Influencer marketing is the process by which companies and brands rely on the reach, affability, and unique personality of well known, established players in the social media sphere. Every one from top shelf celebs to the 7 year old with the adorable YouTube channel with 7M subscribers is influencing and promoting. If they have an audience, they carry influence.

Influencer marketing is the most powerful & fastest growing approach to maximizing customer engagement, but before you dive right in, there are some things your organization should know about boosting engagement & reach with influencer marketing.

#1 Do Your Research

Number one because it’s the most important and hardest step in the process. Regardless of the niche & market you are in, there will be influencers. You just have to find them. Poking about Instagram and Facebook looking for them manually will work, but it’s unnecessarily laborious.

A better approach is to use one of the many Influencer Relationship Building Tools. Grab NinjaOutreach, BuzzStream, Pitchbox or any of the other tools designed to help you out and give the free trial a whirl. When you find one that works for you, stick with it. It’ll be worth the cost.

#2 Defined Your Influencer Goals

Before you start your outreach, you’ll want to define the goal for your campaign. Are you looking for sales conversions? Leads? Whatever it is, you need to take tha, and decide what success on those terms will look like, and share that with your influencers. Helping them understand your goals enables them to do a better job for you.

#3 Small Influencer Doesn’t Mean Small Results

Smaller influencers may not have the reach of their larger counterparts, but what they lack in reach they make up for with more focused and more committed followers. They can also often be reached for a lower cost per action. Look around, you might be surprised.

#4 Be Consistent

Whatever channel or influencer is promoting you, be sure to maintain a consistent identity, with consistent messaging. Buyers & followers want to know what you stand for, and if they can’t readily get a clear read on you, they’ll move on.

#5 Be Original

Find the thing that makes your business and your brand special and communicate that to your influencers. They, in turn, can communicate that to your audience resulting in a more engaged and activated audience.

#6 Analytics All Day Long

Track. Track again. And then track some more. Tracking all your visits, campaigns, and visitors is extremely important. Without adequate tracking you’ll never know what is working and what isn’t, and that is not a result you want.

These are just a few important things to know before you dive into social. If you’d like to learn more about how to win on social, how to market on Instagram or Facebook, drop us a note. We’re always happy to have a call or share a coffee.