Even if you’ve not heard of ‘influencer marketing’, it’s likely you’ll have been targeted by it. The marketing tool is still pretty new but is quickly becoming the most powerful form of marketing. According to a study by the Influencer Marketing Hub, businesses who use influencers make approximately $5.78 for every $1 spent — an ROI bigger than pretty much any other marketing technique.

Influencers are a marketer’s favorite tool at the moment, with 78% budgeting influencers into their strategies for the next year. So, if you’re new to influencer marketing, it’s time to jump on the bandwagon. If you don’t, you could be missing out on thousands of dollars’ worth of profits…

Today, we’re going to summarize what exactly influencer marketing is and how you can start using it.

What Makes An Influencer?

There are 4 typical types of influencers, the highest of which are celebrities. We’ve all seen celebrities posting products on their social feeds or partnering with brands on particular campaigns. This is influencer marketing in its most obvious form.

We wouldn’t advise trying to get Kim Kardashian to promote your products though. Celebrities are the influencers every business wants but likely can’t afford. And that’s why the other three types exist.

Nano-Influencers

Nano-Influencers are a great tool for small businesses because they’re affordable and authentic. This type of influencer will have 1k-10k followers on their social feeds, giving them a closer-knit community than larger influencers. They’re likely to give a real opinion of a product and only promote those that sit well with their following. Only social media characters with over 10k followers used to be classed as ‘influencers’, but now algorithms are looking for organic growth and authenticity — meaning it’s time for the nano-influencer to shine.

Micro-Influencers

These middle tier social media stars can make a real difference to your bottom line. But, with their following reaching anywhere between 10–50k, they can cost a pretty penny to hire. Engagement rates are still a high 8–10%, so they still benefit from the Nano tier’s engaged community.

The additional benefit of working with influencers over 10k is the dreamy ‘swipe up’ capabilities on Instagram. When an influencer adds a post to their story about your brand or product, they can attach a link to the post, which will direct the viewer to your site. This direct traffic is ideal for retaining potential customers — all you have to do is have a killer website that wows them into a purchase.

Macro-Influencers

These are the type that can have just about any number of followers over 50k. This means you might be working with stars with up to 1m followers… and naturally, the more followers they have, the more it’ll cost you. Macro influencers are the traditional type of social media star that marketing agencies have been using since the beginning. The issue is, that now influencing is so mainstream, these people have a much less engaged following.

So, if you’re looking for high engagement, as well as affordability, you’re better off using Nano and Micro-influencers.

Finding an Influencers for Your Brand

Contacting an influencer isn’t like trying to contact a celebrity. These highly engaged social media stars are constantly on their social feeds and can more than likely contact such.

But how do you find someone for your brand? The simplest way is to take a look at who’s already following your brand’s socials. Take a look at your current following to see if there are any influencers — big or small. This is the best type of influencer for your brand because they’re already invested in your product and can provide authenticity to their review.

There are, of course, other ways to find an influencer — there are even specific influencer agencies popping up across the world. Databases or influencer list tools online can be used to find someone within your niche. You’ll often find their social handles or a way to contact them directly.

Creating an Influencer Campaign

Like traditional marketing, you’ll need to have a strategy in place before you get started. Are you only using one influencer? How many pieces of content do you need them to create? What will they say? How much are you willing to spend? You will need to create a detailed plan of your influencer’s requirements and how you plan to boost your own marketing during the campaign. With a strict plan, you can ensure success if measured by specific metrics you choose, rather than taking the measurements the influencer gives you as gospel.

Once you’ve got your campaign plan together, you can start contacting influencers via your brand’s social media DMs or email. Whichever way you choose, make sure to give them all the details and ask for a quote.

Costs will be a tricky subject, and you’ll need to be willing to negotiate.

Once everything is in place, your influencer will get working on the content for you to approve — you should have the last say every step of the way.

While your stars get to work with their content and promoting your brand to their followers, you need to make sure your marketing and feeds are looking amazing. Their followers will likely head over to your site or social handles and immediately move on if they don’t see anything they like.

Conclusion

This quick guide is a simple introduction to the huge world of influencer marketing. With new platforms such as TikTok taking the world by storm each year, there’s always some new way to climb to social media fame — which is perfect for businesses looking for ambassadors. By using a mixture of influencers with different followings, you will gain an engaged customer base that’s interested in your brand. The next step is down to having a killer product and a great customer experience. Good luck.