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The Power Of A Dedicated Influencer Marketing Strategy

September 7, 2018

“Influencer marketing campaigns that do not incorporate dedicated strategies too often produce disappointing ROIs. Let’s explore why.”

The marketing paradigm will undoubtedly keep shifting for as long as we live, with new technology and social interactions taking the forefront of this new media landscape. According to Klear, influencer marketing has grown by a staggering 198% on Instagram over the previous year, and there are no signs of slowing down. Furthermore, studies have shown that expert influencer marketers can expect a ROI in media presence of 7.65:1, with Nielsen’s recent research showing a delivery of 11x higher ROI than traditional forms of digital marketing.

Conventional marketing and influencer marketing aim to achieve the same goals and objectives, but differ drastically in structure and approach and that’s why it’s important to have a dedicated influencer marketing strategy, adapted from your overarching campaign strategy. Brands may have a conventional marketing strategy in place, and it may be working very well, but nothing is more powerful in creating positive word-of-mouth than authentic person-to-person conversation.

Conventional marketing is generic corporate messaging that everyone sees. By partnering with influencers of different styles, brands can ensure that the content their target audience is seeing is tailored to their specific interests and tastes. Herein lies the importance of implementing a dynamic marketing campaign, one that includes influencers of different backgrounds, styles and content. Although, this does not mean “penciling in” some names on paper – it means developing a dedicated and specialised influencer marketing strategy. Why? Generic corporate advertisements may still be creating the awareness a brand seeks but influencer marketing is people talking to people about their experience using the brand, not the brand talking about itself.

“Influencer marketing is powerful in sparking positive conversation and creating easier conversions, in that it provides consumers with personal recommendations through authentic storytelling.”

A dedicated influencer marketing strategy should outline the correct platforms your campaign should focus on, the format of your campaign and type of content that your target audience will best resonate with. A brand’s influencer marketing strategy may vary (while still aiming at the same objective) from the overarching digital strategy.

“Brands should define a strategy that is not limited to the ‘obvious’ and will ba able to reach their entire target audience”

The obvious choice for the launch of a new beauty product would be beauty influencers, right? However, most women may use beauty products but not all of them may follow beauty influencers, as this is not where their interest lies. In this example, by limiting the campaign to only using beauty influencers, a large portion of the target market will be missed.

As an example, a beauty product may offer great benefits to one’s skin during pregnancy. If the beauty brand’s target audience is limited to pregnant women, they would miss their audience by using beauty influencers alone. Brands without a strategy pitch the same products to the same audiences, using the same people.

However, analysing the brand, and ascertaining that it would be beneficial to all women who may be pregnant, have experienced exposure to the sun or have experienced acne, opens the campaign up to incorporating moms, women who enjoy the outdoors and adventure, and young women with skin difficulties. It would then be more effective to use a combination of beauty influencers, mom bloggers, sporty women, and youth market influencers, all of whom strive to feel beautiful.

“Producing kickass influencer marketing results required a very specific skillset and expertise in order to design a dedicated influencer marketing strategy, implemented it, and manage it.”

Brands should work with influencer marketing strategists who provide quality insight into the market, which will allow them to develop a personalised strategy for your campaign, which ultimately will provide the highest ROI. Partner with our professional influencer marketing strategists at R-Squared Digital to maximise your ROI and mitigate brand risk.

In upcoming articles, my colleagues and I will demonstrate how a kickass influencer marketing campaign should be run in a series of four articles. You’ve already seen what influencer marketing is all about in the first article of our series and in this article, you’ve learnt about the importance of having a dedicated strategy. You can look forward to learning about how to effectively match the influencer’s audience with your target audience, how to manage your influencer relationship in order to protect and increase your brand equity, and finally, what’s required when your influencer marketing campaign is live. These articles (and more) will be released weekly.

If you’re dying to know more now and you’d like expert assistance with creating and managing your influencer marketing campaigns, you can contact us on partners@r2digital.co.za