What is influencer marketing?

An influencer in its simplest form is a person who can influence others. In the marketing world, influencer marketing is a form of social media marketing in which brands pay that person to promote their product or service to their followers.

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Celebrity endorsements were the original form of influencer marketing. But in the era of the digital world, social content creators with niche audiences can offer greater value to brands. 

Therefore, a social media influencer is someone who exerts their influence through social media. When you hire an influencer to promote your products or services, that is influencer marketing.

Influencer Marketing Statistics

• Nearly three-quarters (72.5%) of US marketers used some form of influencer marketing last year.
  
  

• Civic Science found that 14% of people aged 18 to 24 and 11% of millennials bought something in the last six months because a blogger or influencer recommended it.

• According to EMarketer estimates, Instagram remains the platform of choice for social influencers, with 76.6% of US marketers using Instagram for their influencer campaigns in 2023. 

• The influencer marketing market grew in 2022 by about $16.4 billion.

Pros and Cons of Influencer Marketing

Pros of Influencer Marketing:

• Through it, you can reach the relevant audience.

• Influencers build trust and credibility.

• Influencer marketing can reach more people than you ever could alone.

• Influencer marketing compared to results is relatively cheap.

Cons of Influencer Marketing:

• Difficulty in reaching the best people in influencer marketing.

• Influencers can damage your brands if you are not careful in choosing them.

• Metrics can be somewhat deceptive.

How do you measure influencer marketing?

Measurement areas in influencer marketing depend heavily on your goals, as they will be tied to your influencer marketing campaign, and here we present some of the most common measurement areas, including:

1. Audience reach.

2. Impressions.

3. Engagement (comments, likes, shares).

4. Sentiment.

5. High-quality content.

6. Conversions:

- Growth in your followers.

- Mention of the brand.

- Traffic to a specific landing page / website.

- Form completion.

- Newsletter subscription / registration.

- Growth of users of your product/service.

- Increase in sales.

How to Build an Influencer Marketing Strategy:

1. Define your goals

The number one goal for brands using influencer marketing is to reach new target customers. This is natural, as an influencer campaign expands your reach to that person's followers.

Note that the goal is simply to reach new customers, not necessarily to make a direct sale from the top. Increasing sales is actually the third most common goal of influencer marketing campaigns, after increasing brand awareness and product consideration.

2. Know who you are trying to influence

An effective influencer marketing strategy requires speaking to the right people using the right tools, as the first step is to identify your target audience for this specific campaign.

Developing audience personas is a great way to ensure you understand who you are trying to reach. Perhaps you are trying to reach more of your existing audience — or a completely new audience.

Once you decide, create a matching set of influencer personas. This will help you understand what qualities you are looking for in influencers.

3. Understand the rules

Before you start influencer marketing, it is important to understand the rules. In the US, for example, these rules come from the Federal Trade Commission, and in Saudi Arabia, from the General Commission for Audiovisual Media.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) takes disclosure very seriously. Be sure to include disclosure guidelines in your agreements with influencers.

Influencers must identify sponsored posts. However, they do not always do so. Or they may do so in a subtle way that effectively keeps the disclosure hidden or misunderstood.

In the UK, for example: the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigated "hidden ads" on Instagram and pressured parent company Facebook to commit to changes that make disclosure easier and clearer.

In Saudi Arabia, the General Commission for Audiovisual Media introduced the Mawtheq service, which is a service that allows individuals to register for a license to provide advertisements on social media sites. The license is considered mandatory for individuals to practice advertising, which helps regulate marketing procedures in the world of e-commerce.

• The specific rules vary slightly by country, so be sure to check the latest requirements in your country, and you just need to be clear and upfront so viewers understand when the post is sponsored in any way.

4. The triad of influence
Influence consists of three components:

Relevance.

Reach.

Resonance.

A relevant influencer shares content related to your business and industry, where they must have an audience that aligns with your target audience.

5. Compile a shortlist of influencer names

When thinking about who you want to work with, the key is trust. Your audience must trust and respect the opinions of the influencers you partner with. Without trust, any results will be superficial as you will struggle to see a tangible business impact through your efforts.

How do you know if your potential influencer is reliable? Look at views, likes, comments, and shares. Specifically, what the exact micro-follower segments you are trying to reach are doing.

A good engagement rate also means having loyal followers rather than an inflated follower count supported by bots and spam accounts. You need to find someone who produces content with a look and feel that complements yours.

You should make sure that the tone is also appropriate for how you want to present your brand to potential customers.

6. Do your research

Take a look at what potential influencers are posting. How often do they share sponsored content?

If they are already hitting followers with tons of paid posts, their engagement rate may not sustain. Look for plenty of unpaid content to keep followers interested, excited, and engaged.

• Keep this in mind when considering what you'll ask the influencer to post as well, because asking for too many posts in a short timeframe will make your offer difficult for the influencer to accept, even if accompanied by a large salary.

• Make sure you know exactly what their channels are about and who their audience is.
  
  

7. Personal communication
Start your communication with a new potential partner slowly by interacting with their posts. Like their content. Comment when appropriate. 

When you are ready to propose a partnership, a direct message is an appropriate way to start. If you can get an email address, try that too. But do not send a mass email or upfront direct message.

It may take a little longer to write a personalized message to each influencer. But the benefits of doing so are great as it will show that you are serious about a potential partnership, which in turn will increase your chances of closing a deal.

• Provide as much information as possible about your brand. Tell them what you hope to achieve with your campaign, and clarify how the influencer will benefit beyond the salary.

• There is a key thing to keep in mind during this process: you may not want to use the word "influencer" when reaching out to potential partners, as content creators prefer to be called "creators" and may view "influencer" as an insult that devalues their work.

8. Collaborate to develop effective content

A social media influencer who has worked hard to build a following will not accept a deal that makes their personal brand look inconsistent.

And remember that influencers are experts in creating content strategies, which is why they prefer to be called creators, and you will get the best value from their work by allowing them to showcase those skills.

9. Measuring results in an influencer marketing campaign

When launching an influencer marketing campaign, it can be tempting to focus on metrics like likes and comments. If your influencer has a much larger following than you do in your business, you might feel a bit dazzled by the sheer number of likes that can accumulate.

But to measure the effectiveness of the campaign, you need to understand its value in terms of ROI. Fortunately, there are many ways to measure the success of your campaign.

UTM parameters are one way to track the visitors an influencer sends to your website. They can also help measure how much engagement a campaign is receiving.

There is a way to link each influencer and their unique links with UTM codes, giving you a clear picture of the results. This allows you to calculate the impact on your bottom line.

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