce high-quality content
- What do their videos look like?
- Do they look professional or amateur-made?
- These are questions to ask when you're considering influencer marketing for small businesses.
Influencer Marketing Platforms For Small Businesses
Small businesses may find it difficult to navigate the waters of influencer marketing as they grow in popularity and scale. Many companies have turned to influencer marketing platforms as a way to help small businesses.
These platforms take the guesswork out of the influencer review process.
Upfluence is the most effective platform for small businesses to use as an influencer marketing tool. Upfluence provides tons of information about influencers, including relevant statistics. Users can easily search for influencers with their followers, interests and engagement in one place.
If Upfluence is not for you, don't be discouraged. There are many influencer marketing platforms for small businesses. Sparktoro is an excellent audience research tool. Brandbassador, another platform that connects small e-commerce companies to influencers who can be brand ambassadors for their products, is another great tool.
There are also influencer engagement platforms that businesses could consider. Businesses can post their needs and influencers will reach out to them if they feel they might be a good match.
Are you not willing to deal with all the hassle? You're not wrong. There are also full-service influencer marketing agencies available for small businesses!
A small business can use an influencer marketing agency to help them reach the highest levels of the influencer partnership process.
- Your campaign's target audience should be identified.
- Find the right person to influence you.
- Establish a rapport with the influencer
- Ideal campaign goals strategies
- Encourage influencers to produce better content
- Follow the campaign
You can still learn how to reach out to influencers, regardless of whether you work for an agency or influencer marketing platform.
How to Get Started Working With Influencers
Once you have found influencers for your agency, it is time to get in touch.
It is a good idea to go to their website or account and check for email addresses. So that they feel comfortable talking to you, make sure to introduce yourself. They will feel more at ease and be willing to ask questions about the project.
A media kit is a must-have for professional influencers. It is a great way of determining if you are working alongside a serious influencer.
After you have made introductions, discuss your campaign. You should explain the campaign's direction and provide as much detail as possible regarding the timeline, important dates, and the rates.
What to Avoid when Reaching Out
There are some things you should avoid when using influencer marketing to promote small businesses. To contact influencers, you should never use a bot. They can be perceived as spammy and impersonal, which could lead to potential collaborations being canceled. Insta also punishes bot behavior. It's best not to do this.
Never leave a comment on a blog post. This is unprofessional. Instead, use email or direct messaging.
It is important to not copy and paste the same message to all influencers. It comes across as unprofessional and spammy. It is better to personalize your message to each influencer.
Do you want to go the extra mile? Include details about the page and their work. You can get influencers to join your campaign by highlighting how they would be a valuable asset. It can go a long distance, I promise.
Unrelated influencers are something you should avoid. Talking to an influencer in the kitchen is no good if you're running a campaign on 3D printing.
img alt="Examples for Instagram captions" class="wp-image-166776" height="481" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" src="https://neilpatel.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Influencer_marketing_for_small_businesses1-700×481.jpg" srcset="https://neilpatel.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Influencer_marketing_for_small_businesses1-700×481.jpg 700w, https://neilpatel.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Influencer_marketing_for_small_businesses1-350×240.jpg 350w, https://neilpatel.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Influencer_marketing_for_small_businesses1-768×527.jpg 768w, https://neilpatel.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Influencer_marketing_for_small_businesses1.jpg 1404w" width="700"/>
Unrelated influencers can be a waste of time when it comes to influencer marketing for small businesses. Make sure potential collaborators are compatible with your brand.
Top Practices for Small Business Influencer campaigns
Now you have set up your campaign and found an influencer. You are ready to collaborate. These are some tips to help you make your campaign a success.
- You should be as transparent and open as possible when entering into negotiations. Although rates can vary, it is important to have clear expectations about the influencer.
- To avoid any confusion later on, you can know what your costs will be and the deadlines for each task.
- Consider creating a contract with your influencer, especially for larger projects. This will outline the project's requirements.
- Please share your resources! Make it easy for influencers to use your resources. The better the results, Influencers will be able to use your brand style guide, which includes your logo, brand colors, and taglines.
- To streamline things, communicate your campaign goals and any frequently asked questions.
- To ensure that your project meets the goals set, track campaign metrics.
After your campaign is completed, share your results with your influencers. This will not only build professional co-working relationships, but it can also help you get more influencers to work alongside you in the future. You might also receive valuable feedback from your influencers. This feedback can be used wisely to improve your future campaigns.
The FTC requires disclosures about endorsed relationships with businesses whenever there is a material relationship. This includes gifts and payments. You must ensure that all laws and regulations are adhered to when creating campaigns.
FAQs
What types of influencers are there?
You can break down influencers by the number of followers they have. A nano-influencer has 1k-10k followers. Micro-influencers can have 10k-10k followers, while macro-influencers can be followed by 100k-1M. Mega-influencers are the most popular type, with more than 1 million followers.
Is it possible to pay influencers with products even if I don’t have a lot of money?
This is not a problem! Smaller brands are more likely to gift products via ambassadorships and referral programs. Brandbassador, a small business influencer marketing platform that allows you to manage ambassadors for your brand, is a great example.
What are the benefits of an influencer in my small business?
An influencer can help you increase brand awareness, boost your campaigns and give you access to new audiences.
What are my concerns when working with influencers
Do your research before you hire influencers to promote your brand. You want to make sure that you're working with an influencer with a following who aligns with your brand and has the skills necessary to achieve your campaign goals.
What is the expected ROI for working with influencers
Brands earn an average of $5 per $1 invested in influencer marketing campaigns. This is 11x the ROI for traditional banner ads.
Conclusion
Influencers can make a big difference in your business' marketing campaigns. It can be difficult to get influencers to join your business because of all the moving parts.
If you need help with your next campaign using influencer marketing, let our agency know and we'll be there to guide you.
What influencers are in your target audience that fit your brand's needs?
————————————————————————————————————————————–
By: Neil Patel
Title: Influencer Marketing for Small Businesses
Sourced From: neilpatel.com/blog/influencer-marketing-for-small-businesses/
Published Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0000