Influencer Marketing: How to Get Results

By Bethany, Social Media Strategist | March 11, 2019

By 2020, there will be anywhere from five to ten million marketing influencers across a range of industries, according to Social Chain. No matter what type of business you own, you can benefit from influencer marketing.

For the right price (monetary compensation of in-kind products and services), you can work with influencers to promote your business. However, you want to carefully choose the influencers you work with to ensure you get the best results and engagement.

Follow these steps to have a successful influencer campaign:

Figure out the market you’re trying to reach.

Before you start looking for influencers, you must figure out the type of audience you are trying to reach. Consider different niche groups such as food, lifestyle, fitness, travel, design, etc. Most influencers and bloggers have a niche focus and audience. When our client, Dutchess Tourism Inc., was looking for influencers to help promote Hudson Valley Restaurant Week in fall 2018, we approached influencers that focused on food content. See the influencers' results for our client in the graphics below:

Create a checklist for prospective partners.

Once you identify your market, you don’t want to just start messaging any influencers you find. Make a “checklist” of what would make an influencer a good fit for your campaign and budget. First, review their followers on their platforms such as Instagram, website, and other social media accounts. The higher the number of followers, the higher their rates will be.

Then, consider their engagement; do they get many likes or comments? How is their engagement ratio compared to number of followers? Believe it or not, some influencers fake their following, and it’s reflected in their engagement. You want to be sure they are reaching real accounts and people.

Next, consider their geographic location. Can they physically get to your business if they need to visit? If not, can you afford to pay their travel expenses? After you identify these three points, and any other points that could outweigh your decision to work with them, then you can contact them.

Negotiate to get effective deliverables.

When you come across an influencer you’d like to work with, and have mutually agreed to start a partnership, you’ll need to get down to the purpose of working with them. Remember, you are putting your products or services on display to their audiences, so, you want to ensure the content is shared on the right platform or platforms. Variables in the negotiation include the number of posts; the number of platforms; how much content they create versus what you provide them; and the value of any in-kind product or service you provide to them.

Set up their campaign for success.

The point of working with influencers is to get your product or service in front of more people. So make sure there are elements to make it noticeable. Center your campaign around a transaction, and give the influencer a coupon code to offer to their followers that you can track. Have the influencer promote your location or event, if you want more people to attend. Get creative, so you can see return on your investment!

Follow up for analytics after the campaign.

Lastly, once the campaign is over, follow up with the influencer to get their statistics. Keep those as a reference to see if you gain business from the campaign. If you do not gain the return you are looking for, evaluate the statistics to see how you can improve next time.