Influencer Marketing: Leveraging Influencers for Brand Growth

Influencer marketing has become a game-changing tool in online marketing. With 86% of consumers inspired to buy a product recommended by an influencer, it's no wonder why the influencer marketing industry continues to grow year by year as more and more brands implement it in their marketing strategy.

If you're a marketer or business owner who wants to consider influencer marketing for their brand but don't know where to start, this guide is for you. We'll show you how to effectively leverage influencers, measure campaign impact, and maximise your brand’s growth.

As a forward-thinking agency based in Scotland, we specialise in modern, data-driven marketing to make sure your brand stays ahead of the curve. Read on and let's explore how we can help you thrive in the dynamic world of influencer marketing!
 

 

Understanding influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is an approach that brands use when they partner with an influencer to further promote their services or products. Before, brands only tap celebrities to endorse their products and services. However, with the rise of social media, influencers' impact become more significant.

According to HubSpot's 2023 The State of Marketing report, influencer marketing comes out as one of the highest ROI on any marketing channel, along with blogs and social media shopping tools. The value of global influencer marketing industry is also expected to reach £18.7 billion this year.

Role of influencers in modern marketing

Influencers are a public figure who share engaging branded content on social media platforms with a goal to reach their audience and encourage them to make a purchase. When brands partner with influencers, these creators bridge the gap between the consumer and the company to establish a relationship and ultimately lead to conversion. Since most consumers trust recommendations from influencers and online reviews, they help these brands establish their credibility within the industry.

Whether through sponsored posts, reviews, or unboxing videos, influencers play a vital role in effectively boosting the online presence of brands in this modern-day marketing.

Benefits of influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is a powerful tool for brands to connect with their target audience in a more personal and authentic way. In case you're wondering if you should use it for your brand, here are some of the key benefits of leveraging influencer marketing:

• Increased reach and visibility: Partnering with influencers helps brands put their products or services beyond their existing audience. Influencers have built loyal followings that trust their recommendations. Brands can use this opportunity to tap into new and diverse markets.
• Improved trust and credibility: Consumers seek authenticity, and that's what influencers provide to them. When these creators share their personal experience about a brand, consumers are more likely to trust and act on recommendations. This trust can translate into stronger brand credibility and higher customer loyalty.
• Higher conversions: Influencer marketing often leads to higher conversion rates. When an influencer promotes a product, their endorsement can drive more followers to take action, whether it’s making a purchase, signing up for a service, or engaging with the brand.
• Precise audience targeting: Influencers can help brands reach very specific segments of the market. By choosing influencers whose followers align with the brand’s target demographic, businesses can ensure their marketing efforts are hitting the right audience.
   

 

Identifying the right influencers

The success of your marketing campaign doesn't only lie on your strategy. It's also crucial to choose the right influencer to bring your campaign to life. The effectiveness of your efforts hinges on how well the influencers align with your brand and resonate with your target audience.

And with thousands of influencers globally, here are some key criteria that you can consider, so you can choose the right one for your brand:

Criteria for choosing influencers

Before diving into each of the criteria, let's first learn about the different types of influencers. Understanding each category will help you see which one fits you best based on the factors we will discuss later on.

• Mega influencers: This type of influencer boasts a massive following of 1 million or more. Famous celebrities, musicians, and athletes fall under this category. Since they have a big number of followers, their audience are diverse. They are also the most expensive out of all influencer types.
• Macro influencers: Influencers who belong in this group have around 100,000 to 1 million followers. They are usually personalities in with an established expertise in a specific niche who gained popularity due to their consistent creation of relatable and engaging content. Compared to mega influencers, the audience of macro influencers are more specific and targeted.
• Micro influencers: Sprout Social refer to them as the "rising stars of influencer marketing". These influencers usually have 10,000 to 100,000 followers on a specific platform. Because of their smaller community, their audience are more engaged and responsive towards their content.
• Nano influencers: Last but not the least, nano influencers have a following around 1,000 to 10,000. The number of their followers may not be as big as the others, but their connection with their audience is sublime. Thanks to their close-knit community, they can foster genuine interactions and provide personable content.

