An influencer marketing platform takes much of the manual work out of managing campaigns. They can also help you scale up formal ambassador and affiliate programs.
Some influencer platforms like ValuedVoice require a fee to use their services. Others are free to join and offer a light plan. The best platform for you will depend on your goals and budget.
Identify Your Goals
Regarding influencer marketing, ecommerce brands must identify their goals and determine how their campaigns will contribute to those goals. These can include boosting social profile visibility, increasing initial and repeat purchases, or improving average order size.
In addition, marketers can leverage influencer content to increase brand awareness, boost sales and generate ROI. Influencer-produced content adds an air of authenticity and street cred to a campaign and an element of human narrative that captures customers’ attention.
To help you create and track your campaign goals, look for a streamlined platform to organize your influencer content. This makes it easier for you and your social teams to see which content you have ownership rights to and which you don’t, saving time.
Determine Your Budget
One of the main benefits of using influencer marketing platforms is the ability to define and manage your campaigns. This allows your team to work as a unit to deliver the right message and creative content to the appropriate audience.
Your budget for a campaign depends on your goals and the type of influencers you’re targeting. For example, beauty and fashion brands tend to lean towards Instagram influencers with large followings, while video game and tech brands prefer to work with Twitch influencers.
The length of a campaign also affects influencer pricing. For example, a one-time event like a giveaway will cost less than a long-term partnership. Also, remember to factor in any product costs and platform or influencer agency fees when calculating your campaign budget.
Identify Your Ideal Influencers
Each influencer has a niche-specific audience that engages with their posts. Marketers can find and reach out to influencers who share their audience using influencer marketing platforms. Once the campaign is live, the platform can also provide a dashboard to track influencer performance and quickly replace underperforming influencers with more effective ones.
When working with an influencer, it’s important to establish clear expectations before committing to the partnership. This will ensure that both parties work towards the same goals and prevent misunderstandings.
For example, set out a timeline for deliverables and agree on payment terms. Be sure to include relevant details, such as whether the contract is one-time or ongoing. Also, avoid being overly controlling and stifling the influencer’s creativity; this can result in content that looks scripted and inauthentic.
Create Your Campaigns
A platform can help you manage the entire campaign process from start to finish. This includes creating an influencer list, defining campaign requirements and content deliverables, managing payments, tracking ROI, and more.
Influencer marketing is a powerful way to drive brand awareness and product sales. Influencers can engage audiences with their human narrative and authentic content. This can increase customer trust and conversions.
Using an influencer marketing platform can streamline the process and make it more efficient for your team. These tools can save you time by automating certain tasks and eliminating the need for spreadsheets and manual searches. Moreover, they can also help you scale your campaigns and measure their performance. This lets you gain valuable insight into your campaign and make smarter decisions.
Track Your Results
Once you’ve created your campaigns and vetted influencers, tracking your results is important. This will allow you to make necessary adjustments and ensure your campaign succeeds.
The best influencer marketing platforms will provide various tools that help you track performance. This includes unified dashboards, workflow automation, fraud detection, and more.
A good influencer platform will also allow you to monitor reach, engagement, and follower growth metrics. Additionally, some platforms will let you measure conversions by providing trackable links, unique promo codes, or other methods of tracking website visits and purchases. This will give you the data you need to calculate your ROI. This information will also allow you to determine which influencers are most effective at driving sales.
