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

1. 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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.