Influencer marketing is a marketing strategy based on using social media influencers to promote your brand and reach potential buyers in a less invasive way. This strategy has had undeniable growth in recent years: every day more and more people visit social networks like Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, etc.
Companies and brands understand that marketing has changed, it is no longer efficient to be only on radio, television, newspapers, or magazines. It is necessary to reach potential customers using social media.
That is the purpose of influencer marketing. In this article, we will talk about how to use influencer marketing and how using an influencer marketing agency can help you increase your sales.
Table of Contents
What is an influencer?
Influencers are people who impact the opinion of others due to their credibility on certain topics. This gives them authority, knowledge on a specific topic, and a recognized position within the medium in which the influencer works.
Influencers have people who follow them through different social networks and who are usually willing to do the things they say and use the products the influencers use.
Therein lies the crux of influencer marketing, they can make the person have a positive or negative opinion on a certain issue or product.
The message conveyed becomes more relatable, more human, and more credible to the audience who trusts the opinion of the influencer as someone who is an expert in their field.
What types of influencers are there?
When trying to categorize anything we will always find different trends and opinions, each one totally valid for its purpose, but often contradictory to the other. The categorization of influencers does not escape this controversy. We will now proceed to explain two types of categorizations of influencers, without explicitly accepting that they are the only ways to indicate the type of influencer that we can find on social networks.
The classification by type of influencer depends on the objective pursued with such classification. The type of influencer can be classified according to the number of followers, the topic of specialization, or according to the platform they use, although there may be some other type of classification according to who does this. Let’s look at each of these to then see how we can use them in a campaign through an influencer marketing agency.
Types of influencers by number of followers
Categorizing influencers by the number of followers is the most common type of categorization, but as we said, it’s not necessarily what your brand or business needs. However, depending on the strategy to follow, it can be data to take into account when making decisions.
Let’s take a look at each of these categories and some of their characteristics.
Celebrities
They are influencers with millions of followers, their channels have thousands of daily visits and are widely recognized by people.
They are usually actors, athletes, politicians, or famous musicians who use their fame to gain followers on social networks, and are often difficult to contact and costly to hire. They share pictures, stories of their private lives, etc. To gain more followers every day.
Macro influencer
They have fewer followers than celebrities, their notoriety is because they are experts in certain topics where they have become an authority, and usually, they have less than one million of followers.
They usually create valuable content or content that attracts their followers so that they continue to be followers.
A brand using an opinion leader can gain growth and credibility by associating the brand with the influencer’s name.
Mid-tier
Their followers are counted between one hundred thousand and half a million. They can be highly influential people on very specific topics. They tend to be more accessible and cheaper to hire than macro-influencers or celebrities.
Micro-influencers
These are the type of influencer who has a much smaller following but are niche in particular. In this area, we have for example chefs, fashionistas, movie critics, etc.
The number of followers can be between ten thousand and one hundred thousand. It is interesting to know that this type of influencer can be more effective for certain products or brands since it goes to a specific niche.
Nano-influencers
Although the number of followers is usually small, between 1000 and ten thousand, they are very used by influencer marketing agencies because they tend to reach very specific niches and with very high credibility.
Types of influencers by their niche
Always keep in mind that the influencer marketing agency knows its niche very well. You can’t just go by the numbers, an influencer with a large number of followers is not necessarily the best way to promote your brand or your service. Sometimes it is necessary to go to influencers with a specific area so that your brand or service is related to a certain activity or attitude towards life.
That is where this categorization of influencers comes in, each one has a specific area of influence and their followers expect them to stay true to their beliefs or attitudes and they see themselves reflected in them.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these categories and their important characteristics for influencer marketing:
Athletes/healthy lifestyle enthusiasts
They can be retired or active athletes or people related to health care through physical exercise and appropriate diets. Their publications may refer to their own or other athletes’ sporting achievements, types of exercises to keep fit or gain muscle, and diets to maintain or lose weight, among others. Given the current trend to give importance to issues related to physical health, they are very well-regarded influencers.
Bloggers and vloggers
Bloggers are people who write content on a Blog. The articles they write are usually on topics that they master, so they are considered an authority on that subject.
The fact that the content they publish is written and not video content makes them less relevant for influencer marketing.
Vloggers are people who do everything they have to say in front of the camera, achieving a closer relationship with their followers. The content is usually of quality, whether it is serious or not.
They can also be an authority on the topics they develop and their opinions are highly respected by their followers.
This is the type of influencer used by influencer marketing agencies.
Gamers
Gamers are video game enthusiasts with a very definite and devoted hobby. They are dedicated to making videos and showcasing the latest news in the field. They collect tips and tricks for navigating various scenarios. They test the games themselves and record gameplay, shortcuts, and tricks. Their audience is very specific and their recruitment goes hand in hand with products or services related to video games.
Podcasters
A podcast is a type of publication that is based on narrating briefly on a topic and sending it to platforms such as Spotify, where followers can listen to it at any time they want. The podcast can be informational, recreational, inspirational, or persecution; depending on the objective to be pursued.
Travelers
Travel influencers are those who present themselves as backpackers, meaning they don’t take trips with a lot of luggage and don’t usually go to popular tourist sites but are more adventurous.
They tend to give tips and review brands of items they use on their travels. Things that will help with survival or that will make the adventurous trip we dream of more comfortable.
Comedians
They are the most abundant in social networks, they are dedicated to telling jokes or personifying them with the sole purpose of making us laugh. They have many loyal followers and their content is viral, so they are often used in influencer marketing campaigns.
