The influencer marketing campaign tactic has transformed how brands communicate with their target audiences. An influencer marketing campaign is when a company partners with influential people to promote a product to their followers on social media. This type of marketing isn’t necessarily new, but as of recent, it’s becoming the norm.

Before a company hops on the bandwagon in joining influencer marketing, it’s essential to know what makes them successful. Here are a few tips for creating a successful influencer marketing campaign. 

Define Your Goal

Influencer marketing campaigns prove to be effective and drive product sales. Because of this, social media platforms are saturated with these campaigns. So, it’s crucial to stand out. One way to stand out is to define your goal before anything else.

A successful influencer marketing strategy will clearly and effectively communicate the intended goal. By defining the goal upfront, you can then identify the target audience, which will influence the intended message sent. Without a defined goal, it’s nearly impossible to launch a successful campaign.

Influencer Selection

When using an influencer marketing campaign, a critical step is to select the perfect influencer. This may seem like a no-brainer, but the chosen influencer can either make or break the campaign. The influencer chosen will be the face or spokesperson for the company’s product and brand. This is a huge responsibility, so it’s vital to do the necessary research to see if they are a good fit. Things to research are their media and online reputation, user engagement, truthful posts, and so on. Most importantly, ensure you share a collective voice and target audience with the influencer.

Not all influencers are the same, and there are a variety of different influencers. An article on AWIN described 16 different types of influencers. Some types listed are “the celebrity, the authority, the insider, the brand advocate, and the trendsetter.” Because there are so many varieties of influencers, make sure the one selected is right for your brand and a specific strategy. Just because they are verified on Instagram and have a few hundred thousand followers, doesn’t mean they should automatically be selected. The key to influencer selection is to know where your influencer’s style intersects with your strategy and brand. 

Allow Creative Freedom

The influencer chosen is influential for a reason. They interact with their followers every day, multiple times a day. With that, they understand what their followers want to see, and they know how to influence them to test and purchase new products. So allow the influencer some creative freedom on their sponsored post.

It’s essential to provide them with a guideline of what you expect, key points and you can even give them a sample for reference. But don’t confine them to a small box with a bunch of do’s and don’ts. Allow them to properly and effectively communicate with their followers in a way that they know works. With the sponsored post, it’s important for the audience to honestly believe that the influencer enjoys the product and they are not just posting about it. By an influencer having some creative freedom, they will be able to sell a product without it feeling they are trying to sell it. 

Final Thoughts

Influencer marketing campaigns can be very instrumental in the success of a product. By utilizing these steps, your company will be one step closer to the next viral influencer marketing campaign. For more tips and tricks, read here.