No matter what forms of marketing tactics you engage, the voice of your customers will always be one of the most powerful concepts in marketing. In today’s digital world, social platforms act as one giant megaphone for that voice.
This is where influencer marketing steps in. Let’s start at the beginning:
What is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is a form of marketing that targets individuals who have influence over potential buyers, and orients marketing activities around these influencers.
In fact, social media alone has fundamentally changed the balance of power between customers and brands because it enables peer recommendations to play a much greater role in purchasing decisions. According to a McKinsey Study, marketing-inspired word-of-mouth generates more than twice the sales of paid advertising.
The Strength of Influence:
- 70% of consumers trust the word of family and friends, first, online reviews second (PrWeb)
- 41% of patients said social media would affect their choice of a specific hospital, medical facility or doctor (2012 Google Compete Hospital Study)
- Online reviews impact 67.7% of online decisions (Google)
- 29% went to the websites that came up in the search at the top of the list (Caring.com)
- 74% of people turn to social networks for guidance on buying decisions. (GlobalWebIndex)
5 Steps to Influencer Marketing
Step 1: Who should you be targeting for influence marketing?
It is essential to determine a target segment and/or personas so that your efforts are focused.
Know your best prospects, inside and out. Creating rich, multi-dimensional personas help you fully understand the prospect’s motivations, challenges, mindset, and questions they have related to your service. If you don’t understand who your ideal customers are, how can you identify the people who influence them?
Step 2: What do you hope to achieve with your influence marketing?
As with any new initiative, it is essential to determine a strategy, identify targets and set goals.
What do you hope to achieve with your influence marketing strategy?
- Increase brand awareness (TOF)
- Drive traffic to your website (TOF)
- Generate leads (MOF)
When defining your goals, use the SMART goal setting process (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely). Goals will also set the stage for what you measure!
Step 3: Identify influencers in your target market
Your persona will help guide you in where your audience goes for information.
- What blogs do they follow?
- What social channels are they in?
- Who do they consider to be a local expert?
- What is their conversation like on Facebook and other social sites? Who are they connected to?
- Do your local referral sources blog? Evaluate their websites. Check out their social channels. Explore LinkedIn for sources. Set up multiple Google Alerts for your company and competitors to capture information.
Step 4: Create and publish quality content
You can get people talking about your brand if you consistently publish quality content on your blog. Then you will naturally find your way into people’s conversations. You want content that amplifies and spreads. Content that is fun, authentic, creative and useful. No. 1: it’s content that your audience wants.
Step 5: Find the Right Channels
Find the right channels for your audience and your influencers. 35% of U.S. readers look to blogs to discover new services (PrWeb). Others to consider – again based upon your goals and personas – would include Facebook, Pinterest, texting and more. Be where your audience is.
Remember, 92% of people trust strangers over brands (Nielsen). And trust is where the brand challenge lies – because brands have to build trust on the prospects’ terms.
Therefore, implementing influencer marketing into your overall digital strategy makes good sense. Have a strategy, set goals, know your personas!
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