Now that you know the types of influencers, it's time to talk about the criteria for choosing the right influencer:

Audience alignment

Finding influencers whose followers match your target demographic is essential. Look for influencers who engage with an audience that fits your ideal customer profile. Doing this can guarantee that your message reaches potential customers who are more likely to be interested in your products or services.

For example, if you're an e-commerce brand that offers sustainable baby products, you should choose influencers whose content revolves around lifestyle and motherhood. Aside from having a personal connection with the brand and influencer, their following are sure to consist of mothers who would be encouraged to purchase.

Engagement rates

High follower counts don’t always translate to high engagement. Make sure to look at the engagement rates of potential influencers to see if their audience is actively interacting with their content. To calculate this metric, you should first choose at least 10 branded posts of each influencer.

Once you've collected the posts, add the number of likes and comments of these posts and divide it with the total number of followers of the influencer. After that, multiply it by 100 and you now have the average engagement rate. Use this to choose which influencer fits you best in terms of this metric.

Authenticity

Being authentic is an important factor in choosing an influencer to partner in your campaign. If they can naturally align with your brand, it would be hard to genuinely promote your products. This way, you can build trust and relationship to your target audience.

Going back to our example before, if you're an e-commerce brand that offers sustainable products, you should not only choose influencers who promote content about motherhood. You should also go for someone who supports eco-friendly choices.

Tools for identifying influencers

Influencers are everywhere. With the vast option in the market, choosing the right one can be challenging. Even so, you don't need to worry! Having the right tools and strategies to assist you will make it easier. Although there are several ways to identify influencers for your brand, we're going to focus on two techniques: influencer platforms and manual research.

Let's get started!

Influencer Platforms

Influencer marketing platforms are tools that can help you discover and connect with potential influencers that can effectively promote your products or services. Aside from this feature, you can also manage your content and analyse your campaign in these platforms. Here are some of the top-rated influencer marketing platforms based on G2:

1. Captiv8 (4.6 out of 5): Captiv8 is an end-to-end influencer marketing platform that offers award-winning services to help marketers track campaign, manage payments, and identify the right influencers for their brand.
2. CreatorIQ (4.6 out of 5): CreatorIQ is an innovative creator marketing platform that provide comprehensive solutions, so brands can discover, manage, optimise, and covert their campaigns to achieve success.
3. Afluencer (4.6 out of 5): Afluencer is a free influencer and creator marketing platform that helps brands launch and scales their campaigns by connecting them with their influencer partners. They also help influencers look for brands to partner with.
4. inBeat (4.9 out of 5): inBeat is a search engine database where you can find micro to nano influencers on TikTok and Instagram. Their also have filter options to help you easily find the best influencer that matches your brand.
5. #paid (4.7 out of 5): #paid is a marketplace where creators can easily find brands to collaborate and where marketers can seamlessly hire influencers for their next campaign.

You can check out the full list of the best influencer marketing platforms based on user ratings here.

Manual Research

In addition to using influencer platforms, manual research can be an effective way to find influencers who are a perfect fit for your brand. Let's see some methods you can consider:

• Social media: Explore social media platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube to find influencers who are active in your industry. You can use hashtags, keywords, and explore pages to discover influencers who are engaging with your target audience.
• Search engines: Search engine is a gold mine of influencers. By searching the right terms, you can discover relevant influencers that can bring your brand to new height. Try searching for "your niche or industry + influencers + your location" to generate a list of influencers that you can reach out.
• Industry events and conferences: Attending industry events and conferences can help you meet influencers in person. These events are great for networking and building relationships with influencers who are genuinely interested in your industry.
• Personal network: Leverage your personal and professional network to find influencers. Recommendations from trusted contacts can lead you to reliable and authentic influencers who are already familiar with your brand.
   

 

Building relationships with influencers

As with any business, building strong relationships is part of the recipe for your success. Having a genuine connection with your chosen influencer means you can guarantee better collaboration and more authentic promotion of your brand. By following the strategies below, you can effectively approach influencers, craft the perfect outreach message, and negotiate collaborations.

