More than nine out of 10 marketers today have influencer marketing as part of their overall marketing strategy. And, with more than half using influencer marketing on a regular basis, there’s no question that the marketing method has gained popularity, especially in recent years along with social media. For business owners looking into the possibility of integrating the use of influencer marketing into an already well established marketing strategy, doing so for the first time can be an overwhelming experience. From the benefits to actually getting started, here’s what you need to know before diving in.
Supplementing Your Current Marketing Strategies
When looking to integrate influencer marketing into your overall marketing strategy, influencer marketing is an extremely powerful tool for businesses, and can bring a variety of different benefits to the table. For starters, the use of influencer marketing can aid in increasing brand recognition, help your products/services reach a wide and targeted audience, and most importantly, bring a sense of personality and authenticity into the equation — especially when the influencer is given creative control in tailoring the content to their liking. That said, the integration of an influencer will aid in not only supplementing your current marketing efforts, but will create a new element that will only add to your credibility as a business. This is primarily because the influencer will be the one to relay content on your product, while touching on their own personal feedback and experience (aka testimonials) — something that will provide relatability in relation to your brand and is difficult to achieve through other marketing efforts.
The Connection Between Influencer Marketing and Content Marketing
While it may not appear obvious, integrating the use of influencer marketing can further help to positively influence your overall marketing strategy, particularly when it comes to your SEO efforts via content marketing. While influencers are well known for creating content in the form of social media posts, pictures, and vlog style videos, making the connection between influencer and content marketing can pay off greatly in the long run.
Getting in touch with an influencer who is willing to provide a testimonial or by collaborating with an influencer who is also a blogger can be creative ways to get new written content on your site. With such content playing a key role in ranking higher in search engine results and garnering organic traffic, learning how to write for SEO can seem difficult, though not impossible. By listing content ideas that are tailored to your target audience, researching associated keywords and collaborating with an influencer/blogger, you’ll be able to get the message out there in a way that benefits your overall marketing strategy.
Where to Start
When looking to get started with influencer marketing, it’s important to first create a budget that will determine how much you’re willing to spend, and can also help in determining what kind of influencer you’ll likely go with. Starting small is a great way to test the waters, especially if you’re already allocating a significant amount to other marketing channels. After creating a budget for your influencer marketing endeavors, taking the time to research and reach out to potential influencers who are a good fit to promote your product/service is equally as important before reaching out. From there, collaboration and building a good business relationship with the influencer will ensure that you’ll be able to continually advertise through the channel.
While influencer marketing is becoming more and more popular, understanding how the marketing method works and positioning it into an already established marketing strategy can be overwhelming. However, the benefits that an influencer can bring to the table can allow you to reap unique benefits, like bringing authenticity and personality to your brand through testimonials.
Freelance contribution especially written for Find Your Influence by Karoline Gore.