Three Tips for Successful Influencer Marketing

Here are three tips for successful influencer marketing:

Popular vs. Influencer

Kim Kardashian is a perfect example of a “popular” media influencer. Because of her “popularity,” companies pay her the big bucks to send a single tweet with a picture of her promoting their product. Once seeing this, her 33 million Twitter followers will rush to get the same product as the Kardashian simply because people want to be like her, not caring whether or not the product is of value. “Popular” media influencers, like the Kardashians, revolve around an image rather than providing any type of value or credibility.

True influencers, do not seek to self-promote, they exist to provide value to their audience. These type of media influencers use credibility; they have established themselves as a credible source amongst social media audiences and have acquired a large following. By existing solely to provide value and credibility to their audience, influencers build something critical to influencer marketing: trust.

Pick the right subject matter that will resonate with your target audience.

Just because a brand has a large following does not necessarily equate reaching larger audiences. “Reach is an appropriate indicator of how often a brand’s name appears within a customer’s social newsfeeds.” More times than not, brands “buy” followers and likes in order to surge reach figures. A key concept to understand with influencer marketing is, success is not determined by increasing visibility. For a brand to achieve successful influencer marketing, they must use impactful storytelling to relate with their target audience.

Ensure consistency across all digital touch points.

A key component to influencer marketing is for a brand to build a relationship with influencers and in turn, build a relationship with consumers. Word-of-mouth is a powerful tool, and for this reason, influencer marketing has acquired great success. It is imperative that brands realize customers and influencers want brands to talk with them, not at them. Acquiring user-generated content is a powerful way to target customers in a marketing scene in which “peer-to-peer advocacy and influencer marketing” are the most persuasive ways to promote new customers.

In order for brands to obtain successful influencer marketing, they should ask themselves whether they are doing influencer marketing or marketing to influencers. Following these tips will help understand the importance of credible, trust and building relationships with influencers and consumers.