Brand Development, Web Design, and Google Analytics Specialists
Experienced in SEM, SEO, Social Media, and Traditional Media
How to Recruit Social Media Influencers for Your Brand
Recruiting influencers for your San Diego brand is a fantastic low-cost marketing tactic but one that potentially has a huge reach. But how does partnering with San Diego social media influencers support and progress your brand awareness and brand voice? Get the right partnerships between your brand and influencers and your brand could fly.
What is an influencer?
A term coined to describe exactly what it is – someone with the ability to influence the behavior and opinions of others, many of whom could be your consumers.
At one time, San Diego advertising gurus used celebrities to expand the influence of their brand, a practice that is still common today with commercial and infomercials for all kinds of products and services.
With the star of social media glowing ever brighter, ‘ordinary’ social media users who are personal brand savvy themselves, are building a following from like-minded people around the globe.
And when their followers and fans are your customers, it makes sense to harness their appeal alongside your brand.
Over 75% of consumers say that their purchasing decisions are influenced by the influencers and accounts they follow across a range of social media platforms. get this relationship right, and both you and the influencer could extend reach and for you, increase sales.
But is it just a case of throwing money at it, assuming that whatever an influencer says about your brand will draw in the crowds? Or is there more too it?
Step by step guide to recruiting the right influencers
1. Summarize your brand
You know it well and so you need to marry your brand, what it stands for and so on, with the right social media influencers.
The first step in the process is to write down five words that describe your brand. Against the backdrop of knowing who your key audience is, you have the beginnings of searching for people online who use products or services like yours, sharing the details with their followers.
Marketing is a constantly evolving process but by engaging with influencers you are adding another dimension to your brand – instead of being just an entity, working with influencers will give it a ‘human touch’ or face.
2. Search online for potential social media influencers and start a conversation
Either you or your social media team will need to start the process of scrolling through Instagram and other social media platforms to see who is engaging in work that could be a bridge to your brand.
Remember, influencers don’t have to be mega-influential – sometimes, the ‘smaller’ sphere or influence is just as beneficial as someone with a million followers hanging on their every word.
There is no set formula for starting a conversation with influencers however you may decide to;
- Create a list of potential influencers and email or direct message them with an invitation to partner with your brand. Ask them to make contact if your ideas are of interest.
- As you push your brand on a certain platform with posts and adverts, you may find influencers contact you directly.
Influencers have their own brand voices and personalities so you don’t want to change that but you do need to choose wisely. Check out their other posts and blogs – are there controversial topics and opinions that may prove damaging to your brand, for example?
3. Define an influencer budget
There are many, many brands who regularly contact influencers who think that the possibility of working with their San Diego company is compensation enough for an influencer. The rebuttals – many of which end up online – by influencers can be damaging as they are comedic.
But there is a lesson here: influencers and bloggers are personal brands, sometimes doing it for a living and that means they charge for others to a. use their time and b. to market stuff to their followers.
Again, there is no set structure with each influencer often having their own terms. It is, however, important to build in influencer marketing into your marketing budget.
The more popular someone is with a wider and bigger reach, the more you can expect to pay. On Instagram, someone with 3,000 to 20,000 followers would expect in the range of $65 to $250 dollars a post.
At the other end of the scale, an Instagram follower with 5,000 followers or more, expect to pay $1,000 a post.
Does influencer marketing work? Is it working for your brand?
It is essential to measure success when partnering with influencers but here’s the rub: it is not an approach that will yield results overnight. If you expect this, you will be sorely disappointed.
But it is important to see steady growth not just in sales but in extension and reach. Key metrics you could use are likes, comments and new followers on your own social media profiles. And of course, if your goal is more sales, then sale figures are your go-to metric.
Is influencer marketing the right fit for your brand?
Get the right influencers partnering with you, and this style of marketing could potentially be a winner for any brand, irrespective of their sector or industry. There are various tools you can use to find and engage with influencers, but also to monitor how far-reaching any posts are, as well as whether they can deliver what they say they can.
It is a marketing channel that allows you to stay relevant. Millennials follow on average between four and eight influencers online and so tapping into what is genuine interest in what you are offering is surely worth more than a quick glance.
Working with influencers is also a way of remaining relevant. We live in such a fast-paced world that sometimes, stay up-to-date with opinions, behaviors and moods can be difficult. In effect, when you create these kinds of partnerships, you are connecting with people who are partly responsible for these changes.
Start the drive now to find San Diego influencers who can not only cement your brand’s position but also extend your reach, possibly breaking into new markets too.
Beginner’s Guide to Influencer Marketing (& How it Boosts SEO Ranking)
It seems everyone you meet these days is a self-proclaimed influencer. Whether that’s over a multi-million plus following or their local book club, the significance of influencers has entered our daily lexicon and lives, and guess what, it’s here to stay.
As a business in 2017 it’s a marketing resource you can no longer neglect. In fact, a recent emarketer survey found that 84% of marketers intend on launching at least one influencer campaign in the next 12 months. Even more staggeringly, 94% of marketers from a variety of industries said influencer marketing was an effective strategy.
Finding key target influencers to develop strategic partnerships with will only take your brand and business to the next level.
Before diving into the complexities of a full frontal influencer campaign let’s go over the basics with this Beginner’s Guide to Influencer Marketing:
What in the World is an Influencer?
First, let’s take a step back and define influence.
In·flu·ence
Noun
- the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself.
With this in mind, an influencer is a person, or even in some cases a furry friend, that has established a level of authority and trust amongst their niche audience.