Approaching Influencers

Now that we're done looking and compiling possible influencers to collaborate with your brand, it's time to know how to approach them. Before directly reaching out, it's important to take note of the following:

• Update your profile: Make sure your social media and professional profiles are up-to-date before you reach out. A well-maintained profile reflects professionalism and helps influencers understand your brand better. After all, no one wants to partner with a brand whose update was years ago, right?
• Dive deep into the influencer's content: Take the time to thoroughly understand the influencer's content. Familiarise yourself with their style, interests, and audience and see how it aligns with your brand. You can use information when tailoring your outreach message to the influencer.
• Engage with them through your accounts: Keep your brand in the influencer's radar by engaging with their social accounts. You can like, comment, and share their posts, so they can also be familiar with your brand. This organic interaction lays the foundation for a more natural and meaningful connection.

Crafting the perfect outreach message

Once you're done with the initial engagement, it's time to reach out to your possible influencer partner. Whether you message them via email, Instagram, or other social platform, here are tips that you should keep in mind:

1. Keep it short, simple, and straightforward:

   Influencers receive numerous messages daily. And with their busy schedule, they can't spare extra time just to read a long message. You can start by a friendly greeting and then proceed by introducing who you are, why you’re reaching out, and what you’re proposing.

2. Personalise your message :

   Make your message personal by mentioning specific posts or aspects of their work you admire. This shows that you’ve done your homework and are genuinely interested in collaborating with them. Keep in mind that Instagram DMs are more casual and direct compared to email.

3. Provide the next steps:

   End your message with clear next steps. Whether it’s scheduling a call or asking for their rates, provide a straightforward path for them to follow.

Here are some examples of a great influencer outreach message:
 

EMAIL

Subject line: Hey [Influencer Name], Exclusive Collaboration Opportunity with [Your Brand]!

Message:

Hi, [Influencer Name],

I am [Your Name], [Position] at [Your Brand]. Our team has been following your account, and we admire your unique unboxing video to promote the new products of [Name of Brand].

We're looking for influencers to collaborate for the launch of our new service and I think you're a great fit for this opportunity. If you're interested, you can reply to this email, and I'd be happy to share more details about the campaign. You can also schedule a call here if that works better.

Thank you, and I look forward to your reply!

All the best,

[Name and E-mail signature]

INSTAGRAM

Hi, [Influencer Name]!

I'm [Your Name] from [Your Brand]. I've been following your content and was really impressed with your sponsored collaboration with [Brand Name]! We're currently looking for influencers to partner with for our latest campaign and I think you're a great fit for our brand. I can share more details about this project if you're interested.

If you want to learn more, just reply here and I will send more information regarding this opportunity.

Thank you! Talk to you soon.
 

Negotiation tactics

Congrats! You've reached out the influencer and they responded. What's next? It's time to learn about the negotiation tactics. It's important to cover vital information to ensure a seamless collaboration. Here are some tips to apply:

• Ask the rates of the influencers and be transparent about your budget: Start by asking for their rates and being upfront about your influencer marketing budget. Transparency builds trust and sets the tone for an honest negotiation. You can always work out on a better deal, especially if the influencers are genuinely interested in your brand and vice versa.
• Be clear about the scope of work and timeline: Clearly define the deliverables, timeline, and expectations. This avoids misunderstandings and ensures both parties are on the same page. List all content type to be posted, date and frequency of posting, and expected engagement.
• Discuss brand exclusivity: If exclusivity is important, discuss it early in the negotiation. Make sure that you have a clear and compelling offer to guarantee that the influencer won't be collaborating with your competitors.
• Prepare for contingencies: Have a plan for potential challenges or changes. Discuss what happens if the campaign needs adjustments, so that both sides are flexible and prepared.
• Offer long-term collaboration: Propose a long-term partnership if the initial collaboration goes well. This provides stability for the influencer and ongoing value for your brand.
• Include a non-disclosure agreement: During your partnership, there may be sensitive information that will be disclosed to the influencer. Include a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to ensure that both parties respect confidentiality throughout and after the collaboration.
   

