Influencer Marketing: Is it the Right Strategy for Your Business? Advantages & Ways to Collaborate

A few minutes of scrolling through social media is enough to see stories, reels, TikTok videos and posts from influencers who advertise products and/or services, using their knowledge and authority on a specific topic. This practice is called influencer marketing and in recent years it has conquered the digital marketing space and not unfairly.

The term “influencer marketing” may be new, but the practice itself is not new, with people having been influenced by famous people for years in the products and services they will buy and use. The daily use of digital platforms is increasing, creating a unique opportunity for businesses to leverage the means given to them, including influencers, in the hope of increasing awareness for their company, as well as ROI.

But is this the right way for your business? And if so, how will you do it successfully?

What is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing is a form of marketing that allows businesses to collaborate with individuals with a large following, and thus popularity, presence and influence on social media, to promote their products or services.

This collaboration may include the creation of stories, posts or videos on social media such as Instagram, Tiktok or YouTube.

In recent years, research has shown that influencer marketing has emerged as one of the most important digital marketing strategies, significantly boosting brand awareness, consumer engagement, and purchasing decisions.

Specifically, the influencer marketing market more than doubled from 2019 to 2021, from $6.5 billion to $13.8 billion. Research also shows that both mega influencers and micro influencers, who have smaller but more engaged audiences, can lead to successful marketing campaigns. Interestingly, micro-influencers tend to have a higher level of interaction with their audience, which makes them effective for specific campaigns.

Why is it worth doing influencer marketing?

If you’re wondering why you should invest in influencer marketing, you should first consider a few factors.

1. If the influencers “align” with your audience and the platforms they use.
2. If your business fits with the influencers.
3. If you can financially support influencer marketing.

A 2023 report by Influencer Marketing Hub states that Instagram is most successful for influencer marketing with female users between the ages of 25 and 34 (millennials), while TikTok has the most traction with women 24 and under (Gen Z). YouTube has been better with men, especially millennials, as they make up nearly a fifth of all YouTube viewers. If your business’s demographic falls into one of these categories, you might want to try experimenting.

But why should you do it? The three main benefits of influencer marketing are:

Trust in your business is strengthened

Influencers have earned the trust of their followers and thus the recommendations they make are considered authentic, providing credibility and trust between a business and potential customers.

Greater reach

If businesses have carefully selected the influencers they will collaborate with, they can reach their target audience in a more targeted and successful way, thus ensuring higher levels of interaction and success in their campaigns.

Boosting Social Proof

Influencer posts act as a form of social proof, making products and services more appealing.

How to Create an Influencer Marketing Strategy?

Once you decide whether influencer marketing is right for your business or not, the fun part begins, creating a successful influencer marketing strategy, and the following steps are the right way to do it:

Define your goal and the audience you want to reach

As with any other strategy, the first step is to define your goal. Who do you want to reach? Most of the time, when a business chooses influencer marketing, it is to get more people to know them.

The next question is, what are the key performance indicators? Do you simply want to make your business more recognizable or increase your sales? Set specific, measurable goals that you will be able to track.

Research influencers and find the right fit

Before you rush into working with influencers who may not be a good fit for your business, take the time to research who is a good fit for you. Research their audience, past collaborations, lifestyle, the engagement they can create with their audience, and how many people you can reach.

Reach out to influencers

Get organized and create a list of influencers who fit your business and budget. Follow and observe their content for a few days, engaging organically with likes or comments when appropriate. Then, when you’re ready to ask for a collaboration, send a direct message or email.

Collaborate and create content

Once you make a deal, the influencer will create their own content around your product or service. They might explain its benefits or how to use it. While you can agree on certain types of content and provide some guidelines, the influencer has creative control over the execution of the video or post.

Track the results

After you launch your campaign, take the time to track the progress of your collaboration. Your first collaboration acts as an experiment for future ones. Don’t forget to instruct your influencers to include UTMs, which will show you how many users are coming from this collaboration.

The campaign should be measured based on more than just engagement on posts. Tons of likes and comments don’t necessarily translate into sales conversions, but they can be seen as a boost to awareness.

Careful monitoring will help you understand if your collaboration was successful, if one product was presented better than another, if a platform performed better, and how much engagement and sales you achieved!

Tips for a successful collaboration with influencers

If you’ve made it this far, it’s time to learn a few little tips to see more success from your collaboration with influencers.

• Collaborate with influencers who share a common vision with your business.
• Don’t focus on the number of followers, instead you should be more concerned with them having a close relationship with their followers.
• Create a formal written contract so that there are clear terms.
• Do a lot of research.
• Take the time to examine what they publish and evaluate their past collaborations.
• Prefer authentic content that will let influencers express themselves freely and creatively.