The way businesses market their products and services to customers has changed immensely throughout recent years. Instead of radio, tv, and print ads, more and more businesses are turning to influencer marketing campaigns to promote their brand. The influencer market in the U.S. was valued at a record 16.4 billion.
Influencers are often seen as trusted individuals within their niche. Typically, they have formed a large following on social media that they interact with regularly. Influencer marketing is when a company partners with one of these individuals in order to promote a product, service, or brand. Some of the many benefits of this type of marketing include increasing brand awareness, building credibility, generating sales, and forming better relationships with customers. Influencer marketing has become an important part of the digital marketing world.
Influencer marketing is a valuable tool for businesses to utilize. Let’s look at 7 of the most common and effective influencer marketing campaigns your business can take advantage of.
Types of Influencers
Before going into the type of campaigns, it is important to know the many types of influencers that are out there. While influencer marketing is a powerful way to gain exposure, not all influencers are the same.
Mega-Influencers: These are the most well-known type of influencers, often boasting millions of followers. They typically include celebrities, athletes, and public figures, who have established their fame outside of social media, though some have earned their status entirely online. While they provide substantial visibility, their engagement rate may be lower, and their endorsements may not always appear personal or genuine due to their broad audience.
Macro-Influencers: These influencers have a follower count ranging from 100,000 to 1 million. They often gained their popularity through digital platforms, excelling in areas such as fashion, gaming, beauty, fitness, and more. Their influence is considerable, and they maintain a higher level of personal engagement than mega-influencers.
Micro-Influencers: These influencers typically have between 1,000 and 100,000 followers. They tend to focus on a specific niche and have a very engaged and dedicated follower base. Brands often partner with micro-influencers for their high engagement rates and their followers’ trust in their recommendations. In fact, micro-influencers generate up to 60% more engagement than macro influencers.
Nano-Influencers: With a follower count of less than 1,000, nano-influencers might seem insignificant at first glance. However, their impact lies in their tight-knit communities and high engagement rates. They typically have a close relationship with their followers, which can lead to very effective word-of-mouth marketing.
Sponsored Content
With sponsored content, an influencer is paid by a brand to create content promoting the company’s product or service. This can be in the form of a blog post or social media post and the content of the post will depend on the goal of the campaign. For example, providing a review, showing the product in action, or simply mentioning it in the post can be different types of sponsored posts.
Typically, the brand has some creative control over the post. They provide guidelines and expectations to the influencer for the content they are wanting. The content will also be clearly labeled as a sponsored post so the audience knows the influencer was compensated for the content.
Giveaways and Contests
Working with an influencer to do a giveaway or contest is a great way to increase social media engagement rates and drive traffic to a brand’s account. In this type of campaign, a company provides a free product or service to an influencer. The influencer then gives it away to one of their followers. In order to win, the followers must complete set tasks. Typically, those tasks include things such as liking the post, commenting and tagging others, and following the brand’s account.
It’s a great way to create excitement around a brand. This is often best paired with other campaigns as well since people can easily unfollow after the giveaway or contest is done.
Social Media Takeover
A social media takeover is when a company gives an influencer control over their social media for a set period of time to create and post content on behalf of the brand. This usually lasts for a day, but sometimes up to a week if doing a special event.
This can be a beneficial marketing campaign for both the brand and the influencer. This is because the brand gets more variety in their social media as influencers inject their own style into the posts and the influencer is able to be in front of the brand’s audience and potentially receive new followers as well.
Reviews
Reviews have always been important for a company’s reputation as they can help others perceive what it’s like working or buying from a company. Brands can offer influencers a free product or service in exchange for a review, also referred to as product seeding. The review can be in the form of a blog post, social media post, or video.
By sharing their experience with their followers, influencers can help others determine if they would like to purchase one as well, driving sales to the company. Another benefit is if the influencer is a new customer. This way brands can also get a glimpse of how their products are being received. That will let them know if they need to improve upon anything.
Affiliate Marketing
For an affiliate marketing campaign, a company provides influencers with a unique affiliate link to share with their followers. When followers click on the link and purchase a product or service from the company, the company gets a sale. In return, the influencer typically gets a small commission as well. The affiliate link can also be accompanied by a discount code to further incentivize purchases. This campaign is ideal for companies wanting to boost sales.
Pre-release Campaigns
The goal of a pre-release campaign is to create excitement for a new product or service that is not on the market yet. Providing early access to this product or service to an influencer, allows them to create content around it. The hope is that this will increase anticipation about its launch.
Some brands may also decide to share a special pre-order link or discount code for influencers to share amongst their audience. This can be an effective way to build brand awareness and build excitement around a new product or service.
Brand Ambassadors
Brand ambassadors are long-term partnerships with influencers who represent a brand and promote their products and services for an extended time. These influencers post about a brand consistently and on all of their social media pages.
Having dedicated people champion a brand can build trust and credibility. And, having those ambassadors constantly sharing content about the brand’s products and services shows audiences the different ways the brand brings value to the influencer’s life. It can be harder and more time-consuming to build a brand ambassador campaign. However, this campaign can yield effective results.
Conclusion
Influencer marketing campaigns can be an essential component for businesses to grow brand awareness. It can also increase sales and build authentic relationships with their customers. One of the most important things to keep in mind when planning a campaign is selecting the right influencers. One that resonates with your brand and audience. Leveraging influencers can be a powerful tool to reach your business goals.
Also Read:
7 Types of Traditional Marketing
7 Types of Mobile Marketing to Understand
10 Types of Content Marketing and How They Work
5 Types Of Digital Marketing Entrepreneurs Should Understand
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