 

Maintaining long-term partnerships

Once an influencer accepts your deal, it's crucial to foster a long-term relationship for the sustained success of your campaign. Trust, collaboration, and genuineness shouldn't just be initial efforts. It must be maintained throughout the partnership. Here’s how your brand can ensure enduring and successful influencer relationships.

Collaboration strategies

Building a successful and long-lasting partnership with influencers requires thoughtful collaboration. Effective collaboration strategies guarantee that both of you can work together seamlessly to achieve shared goals. Let's look at some key approaches to foster a productive and creative partnership.

1. Communicate clearly: Consistent and clear communication is the foundation of any successful partnership. Make sure to regularly update your influencers on campaign progress, expectations, and any changes. When brands and influencers communicate clearly, it prevents future misunderstandings and eventually build trust with one another.
2. Create compelling content: Work with influencers to create content that resonates with both their audience and your brand. Collaborative brainstorming sessions is important to produce innovative ideas that captivate and engage viewers, driving better results for both parties. Remember that partnership always involves two parties, that's why it's vital to always work together as a team.
3. Embrace creative freedom: Allow influencers the freedom to express their creativity. They understand their audience best and know how to deliver content that resonates. Trust their expertise and give them the flexibility to craft authentic and engaging posts.
4. Track your campaign: Measuring your metrics and evaluating the performance of your campaigns regularly are part of collaboration. Use analytics to assess the effectiveness of the partnership and make data-driven decisions for future campaigns. Sharing these insights with influencers will help you refine strategies and improve results overtime.
    

Building mutual trust

Relationships thrive when it has trust, that's why it's essential to cultivate and maintain mutual trust to ensure both parties feel valued and respected. Here are some strategies to help build a genuine and lasting trust with your influencers, ensuring a strong and collaborative relationship.

Be transparent: Honesty and transparency are vital for building trust. Be upfront about your goals, expectations, and any challenges that may arise. When both you and the influencer are open with one another, it's easier to communicate ideas and problems, which in return makes work go smoothly.

Establish a genuine connection: Invest time in getting to know your influencers personally. Understanding their values, interests, and motivations can help build a deeper and more genuine connection. This personal touch goes a long way in establishing a solid and enduring partnership.

Align your influencer's values with your brand: It's important that your influencer's values align with your brand’s ethos. When there is a natural fit, the collaboration feels more authentic and credible to the audience. This alignment also helps in creating more impactful and cohesive campaigns.
 

Crafting effective influencer marketing campaigns

To pull off an effective influencer marketing strategy, it requires careful planning, clear communication, and a strategic approach. There are various types of influencer marketing campaigns, including product reviews, sponsored content, giveaways, and brand ambassadorships. Each type has its unique benefits and requires a tailored strategy to achieve the desired results.

Here's how you can build a campaign that will bring success to your brand:
 

 

Planning and executing campaigns

Successful influencer marketing campaigns start with a solid plan and precise execution. This involves defining your campaign goals, setting key performance indicators (KPIs), and managing the content creation process.

Defining goals and KPIs

Before launching your campaign, ask your team: "What do we want to achieve in this campaign?" Setting clear goals will guide your strategy and help you define what success means in this project. On the other hand, working without a goal means wasted effort. Since you didn't establish a goal, you're not aware whether your campaign is working or not.

Some common goals for influencer campaigns you can look at include:

• Increasing brand awareness
• Driving website traffic
• Boosting sales
• Growing social media following
• Engaging with a new audience
• Promoting a new product

And to effectively measure these goals, you need to have KPIs. These are quantifiable metric to see the performance of your campaign. Here are some sample KPIs you can use:

• Reach: Number of people who see the content
• Engagement: Likes, comments, shares, and other interactions
• Click-through rate (CTR): Percentage of people who click on a link
• Conversion rate: Percentage of people who take a desired action, like making a purchase
• Follower growth: Increase in social media followers
• Return on investment (ROI): Revenue generated compared to the cost of the campaign
   

Content creation and approval process

Once you have the goals and KPIs outlined, it's time to get creative! It's important to have a clear guidelines and efficient approval process to ensure that the campaign aligns with your objectives and within schedule. Here are some things you should keep in mind to produce an effective and engaging content:

Content guidelines

Before starting the production, make sure to provide the influencers with clear content guidelines. Brief them about your brand's key messages, tone, and style to maintain brand consistency. List some do and don'ts to give an overview of how you want the campaign to represent your brand. Doing this ensures that the final output will be compelling and resonates with your target audience.

