Influencer marketing can often be mistaken as a modern phenomenon. However, wherever brand-building strategies have existed, influencer marketing has been right beside it. Whilst previously reserved only for global ambassadors or celebrity endorsements, brands are now utilising social media stars and dedicated hobbyists to promote their offering. Whatever form it takes, influencer marketing is an essential tool in any marketer’s toolkit. If you’re not leveraging it, quite frankly, you’re missing out.
The concept of influencer marketing is pretty simple – employ a person of influence to promote your brand, product, or service(s). Whilst this can of course be conducted by celebrities and public figures, there is an ever-growing rise of micro and nano influencers who can influence niche or specific communities.
With the potential to drive an increase in brand awareness, credibility and revenue, the question on your lips should be where, and more importantly, how do I get started? Below we have outlined the necessary steps on how to launch an influencer marketing campaign.
Does influencer marketing work?
Like any marketing strategy, influencer marketing requires careful planning, monitoring, and adaptation based on results. However, when conducted thoughtfully and in line with your brand’s values and goals, it can be a powerful tool to reach and engage with your target audience.
As an influencer marketing agency, we create and activate global and authentic influencer campaigns for a variety of consumer brands. From curating online communities, to building global ambassador programmes, we help brands capture hearts and minds. We’re experts at what we do. So, we have used our expertise to outline how to activate an influencer marketing campaign.
About the author
Harriet Poole | Influencer Account Director
Well-versed in the influencer marketing space, Harriet has previously worked with noteable sports brands Gymshark and Sweaty Betty.
At Brandnation, Harriet focuses her attention on managing influencer strategy, working across the full spectrum of influencer marketing campaigns from organic to celebrity ambassadorships.
How to launch an influencer marketing campaign
Set objectives: Define your campaign goals—whether it’s brand awareness, engagement, conversions, or a specific marketing KPI.
- Identify target audience: Understand your audience demographics and interests to find influencers whose followers align with your target market.
- Find the right Influencers: Research influencers whose content, audience and values align with your brand. Consider their engagement rate, brand fit and previous partnerships. Oh, and do not forget due diligence (we don’t want any skeletons in the closet!).
- Define campaign details: Decide on the campaign scope, deliverables, timeframe and budget. Determine the content format (e.g. posts, stories, videos) and what you want the key message to be.
- Outreach and negotiation: Contact selected influencers and outline your campaign details, goals, and what you expect in return for your investment. Negotiate terms and timeframes. Make sure everyone is on the same page!
- Create contracts: Now, formalise agreements with the influencers via contracts outlining timelines, usage rights, and any exclusivity clauses.
- Monitor and measure: It’s time to track performance. We suggest establishing robust tracking and reporting capabilities. Data is the bedrock of all our campaigns.
- Engage and amplify: Engage with the influencer’s audience by responding to comments and shares. Amplify their content through your own channels to maximise reach.
- Evaluate and adjust: After the campaign, evaluate its success against your objectives. Analyse what worked well and what should be improved for future campaigns.
How to pick an influencer for your campaign
How many influencers you work with and what size of following they have will depend on your budget and you objectives. To pick an appropriate ambassad for for your brand, please bear in mind:
Relevance: The influencer representing your brand must align with your values as well as being relevant to your target audience. For example, if you’re a women’s footwear brand, you wouldn’t want your influencer’s following to be 95% male!
Reach: It can be tempting to employ a widely popular influencer with the promise of getting hundreds-of-thousands of impressions on your brand. However, influencers with smaller followings may have a community that is more relevant to your brand and the product you are promoting. Smaller influencers may also engage more frequently with their following, which can mean a more engaged audience; this could mean greater returns in the long run.
Authenticity and synergy: When we are launching an influencer campaign for a brand, we work hard to ensure the chosen ambassadors not only have a strong following and their stats stack up, but that they have genuine passion for the brand they will be representing. Authenticity underpins everything we do. Audiences are savvy; they expect this and see through inauthentic partnerships in a second, so genuine advocacy is essential.
We’re working with skincare brand Ella & Jo, helping them break into the UK beauty market. As part of this, our team used influencer marketing to build an ambassador programme, launching a partnership between Ella & Jo and Television presenter Cat Deeley. Cat became the brand’s UK Beauty Ambassador, sharing her personal beauty secrets and favourite Ella & Jo products with her audience; underpinned with an organic influencer ‘always on’ campaign.
Cat is a fantastic ambassador for the skincare brand. As well as having a healthy social following, many of which are Ella & Jo’s target audience, Cat is also a passionate skincare enthusiast who champions the brand’s philosophy of giving time back to busy women. This synergy has helped to increase the brand’s profile, further establishing them in the UK market.
Overall, influencer marketing can be a fantastic opportunity for an organisation to increase awareness for their product or service, build upon brand loyalty and win market share. However, this must be done through forming a genuine connection with influencers who share in your brand’s values.
If you are interested in learning more about how influencer marketing could help your organisation, please get in touch.
