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These days, virtually every business can benefit from an influencer marketing strategy. It doesn’t matter which industry you serve, whether you’re a B2B or B2C brand, or even how big your organization is; influencers can give your company the strength it needs to grow.
Up to 31% of social media users say they actually prefer to learn about new products and services through influencers, as opposed to any other channel. The impact of influencers is even higher among younger generations, such as Gen Z and the Millennial community.
But how do you build an influencer marketing strategy that works? There are a handful of go-to steps that apply to any platform, from setting the right goals to choosing your influencers carefully and analyzing your results. However, there are also some platform-specific strategies you can use to boost your chances of influencer marketing success.
Today, we’re going to show you how to optimize your influencer marketing strategy for all of the top platforms: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
The Core Components of a Strong Influencer Marketing Strategy
Influencer marketing evolved from celebrity and sponsored advertising. The main difference is that with influencer marketing, an individual doesn’t have to be a celebrity to elevate a brand’s reputation or increase sales. Today, Influencer marketing platforms offer access to a range of professionals with different skills, different follower counts, and expertise in specific channels.
The good news is whichever channel you choose for your influencer marketing strategy should be able to generate results. After all, the influencer marketing industry is worth more than $21.1 billion for a reason. In a moment, we’ll cover the top tips you can use to optimize your influencer marketing strategy for the leading social channels on the web.
First, however, here’s a quick reminder of how to build a strong influencer marketing strategy.
Step 1: Clarify your goals and KPIs
The first step to creating an effective influencer marketing strategy on any channel is setting clear goals. You need to decide exactly what you want to accomplish with each campaign so you can choose the right platforms, the right influencers, and the correct content.
Setting specific goals will also help you evaluate the success of your campaigns by highlighting the key metrics and KPIs you should be monitoring. For instance:
Step 2: Define your target audience
It’s difficult to find the right partner for your influencer marketing strategy if you don’t know who you want to influence. The best influencers will always have a direct connection with the niche you want to serve. They might have expertise in a specific area (like fashion) or experience working with other brands in your industry.
Think carefully about who your target audience is. Which channels do they use to find information, and which kind of people do they respect? What are their values (i.e., sustainability and authenticity)?
Additionally, it’s worth thinking about whether you have a number of different niche segments you want to target. Working with a range of smaller influencers to target different types of consumers may be more effective for your growth than working with a macro influencer or celebrity.
Step 3: Find the Right Influencers for Your Brand
Once you have a good idea of your target audience, finding your ideal influencer should be relatively simple. You want to work with someone who already holds “influence” over the people you want to reach. That means searching for a professional with a great presence in your industry, a positive reputation, and, hopefully, a large collection of engaged followers.
Remember, there are various different types of influencers you can work with. Celebrity and macro influencers might have more followers, but they can be more expensive to work with. Nano influencers can be more cost-effective and have stronger relationships with their consumers.
80% of marketers in HubSpot’s 2023 report said they prefer to work with smaller creators. Once you know which types of influencers you need, reach out to them on freelance platforms, through social media, or use influencer platforms to help you.
Step 4: Build relationships
No matter which channel you choose for your influencer marketing strategy, focusing on building strong, long-lasting relationships with your influencer is always a good idea. Make sure you’re compensating them fairly for their work, and communicate with them frequently about the successes and failures of each campaign.
Give your influencers enough creative freedom to put their own spin on your marketing campaigns, share their unique insights with your team, and ask them for their input. The better your relationship with your influencers, the more passionately they’ll promote your brand.
Step 5: Measure your results
Some platforms definitely make it easier to measure influencer marketing results than others. For instance, Facebook and Instagram have some excellent analytical tools influencers can use to track engagement rates and other metrics.
However, whichever channel you choose, it’s important to ensure you have some way of tracking the success of your Instagram marketing strategy. Ask yourself whether you’ll be monitoring conversions with UTM links or special discount codes. Will you be using an influencer platform to keep track of your partners as your influencer community grows?
Can you use Google Analytics for in-depth insights into where your website visitors come from and which pages they interact with? Monitoring your results is the only way to ensure you can optimize your influencer marketing strategy over time.
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How to Optimize Your Influencer Marketing Strategy for Each Platform
Now we’ve covered the basics, it’s time to dive into our top tips for enhancing your influencer marketing strategy on every major platform.
For the purpose of this guide, we’re focusing on five of the most significant platforms for influencer marketing: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and LinkedIn. While you can definitely use influencer marketing on other channels like Pinterest and Twitter (X), we find these are the channels where influencers have the biggest impact.