Beauty experts
Men or women related to fashion and beauty, from beauty pageant winners to their makeup artists or handlers. They all have something to say in this fascinating world.
The content they post can be beauty tricks, tips, and recommendations about makeup brands or related sites. They are recommended for these types of products or brands.
Fashion lovers
They are popular people such as models or actors and actresses. Their publications are about brands, trends, and styles of clothing, shoes, handbags, jewelry, shoes, and accessories. They have a high influence on their followers, who are aware of the brands they use.
Benefits of hiring an influencer marketing agency
We all know about referral marketing, but many of us use it without realizing it. Sometimes we ask family and acquaintances about a certain product or brand and their opinion influences the decision we make about whether or not to buy the product.
When people follow an influencer, they feel close and friendly, so they accept their advice and opinions. When an influencer marketing agency uses this strategy, the person does not feel that they are selling a product, but that they are giving advice.
The advertising that has been done so far on social networks has changed the face of the push of influencer marketing. The latter is more economical and reaches the buyer persona that brands and companies want to reach.
The main benefits of using influencer marketing are the following:
- A better public image of the brand or company is achieved.
- The public associates the image of the influencer with the product or service. With them, you get greater visibility, credibility, and positioning in the target market.
- The product or service has exposure on the network through the public comments that arise from the interaction with the influencer.
- The company or brand page will receive more quality traffic, that is, people interested in the product or service.
- One of the biggest advantages of influencer marketing is that the audience that follows them is usually the millennials, young people with high purchasing power.
- An influencer campaign is usually less expensive than a conventional campaign, as well can reach the target audience more quickly.
- The influencer marketing agency must make a good choice of the influencer to ensure that the credibility and trust that the influencer has is reflected in the service or product.
How to define your influencer marketing campaigns?
We all wonder how to make an effective campaign. In the case of an influencer marketing campaign, we must follow the following steps:
- Identify the most relevant influencers for your product/service and focus on those who are most aligned with your company’s values.
- Define how the relationship with them will be, whether you are going to contact them directly or use an influencer marketing agency.
- Define the look, feel & tone of the influencer’s post content so that it is aligned with your brand.
- Establish if the relationship with the influencer will be only for this campaign or if you want a longer-term relationship, where the influencer becomes part of the image of your service or product.
- Define the management indicators with which you are going to measure the performance of the campaign (we will talk about this later).
- Once the campaign is in development, use the performance indicators to correct any deviation.
How to establish which influencers are the most suitable for your campaign?
Before you can answer this question, you must be clear about the audience to which the campaign is directed, this is what is known as the Buyer Persona.
Once we have established our ideal client or Buyer Persona, the next step is to know the influencer we are interested in hiring. We are interested in knowing about the influencer:
Relevance
You have to select an influencer that is relevant to your Buyer Persona, as this factor is key to attracting people from your target demographic. As part of your research, keep in mind that the influencer should share similar characteristics or appeal to your buyer persona, as well as share content relevant to their industry.
A fashion vlogger, for example, may be relevant to beauty brands, clothing brands, and accessories. But, if your product or service relates to the average consumer, it’s best to look for an influencer with a broader audience.
You should also consider demographics, such as age and gender. For example, if your target audience is 25-35-year-olds who are video game lovers, you should select an influencer who is a gamer.
Reach
Select an influencer based on the number of people you want to reach. The size of the influencer’s following is vital to frame your strategy. Keep in mind here that you can go two ways. You can look for an influencer with more than one million followers, or you can look for several influencers with fewer followers, but all of them will reach your Buyer Persona.
Resonance
Select an influencer based on their ability to generate engagement. Resonance is the level of engagement an influencer can generate with your audience. Engagement is nothing more than getting people to act on what the campaign expects, in other words, to buy the product or service that is being promoted.
The influencer may have a large number of followers, but they are not interested in what is being shared.
Importance of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Part of the planning of your campaign is the management indicators, these will establish if you are achieving the goals set or if you should modify some part of the campaign.
A KPI is a kind of compass for your influencer marketing agency to make quick and timely decisions.
How to track a KPI?
The way to set a KPI can vary according to the objectives of the campaign. You can track KPIs in the following ways:
- Use Google Analytics to track the number of clicks on the URL.
- Use sites like Pirendo or Follow the hashtag to track the reach and impact of the campaign hashtag. And count the number of shares, comments, and likes.
Which KPIs to use?
There are many KPIs you can set, here are some of them:
- Engagement: Number of interactions that users have had related to the influencer’s action,
- The average number of interactions: Number of interactions made by the same user. It is about knowing how many times the same user has interacted so as not to count each one as an individual interaction, this KPI is also known as reach.
- Likes: Number of interactions that indicate that people accept the content published by the influencer.
- Comments: Comments from the audience are an indicator that the campaign is generating interaction with the influencer and that users are interested in the content.
- Shares: If the content is liked by the audience, they will share it with their contacts, this is a clear sign that the content generates interest.
- Impressions: Number of times each post or Story has been viewed by a user.
- New subscribers: The number of new followers gained as a result of the campaign with the influencer. Just take into account the number of followers before the launch and how many remain once the action is over.
- Conversion: Conversions will vary in function of the objective of the influencer campaign, as they can be of various types. For example, the number of visits to the website, the number of products added to the cart, and the volume of online sales, among others.
Conversion includes cost per click (CPC), cost per lead (CPL), cost per campaign, campaign profit (ROI), etc.
The last KPI is better understood by influencer marketing agencies, so it is better to let them check them and only send you the results already checked by them.
If you want to know more about how an influencer marketing agency works, do not hesitate to contact us.