Unlike celebrity endorsements, influencers carefully select their affiliations, opting to partner with brands that reflect their personal branding and don’t alienate their followership. This close connection to their audience has fostered an environment where fans follow their every move, trusting their word sometimes above their very own friends and family.
Essentially they’ve curated the ability to affect and control customer purchasing decisions, and drive consumers to brands over others. Making them the ultimate potential trendsetter for your brand.
What’s amazing about an influencer is they can take many shapes and forms, and the term does not only apply to fashion and beauty bloggers. An influencer can be a journalist, author, commentator, industry insider, blogger, celebrity, happy customer, and the list goes on.
The ultimate goal with influence is to generate positive brand perception and awareness in a truly authentic and unique way. You’ll be in wonder of what some influencers can create with your brand!
Why Influencer Marketing Matters
Nearly 40% of Twitter users say they’ve made a purchase as a direct result of a Tweet from an influencer, according to Twitter.
With numbers like that, influencer affected purchases clearly aren’t are a one-off.
So let’s take a peek at a few successful influencer marketing campaigns that clearly illustrate Tomoson’s findings that “Influencer marketing was rated the fastest-growing online customer acquisition channel, beating organic search, paid search, and email marketing.”
Ok numbers, do the talking:
1. Lulus
We’ll start with coveted and viral fashion online store, Lulus. Started a number years ago as a fast-fashion ecommerce brand, now has transformed itself into every it girl’s go-to for chic and affordable looks.
What led to Lulus explosive growth and cult status? Influencer marketing. How did they do it?
Lulu’s partnered with fashion bloggers that fit their branding. By reaching out to bloggers of varying and diverse followers they were able to tap into a wide, yet targeted audience.
They then provided these bloggers with the ability to select clothing, shoes, and/or accessories that fit their own personal brand. Then encouraged them to share how they styled their Lulus look with their followers on social media and their blog, and of course, without forgetting to include the #lovelulus hashtag.
As you can see in the example above, by supplying @nicholeciotti with a dress (and possibly some payment) they put themselves in front of her 450K+ audience that attracted 14K+ likes. All while advertising in a way that’s natural and ultimately led to purchase conversions through her delicate call-to-action.
Lulus has built a business on this type of seemingly easy breezy influencer marketing. Imagine what you can do with your business!
2. Suja Juice
We couldn’t speak about influencer marketing without mentioning local San Diego company, Suja Juice! To say their Midnight Tonic campaign went viral, would be a major understatement.
And if you can believe it… they were able to get their products in the hands and in the feeds of major celebrities, influencers, and raving fans alike at no paid promotional cost.
Let’s dive in and learn how they pulled it off!
In September 2016, Suja Juice released Midnight Tonic, an all black, limited edition charcoal based beverage to health conscious celebrities with an active social media presence.
A fever pitch ensued, with fans clamoring to get their hands on one of the 1,000 bottles available they witnessed their favorite celeb devouring with enjoyment. The madness caused the site to crash and the product to sell out in three days.
A few of the celebs and outlets that organically posted on a variety of platforms about their experience were Eva Longoria, Jesse McCartney, Kristin Cavallari, and PopSugar.
The campaign generated an awe-inducing 16 million social impressions. Not to mention, countless new customers along the way. All achieved without paying anyone for the endorsement.
What gives this campaign more heart, and meaning beyond tallying up the numbers is how CMO Heather MacNeil Cox described their thought process.
“We chose influencers that have been organic fans of the brand since the beginning, people that love and drink Suja on their own. The Midnight Tonic surprise shipment was a way to thank them for their support, and also re-engage in a conversation about something new and cool.”
Ultimately, the immense success of this campaign stemmed more from the thought process of showing gratitude, rather than focusing solely on how many celebrities they could get to show off their product.
The organic nature of the celebrities’ show and tell of the limited edition Midnight Tonic and their need to be early adopters is what drove the tonic’s virality; the authentic display of a health beverage so tangibly intangible that everyone had to have just a taste.
Suja Juice, we salute you.
Perks of Successful Influencer Marketing & How it Impacts SEO
On a simplistic level the goal of SEO is to achieve links directed to your site from high ranking and authoritative sites in order to drive your rankings for specified keywords to Google’s lauded first page.
You may be thinking if you just get a few solid links from influencers then you’re golden, right? Not so fast turbo.
Link building is much more complex, and so let’s break it down in regards to how partnering with influencers in a strategic way is indeed a boon for your overall SEO goals.
Campaigns need three types of links to grow overall domain authority, as we’re assuming you’re striving to rank specific keywords and phrases on your site.
- Broad, High Domain Authority: This link will point to any section of your website, whether that’s the home page, an internal page, blog, etc. An example, would be Huffington Post, a highly authoritative web news source with a wide reach.
- Specific High-Value Keyword Targeted Pages (with specific anchor text): By doing this individual URLs’ rankings will receive a needed boost. The easiest way is to provide a keyword and associated link for the influencer to place into the copy of their blog post about your product or service. Thus making its inclusion seamless and natural.
- Topical Influence: In other words, links to your domain from other sites within the same niche that give your site more authority and influence in your sector. This linking strategy is particularly pertinent to influencer marketing partnerships. If you’re a technology startup with a revolutionary product, you want to get into the hands of bloggers and journalists who write about the latest and greatest in tech.
While the above may feel a tad overwhelming, if you get it right, you’re ensuring yourself a goldmine of opportunities to drive web traffic and revenue. Not only that, you’re giving your business the opportunity to build relationships with influencers who will become forever fans whether paid or not.
The time really is now to get in on the influencer marketing game. To learn more about how influencer marketing can support the growth of your business, check us out at https://abovethefoldagency.com.
