With more than half of the world using social media daily, influencer marketing, and digital marketing for brands have been on the rise over the past 3-5 years. Nearly anyone with a set number of followers, catering to a niche, and posting content regularly can be called an influencer today. Brands track down and collaborate with influencers to reach a niche audience and for the promotion of their products. 

The best part about this type of marketing strategy? It works.

How Do I Get Started with Influencer Marketing?

The first step to getting started on an influencer marketing strategy is to understand the type of influencer that you require for your brand. In broad terms, there are two types of influencers: Micro-influencers and macro-influencers. If you are just getting started, then we suggest that you start with micro-influencers who have a niche set audience and more engagement. Not to mention, these influencers are also easier on the pocket

First. Ask yourself this. Who am I targeting? What is the demographic of the audience that you want to interact with? Do you want them to buy a product or to know about you? Do you want them to perform an action when they are interacting with you? These are the types of questions that are required before you get started on influencer marketing. 

Second. Once you have your target set in place, find out people who are good content creators and who are specific to your industry. For example, if you are from the beauty industry, then target those influencers who create content around beauty brands. 

Third. Reach out to the people that you have targeted. Keeping in touch, clear and transparent communication, and a discussion on remuneration is the ideal path to take. Influencer marketing is a huge industry and some people charge thousands, even millions for just a few seconds of content. For this reason, building a strong base or having a contract with an influencer can be the key to having a long-term influencer marketing strategy.

The Increasing Popularity of Influencer Marketing 

Influencer marketing skyrocketed with the introduction of the popular social media app TikTok. TikTok enabled ordinary people to make content and share it with the world. With every individual being a content creator, the ones who were good at this got popular and turned into influencers. Following the popularity of this social media application, other apps like Instagram and Facebook started developing their own versions which were soon utilized to the full by influencers.

This is where influencer marketing boomed. On a side note, celebrities were being used as influencers for brands ever since the concept of fame and popularity existed. But, the division between what we call “ordinary influencers” and “celebrity influencers” came about with a change in social media features.

Thanks to social media applications, influencer marketing is at an all-time high. 

Some Facts That Should Convince You To Start Influencer Marketing Immediately

• The influencer market industry is set to increase by a whopping 16.4 billion dollars.
  
• Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube are the top platforms for influencer marketing.
  
• Companies that provide influencer marketing services have grown exponentially till the start of micro and macro influencer marketing.
  
• Brands that have a steady influencer marketing strategy in place grow 34.2 times more compared to brands that do not have an influencer marketing strategy.
  
• Micro-influencers who work on barter systems are more likely to get more reach when promoting a brand as compared to celebrity influencers who have the audience but not the target reach that is required for the brand.
  
• Luxury brands around the world have started to target micro-influencers to promote to different audience demographics and to reach the masses of Gen Z.

5 Influencer Hacks You Should Know About

1. Don’t go for agencies

Most influencers are independent and don’t have any tie-ups with agencies. Targeting individual influencers from your company’s account shows credibility and is a strong way to start a long-lasting relationship. Personal reach when it comes to influencer marketing is the best form of kickstarting your digital marketing strategy.

• Target micro-influencers

There is no denying that micro-influencers who have less than a certain among of followers have higher engagement rates as compared to macro influencers. The engagement of micro-influencers is also dependent on the type of content that they post and how they interact with their audience.

• Collaborations / Paid Promotion

Influencer marketing is not only about putting images of the product and then writing a good caption, it is about posting videos and reels. Reels, as proven, get the most amount of engagement from customers who spend more than half of their time on Instagram scrolling through videos. In a sense, reels have the option of adding collaboration partners or tagging companies when it is made. Paid collaboration or adding collaboration is an essential part of influencer marketing if you want your brand to get the engagement and recognition that it requires.

• Understand Engagement Statistics

Understanding the type of engagement and the reach of an influencer is paramount for collaboration. Only knowing the number of followers and the number of times one video has been watched is not enough anymore. Reach and engagement matrices show the number of accounts that a post or video has reached, the shares, the likes, and the comments, and also give insights into how an audience is reacting to a particular post.

• Incorporate Branding

The most important part of influencer marketing is branding. Each influencer comes with their unique style of making content, but they can be requested to follow the branding guidelines of your brand to make the video unique and recurring. In fact, several influencer videos are used by brands to further run advertisements for their products. 

How can we help?

We at Digikore Digital understand the importance of enhancing your marketing strategy to ensure continuous growth for your brand. We provide custom-made marketing strategies for your brand, including social media marketing, content marketing, influencer marketing, and much more. Contact us to boost your website’s presence and traffic today!