The digital marketing world has been thrown into disarray once more, as brands are scrambling to get behind the new influencer marketing strategy. Instead of spending heaps on traditional advertisements and celebrity endorsements, companies approach social media influencers to help improve their reach. Although not many brands have been able to master the influencer art, we're here to help you do just that.

Why Influencer Marketing?

One of the most powerful tools we have at our hands today is the internet. Most brands know that they must optimise the social space to be recognised, and this led to the birth of influencers in marketing. The strategy helps brands connect with the right people and get their message across in an authentic, effective, and organic manner. It provides the opportunity to reach out to niche audiences and creates a far greater impact than any of the traditional methods of advertising.

The Right Moves

1. Find a Good Fit:
In most cases, influencers will only work with those brands and products that reflect who they are. You can use their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds to find out what might appeal to potential influencers. Think about whether your brand would smoothly fit into their posts, or if it would stick out like a sore thumb. Influencers will be more motivated to talk about your brand if what your do is in sync with their beliefs and values.

2. Build a Relationship:
No, we don't mean taking your influencer out on a date. Instead, retweet or share their content. This way when you finally do approach them to help promote your brand, you already have a relationship with them.

3. Make It Worth Their While:
If you're looking to drive sales, you need to make sure that your campaign is structured so that it benefits you, the consumer, and the influencer. Consumers can be encouraged to make a purchase with an effective call to action and an exclusive discount code. To make it beneficial to the influencer, provide them with an affiliate link so that sales can directly be attributed to their campaign and they can earn a commission.

The Wrong Moves

1. Providing All the Communication:
A sure shot way to instantly reduce your appeal is by sending your influencer readymade posts or tweets. They don't enjoy posting material that isn't theirs, and your messages will wind up sounding generic and boring. Allowing them to tell their followers about your brand in their own way will not only make them respect you more, but also make it easier for their followers to warm up to you.

2. Being Disorganised:
You need to identify your target audience and find influencers who are aligned with your brand values for your marketing strategy to work. Your campaign is likely to bomb if you're taking shots in the dark and randomly picking influencers just to get noticed.

3. Undervaluing the Influencer:
When you approach an influencer, it's important that you offer them something in return for their service. And we’re not talking about free samples. A well-known coffee company from Boston was ridiculed on Twitter, after they asked a potential influencer to retweet their stuff for a few free samples and a free t-shirt. While the influencer was kind enough to blacken out their name before posting their conversation on Twitter, his friends did a little snooping and took the coffee company down. It was so bad that they eventually deleted their Twitter account. Good thing you can learn from influencer marketing examples like this to develop your own foolproof influencer marketing strategy.

As a digital marketing company, we think using influencer marketing is a great idea! Consumers are tired of the traditional paid ads being thrown at them (the popularity of Ad Blocker is proof), and this kind of subtle marketing gets the point across in a more effective manner. Influencers in marketing are getting more expensive by the minute, so we'd suggest you get your marketing strategy in order as soon as you can, so you can make the most of this new trend.

The article was first published by Ronika Shah on Pulse.