There was a time when influencer marketing meant a celebrity on television endorsing a product or plastered on a billboard advocating for a business. However, in today’s era of bloggers, social media influencers and digital creators of every age and niche, those days are long over – and as a business owner, you need to know how to harness their power to reach your customers. 

It isn’t quite as easy as calling up the local celebrity and asking for their backing any longer. Here’s how to make influencer marketing work for your business. 

Define your goals

Just like any other marketing strategy, goals need to be set so a business knows if it has been successful and if that strategy should be one to be invested in going forward. 

Are you looking for more website visits, more purchases from your online store, more social media followers or more engagement with your social media posts? When you have defined goals, it will also be easier for you to work with your influencer. 

Choose the right influencer for your demographic

Each influencer, just like every customer, varies greatly in terms of their demographic, voice and experience. Businesses need to choose the right influencer for their goal by choosing an influencer who has an audience that is similar in age, location, interests and gender as the business. 

Also think about the tone of an influencer’s content. Are they formal and business-oriented or are they relaxed and humorous? Choose an influencer whose voice matches that of your own business.

Engagement is more important than follower count

As many social media users follow thousands of accounts and social media is full of bots and inactive users, it’s very possible for an influencer with an exponential number of followers to have very few users meaningfully engaging with their content. 

So, go for quality over quantity. Partner with influencers who have a dedicated, active following who trusts the influencer. To determine an influencer’s level of engagement, check out their engagement metrics, comments and interactions. 

Next steps

When used correctly, influencer marketing can be one of the most effective forms of marketing today. Out of businesses surveyed in one study, 83% of business owners said they felt influencer marketing had been a worthwhile marketing strategy for them. 

Mint Zebra can help you create your influencer marketing strategy. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help. To share these tips with your followers, click the ‘Share’ social icons below.