People are spending more time on social media than ever before, and every analysis of consumer behavior projects the amount of time we spend in the digital marketplace will only increase- and increase significantly. So how can businesses get consumers off social platforms and into their sales funnels? By bridging the gap with influencers.
Influencer marketing is essentially the modern, digital version of word of mouth marketing. Customers are constantly seeking opinions, advice, and content from creators, thought leaders, and experts online. It’s worth noting how much influencers have been uniquely helpful during 2020’s stay-at-home recommendations. With shops and businesses closed, and consequently the ability to physically test products no longer an option, consumers rely on the reviews of those they trust.
The proof of the effect that online recommendations have on whether or not someone ultimately makes a purchase or makes a decision is well documented. Influencer Marketing Hub reports that 91% of millennials trust online reviews as much as they trust recommendations from friends and family. A survey by BrightLocal shows 95% of consumers aged 18-34 seek out online reviews before making a purchase decision, reading an average of 10 reviews before they feel they’re able to trust a business.
Partnering with influencers allows brands and businesses to cultivate and encourage the online “word of mouth” needed to grow and scale in 2021 and beyond. Here’s how marketers can introduce influencers into their overall marketing strategy, or scale their existing influencer marketing efforts to ensure maximum ROI.
Plan your campaign according to the data (then get creative!)
The most effective influencer marketing campaigns make initial planning decisions based on data, then expand their creative strategy according to what resonates most with their target audience.
In years past, measuring and quantifying audience affinity was nearly impossible. Today, platforms like Tagger with access to first-party data provide marketers excellent insights on what kind of content their target audience is already responding to. When you can connect with your ideal audience via creators and influencers they already know and follow, you’re tapping into that pre-built trust.
Once you know who you’re trying to reach, it’s time to plan your campaign. Understand your overall budget and your budget per post so you know how many creators to hire. Next, do your category research; see what kind of content performed well for you in the past, or for brands like yours. Then, set your campaign KPIs. Click here for a short video on the 5 KPIs every successful market should know ahead of time before they do a talent hire.
Drive ROI through creative CTAs
These days, customers are used to ordering everything online, either to be delivered to their homes or for “click and collect” purchases. Influencers are key drivers for brands and companies who want to take advantage of this new level of comfort with the ever-expanding digital marketplace.
An influencer can help inform what types of calls to action will have the best ROI for your campaigns. Much of this comes down to your initial KPIs and what you’re hoping to achieve, but one area in which influencers are incredibly insightful is driving results off-platform.
When you know what you want the customer’s journey to be after they’re exposed to your influencer’s campaign, you can get much more specific (and effective) with your CTAs.
Let the results inform & optimize future campaigns
With so many technological advancements made in how we track the customer journey, we can see exactly how much return a brand generates from a certain influencer campaign. We can now venture beyond CPMs and more specifically determine the true ROI of an influencer’s post by reporting the actions taken by a consumer after they engage with that post.
When you have a platform like Tagger that has the ability to track social media data in real time, you’re able to report accurate results to your team and let those results inform future campaigns. Being able to see what works and what didn’t is essential to cultivating a successful influencer marketing strategy.
Your 2021 Influencer Strategy
With an 11x higher ROI than traditional advertising, there’s no doubt that influencers should be part of your 2021 marketing plan. By investing in new and exciting attribution technology, brands can better plan, track and understand how to use a combination of influencer marketing and a re-targeting strategy to shepherd followers through the sales funnel for a better ROI.
If you’d like to see exactly how Tagger’s end-to-end platform can help you scale your influencer marketing efforts, click here to learn more.