Shipping products

If your campaign involves product reviews, unboxing, or demonstrations, make sure to have your products delivered to the influencer beforehand to avoid delays. This also gives them enough time to use and create authentic content about your products.

Content review

Establish a content review process to approve influencer-generated content before it goes live to maintain quality and ensures that the content adheres to your guidelines. Be respectful of the influencer's creative process while providing constructive feedback.
 

 

Measuring campaign success

Measuring the success of your influencer marketing campaign is vitally important in order to understand its impact and improve future efforts. Accurate measurement and analysis can help you refine your strategy, maximise ROI, and demonstrate value to stakeholders.

Tracking metrics

Tracking metrics plays a crucial role in evaluating the effectiveness of your influencer campaign. Metrics help you understand the reach, engagement, and conversion rates of your campaign. By tracking these KPIs, you can gauge the success of your efforts, identify areas for improvement, and justify your marketing spend.

Tools for tracking metrics

Several tools can help you track and measure your influencer campaign performance. This includes:

• Google Analytics: Tracks website traffic, conversions, and user behaviour.
• Social media analytics: Platforms like Facebook Insights, Instagram Analytics, and Twitter Analytics provide data on engagement, reach, and follower growth.
• Influencer marketing platforms: Tools like Traackr, Upfluence, and HypeAuditor offer comprehensive analytics for influencer campaigns.
• UTM parameters: These are tracking codes added to your URLs to monitor traffic and conversions from specific campaigns.

Reporting and analysis

It's important to understand the overall impact of your influencer campaign. Reporting and analysis provide a clear picture of your campaign’s performance, enabling you to showcase its value and ROI. It also helps you communicate the results to stakeholders and enhance your strategy for future campaigns.

How to effectively report and analyse campaign performance

Effective reporting and analysis is essential, and here's how you can do it:

1. Collect data: Gather data from all relevant sources, including social media platforms, Google Analytics, and influencer marketing tools.
2. Organise your data: Sort and categorise your data to make it easier to analyse. Focus on key metrics like reach, engagement, conversions, and ROI.
3. Use visual aids: Present your data using charts, graphs, and tables to make it easier to understand. Visual aids can help highlight trends and patterns.
4. Interpret the data: Analyse the data to draw insights and conclusions. Identify what worked well and areas for improvement.
5. Provide recommendations: Based on your analysis, offer actionable recommendations for future campaigns.
6. Create a influencer marketing report: Compile your findings into a comprehensive report. Include an executive summary, key metrics, visual aids, analysis, and recommendations.
    

 

Measuring ROI of influencer marketing strategy

Understanding the ROI of your influencer marketing efforts is important to know if you are investing money and effort into the right strategy. When you see the effectiveness of your campaign through your key metrics, you can determine the success if your influencer partnerships and make informed decisions about future strategies.

Key metrics for influencer marketing

To effectively measure the ROI of influencer marketing, you should focus on three primary metrics: engagement, conversions, and brand awareness. Each of these metrics provides valuable insights into different aspects of your campaign's performance.

Engagement

Engagement metrics reflect how actively your audience interacts with the influencer’s content. High engagement indicates that the content resonates well with the audience, driving them to like, comment, share, or save the posts.

• Why it matters: It indicates how compelling and relevant the content is to your target audience. High engagement rates suggest that the influencer's followers are genuinely interested in the content, increasing the likelihood of conversion.
• How to measure: Track likes, comments, shares, saves, and overall interaction rates on posts related to your campaign. Tools like social media analytics platforms and influencer marketing software can help you gather and analyse this data.

Conversions

Conversions are the actions you want your audience to take, such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading an app. This metric is essential for understanding the direct financial impact of your influencer marketing efforts.

