7 influencer marketing tips you need to know in 2019
Everything changes. Five years ago, you could easily market your products through ads and could make a nice amount of revenue. If your ads were featured on larger websites, you’d basically be set for some time.
Unfortunately for some, that time has passed. Nowadays, most active Internet users use browsers extensions such as AdBlock to avoid ads. Can’t blame them either, some websites feature ultra-aggressive ads (looking at you YouTube), and it’s never good when there are more ads than content.
This has led to most people using AdBlock, even though most sites don’t feature such aggressive marketing. This raises an important question: What works if online marketing doesn’t?
Enter influencer marketing. Influencer marketing is the next big thing when it comes to marketing and advertising a product, service, or anything else. Influencers are highly popular people that could promote your product for something in return (such as sponsorship).
And that’s what we’ll be talking about today - influencer marketing, especially if you use WordPress hosting (which doesn’t go too well with ads).
Define your Target Audience
Everything needs a target audience. No matter what you offer and want to advertise, always have a target audience. Showing your product to everyone is not a good strategy. It’s too broad, annoying to people who aren’t looking for that, and downright impossible to keep a profit.
Having a target audience lets you focus on one specific people group. For example, if you’re selling gaming products - you’d focus on gamers. The same can be said about age groups; you aren’t going to advertise gaming products to people over a certain age (usually).
This all requires some dose of research, and it’s not good to go in blind. Figure out what your target audience should be and watch your business grow!
Think Beyond the Sponsored Post
Before selecting and deciding what type of post you want to sponsor, think a bit beyond. What will people think when they see your advertised products, how will they react, what’s the possibility of conversion. All of these questions need answers.
On top of that, you need to think about the influencer you’ve decided to go with. More on this a little bit later.
So, put yourself in the target customers’ shoes. What would you do if you saw an ad marketing your product? If there are any negative reactions or feelings - try to think of another sponsored post and strategy. It’s important you don’t rush, either.
Engage in Social Media
Social media is your bridge to success. Almost everyone uses some form of social media nowadays, and it’s not surprising considering how digitized our world is. You can use this to your advantage easily.
So many people use Twitter, and it’s considered the best for this type of exposure. Facebook is okay but ultimately needs a detailed plan and campaign. Instagram is good as well but usually not so good for advertising (although this improved recently).
Twitter is amazing and brings in plenty of new readers, customers, anyone basically. Plus, marketing through influencers on social media is very effective. Try it out - social media is always a good idea!
Be Wise While Choosing Influencer
Some business owners choose influencers randomly. What does it matter, they’re influencers anyway, right?
Well, not so much. Your influencer choice depends on, again, what you’re offering. You aren’t going to promote gaming gear with a cooking social media influencer. A good influencer will help you grow your business quickly and with quality. They’ll know how to talk to the fans, their community, and present what you’re advertising in good light.
It can be funny, sad, serious, whatever - as long as your influencer of choice knows what they’re doing. You both should be getting benefits from such a partnership.
Understand your Value
When it comes to promoting your products or service, never underestimate them. If you’re sure that what you’re offering is of good quality, then shape the promotion campaign around that. Sometimes, you might get approached by influencers that would help you out but for a certain price. There’s a chance they will oversell their services so you’d be smart to do your research.
On the other side, you mustn’t offer your products for too cheap. Sure, you might be new on the market, but compare how much work, time, and resources went into the production process. Do not undersell yourself!
Focus on Quality Rather than Quantity
So many people make the mistake of churning out content without giving too much time to it. This content is then seen as very low-quality and not in-depth enough. Thousands of short articles are rarely good, and it’s better if you have high-quality content that is less in numbers.
Not only does it provide a more enjoyable experience for the community, but it’s also more effective when it comes to capitalizing on your promotions.
Influencers may also be more inclined to work with you when they see great content. This applies to blogs.
As far as products and services are concerned - it’s the same story. Don’t skim out on quality just because you want to provide more in numbers. It’s never a good idea.
The easiest way to realize this is by ‘learning by example.’ You take a look at some of the most successive solutions to what you’re having issues with. Looking at high-profile competitors provides plenty of insight on what you could potentially improve. So do your research and improve upon what you find!
Ensure it's Optimized for Mobile
Finally, it’s worth talking about mobile optimization. Marketing nowadays requires plenty of care and thought. If you create an ad that is rushed, you won’t get anything out of it. The reason influencers are so great with marketing products is because each of them has a unique style. If that style fits, they’ll figure out a way how to promote your product (or you can help out).
But this also must be true for the mobile! Mobile optimization on your site or your influencers sites must be present. The mobile user is sometimes more common than the PC user, so make it optimized for all. If your website looks clunky on mobile or if it doesn’t display what it should, people will just walk away. No one likes a website that doesn’t do well on certain resolutions. Another negative side of not doing this properly is that these people will search and eventually settle for your competitors. Hard facts!
Conclusion
These couple of influencer marketing tips will help you overcome certain obstacles in a much faster manner. They will also enhance your business model and marketing ideas, and that’s always welcome in that line of work. Once you start building trust and getting to a certain goal number of customers, then you can be sure what you’re doing is good.
After that, all that’s left is to constantly keep finding new and unique ways to make your product better and your consumer base happier. That’s all there is to it! Get in the groove, and you’ll get to the top in no time!