Cracking the Code of Influencers: A Path to Success

In today’s marketing landscape, there is one method with the potential to engage customers, increase brand awareness, make or break reputations, and even increase sales.

And that’s influencer marketing.

When done right, working with influencers can yield an incredible ROI. But doing it right takes a lot more work than you might think.

Below, you can get all the details you need about what influencer marketing is, how to find people and even brands to work with, and key insights into this effective marketing model.

Demystifying Influencers

What is an influencer? What is influencer marketing? The answers can sometimes change depending on who you ask.

Very broadly, an influencer is a person who’s built an online following, usually on one or more social media platforms.

There are three main types of influencers:

1. Nano: These are people with relatively small followings, usually just a few thousand;

2. Micro: Can have between 10,000 and 100,000 followers;

3. Macro: Influencers with massive followings who are either celebrities (models, athletes, or actors) or content creators who’ve built their online presence from scratch.

The Power of Influencer Marketing

Here are some main stats that underline the power of influencer marketing:

1. Influencer marketing is more common than you think, with 93% of marketers saying they’ve used it.

2. 61% of consumers trust influencer recommendations.

3. Influencer marketing is most effective when you’re trying to target younger generations, particularly Millennials and Gen Z.

4. Companies can make an average of $5.20 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing. Top brands can earn as much as $20 for every dollar spent.

5. 60% of marketers claim influencer content performs better than branded content.

Becoming an Influencer

Given the potential revenue and perks a successful influencer can receive, it’s no wonder many people are considering becoming one.

While the road is long, the good news is that you have lots of great resources that can help you break down the process. For instance, here are some tips from HubSpot on becoming an influencer:

1. Choose a niche and platform
2. Have a content strategy
3. Be authentic
4. Engage with your audience
5. Look for brand partnerships
6. Be consistent
7. Track your progress

The three most important things to focus on in your journey are your niche, content, and audience. First, a niche can help you build an audience of like-minded people and allow you to show off your expertise and uniqueness.

The content is the way you connect with your audiences at first, so focus on quality, visually appealing, and engaging content. Lastly, as an influencer, your audience always comes first, so be sure to engage with them as much as possible in the posts, comments, and even DMs.

Collaborating with Influencers

Influencer marketing is only effective if both parties can get something out of this collaboration. Often, the success of these campaigns boils down to how well you can choose the brand or influencer to work with.

HubSpot offers a useful guide that can help brands improve how they work with influencers. Here’s a short breakdown of the main dos and don’ts.

Do’s:

1. Pick influencers relevant to your niche (in terms of their industry, audience, style of content, etc.)

2. Encourage valuable content, not just promotional posts, to increase engagement

3. Encourage open communication and allow the influencer to bring their unique touch to the content

4. Establish clear expectations and make a creator brief to outline them

5. Communicate openly with the influencer, and check in with them routinely

Don’ts:

1. Go for macro-influencers only; micro and nano-influencers can provide higher engagement levels

2. Work with too many influencers at once, especially if they’re all from the same niche

3. Promote on every platform; choose the ones that suit your brand best

Influencer Marketing Strategy

An influencer marketing strategy isn’t all that different from other strategies. When creating it, focus on:

1. Campaign objectives: Establish clear goals for your campaign so you can track results and assess success.

2. Define your audience. Create buyer personas or conduct market research to clearly define who your target audience is, who they follow, and other preferences;

3. Choose the right influencer. Use social listening tools to find the best names in your niche to collaborate with.

4. Negotiate the terms. Meet with the influencer and start building your campaigns together. Remember, the best partnerships allow both parties to get what they want, so don’t feel like you must control the creative process.

5. Launch and track: Share your influencer’s posts on your brand accounts, and track the campaign performance on both platforms to analyze your results.

Mandala AI’s Tools for Influencer Marketing

Mandala AI aims to make influencer marketing easy through a suite of powerful tools like:

1. Mandala Analytics: a social media listening and deep data analytics tool to empower you to make decisions based on real information;

2. Top Channels: A way to discover your most beneficial platforms and optimize your efforts by launching campaigns specifically for their audience;

3. Top Mentions: A method to see what people are saying about you or the topic you want to track.

4. Mandala Alchemy: A way to present actions based on future mentions and trends

All these tools can be used in a myriad of real-world applications, such as:

1. Discovering the top nano, micro, and macro influencers in your niche

2. See emerging trending topics and add them to your campaigns.

3. Analyze brand sentiment.

4. Get real-time data on your campaign performance, etc.

Get the full details on Mandala AI’s powerful ecosystem here.

The Future of Influencer Marketing

Even if you haven’t tried influencer marketing before, it’s worth knowing where the industry is headed.

The biggest trend concerns the growth of nano and micro-influencer campaigns, with brands choosing to work with smaller creators who often have much more engaged audiences. Brands will also likely prefer to strike long-term partnerships and launch more comprehensive campaigns rather than pay for sponsored posts.

And as with all other marketing efforts, expect data to play an even bigger role in how these campaigns unfold.

Conclusion

It’s never too late to give influencer marketing a shot, and Mandala AI can help you create and manage your campaigns more effectively.

Check out the full potential of our AI-driven tools and learn how to make data-driven decisions for your social media campaigns.

Have you tried influencer marketing before? Let us know your experience in the comments!