• Why it matters: Conversions directly contribute to your bottom line, making this metric a key indicator of your campaign's financial success. It helps you determine the actual ROI from your influencer partnerships.
• How to measure: Use tracking tools like Google Analytics, UTM parameters, and unique discount codes to monitor conversions driven by your influencer campaigns. These tools can help you attribute sales and sign-ups to specific influencers and campaigns.

Brand Awareness

Brand awareness measures how well your target audience recognises and remembers your brand. Influencers can significantly boost brand awareness by exposing your products or services to a broader audience.

• Why it matters: Increasing brand awareness can lead to long-term benefits, such as higher customer loyalty and better brand recall. It's an essential metric for building a strong market presence and driving future sales.
• How to measure: Track metrics like reach, impressions, and the growth of your social media following. Surveys and social listening tools can also provide insights into brand mentions and sentiment, helping you understand how your brand is perceived by the audience.
   

Tools for tracking performance

Keeping tabs on your influencer marketing campaigns is crucial for knowing what's working and what needs tweaking. With the right tools, you can dive deep into the data and get a clear picture of your campaign’s impact. Here are some tools that you can use to help you make the most out of your marketing campaign:

Analytics platforms

Analytics platforms are a must-have for any marketing effort, including influencer campaigns. These platforms gather and analyse data from various sources, giving you a comprehensive look at how well your campaigns are doing.

They help you measure key metrics like engagement, conversions, and ROI and provide a detailed snapshot of how influencer partnerships are contributing to your overall marketing goals. With powerful analytics, you can spot trends, find opportunities, and make informed decisions to boost your campaign’s effectiveness.

Plus, these platforms often feature data visualisation, custom reporting, and real-time tracking, making it easier to monitor and evaluate your campaigns.

According to Influencer Marketing Hub, here are the best tools to use to decode the performance of your influencer partnership.

Social media insights

Social media insights are essential to discover how your influencer marketing efforts are resonating with your audience. Most social media platforms offer built-in analytics tools that give you valuable data on your content's performance. This tool lets you track engagement metrics like likes, comments, shares, and reach. These insights help you understand which content types and influencer strategies are hitting the mark.

By analysing social media data, you can adjust your campaigns on the fly to ensure they stay relevant and impactful. Additionally, social media insights help you get to know your audience better, allowing for more targeted and personalised marketing efforts.

If you're looking for a social media analytics tool for your brand, here are some top choice social media insights tools you can consider.
 

Successful influencer marketing campaigns to be inspired

Drawing inspiration from successful influencer marketing campaigns can provide valuable insights into crafting your own strategies. By examining what has worked for other brands, you can better understand how to leverage influencer partnerships to achieve your goals. Here are some standout campaigns that showcase the power of influencer marketing in driving brand growth and engagement.

e.l.f. x Dunkin'

e.l.f. Cosmetics and Dunkin’ Donuts partnered to create the “Wake Up & Make Up” collection, blending beauty with breakfast. They collaborated with influencer Mikayla Nogueira, whose authentic love for both brands drove the campaign’s success. The campaign achieved 2.3 billion PR impressions on the first day and 5 million after a few week. The first item released was even sold out in 10 minutes!

This collaboration showcased the power of influencer marketing in combining brand strengths to create buzz and drive sales. For more details, visit the full case study here.

MiO Energy: Crash Coverage

The goal of MiO Energy is to stand out from the oversaturated energy drink market. To solve that, they came up with an idea of an energy drink insurance - much like car insurance - to ensure that their customers will not feel crash after drinking their product. Thus, the birth of Crash Coverage.

They partnered with Jack Innanen, one of TikTok's well-known young personalities. His cheeky humour perfectly aligned with the brand's bold claim, evaluating every claim that comes in. As a result, the campaign generated the following astounding results:

• 23% increase in MiO sales
• 330% above average watch time on the TikTok videos
• 14+ million social engagements in six days
• 70+ million earned media impressions
• 100% positive press coverage
   

 

Unlock your brand growth with Inspire

Ready to take your brand to the next level with influencer marketing? At Inspire, we specialise in crafting impactful campaigns that drive growth and engagement. Contact us today for a free consultation and discover how we can help you harness the power of influencers to boost your brand’s visibility and success. Let’s grow together!