5 Tips for your Instagram Influencer Marketing Strategy
While all of the channels we’re going to measure here have merit for influencer marketing, Instagram is still the top platform for influencer campaigns. 72% of companies say they use Instagram specifically to work with creators and influencers.
Compared to followers on other social channels, Instagram users are more engaged and more likely to interact positively with brands. So, how do you use this fact to your advantage?
1. Find Influencers with Instagram-Ready Skills
It might go without saying, but influencers on Instagram need very different skills from influencers on YouTube or Facebook. They should be well-versed in using the platform’s many features, from Instagram Stories to Reels and even IGTV. They should also have access to the right tools to help them edit their photos and videos so they can stand out on the platform.
If your influencer is relatively small, you might want to consider giving them access to specific solutions like Canva to help them create more compelling posts. When choosing the right influencer for your campaign, remember that Instagram is particularly popular among micro and nano influencers. If you want to run a low-budget campaign, Instagram could be a great choice.
2. Choose the Right Products to Promote
When investing in an Instagram influencer marketing strategy, remember some products will work better on these platforms than others. Some niches get a lot more attention on Instagram, such as fashion, fitness, beauty, and home décor. If your brand falls into any of those categories, you’re likely to have products that are “Insta-worthy” for your influencers to showcase.
However, it’s still worth making sure you choose products that are visually striking. If your products look pretty boring on the surface, it might be a better idea to use YouTube to create more in-depth videos that showcase what they can really do.
3. Leverage user-generated content
Here’s a great way to enhance your Instagram influencer marketing campaign and save some money at the same time. Sometimes, you don’t need to hire a dedicated influencer to make your products stand out on Instagram. All you need is content generated by your customers. 79% of customers say user-generated content influences their purchasing decisions.
If you don’t have a lot of UGC to share already, you can leverage your Instagram influencers to help you curate it. Get them to produce a creative campaign with a branded hashtag that encourages your followers to get involved and create unique pictures or videos. You could even consider running a contest to entice more engagement from your fans.
4. Empower Your Influencers to Maximize Engagement
One of the reasons Instagram is such a great platform for any influencer marketing strategy is that it benefits from high levels of engagement. However, it’s easy for influencers to lose the support of their audience if they don’t have the right strategy. For instance, people will actively unfollow influencers if they feel they’re too “promotional” and not human enough.
With that in mind, make sure your influencers can show their human side. Help them respond to customer comments and direct messages where possible to keep building those positive relationships. Additionally, don’t push them to share any content that seems inauthentic.
5. Follow the Rules for Sponsored Posts
Remember, Instagram has rules to follow if you’re working with influencers. First, you need to make sure you’re disclosing “sponsorship” in any posts you create. Make sure your influencers follow these guidelines; otherwise, they risk being banned from the platform.
If your influencer is sharing a sponsored feed post, give them a simple disclosure they can use in the first few lines of their caption. If they’re creating video content, make sure the disclosure is included in both the description and the video itself.
5 Tips for your TikTok Influencer Marketing Strategy
Instagram might be the king of influencer marketing channels, but TikTok is starting to catch up. Around 61% of marketers now use this channel for influencer campaigns. While TikTok is great for reaching audiences from all demographics, it’s particularly useful for connecting with younger customers. Plus, it’s a great platform for online sellers.
Around 34% of TikTok users say they’ve purchased a product they’ve seen promoted by an influencer on the channel. Here’s how you can maximize your TikTok influencer marketing strategy.
1. Know your TikTok Audience
While identifying your target audience is important for any influencer marketing strategy, it’s particularly important on TikTok. This platform is very different from any other social channel out there. Around 60% of the users on the channel are under 35 years old, which means they’re also more likely to resonate with younger creators.
Additionally, studies show that certain types of content work best for influencers and creators on TikTok. 60% of users on the channel say they want “funny” content, so dry videos won’t cut it. They also want to see plenty of creative, fun, and relaxing content. Keep this in mind when creating your campaigns.
2. Vet your influencers carefully
The great thing about using TikTok for influencer marketing is that it makes it relatively easy for companies to find creators they can work with. The TikTok creator marketplace is a fantastic resource for tracking down potential partners.
The only problem is, since anyone on TikTok can become a star, it’s difficult to know who you should be working with. Don’t just look at the follower count of your influencer (this is easy to manipulate on the channel). Instead, focus on things like levels of positive engagement and high-quality content.
3. Follow the trends
TikTok is one of the fastest-moving social media channels, with new trends emerging all the time. If you want your TikTok influencer marketing strategy to be successful, you need to ensure you’re staying up to date with what’s fresh and new.
The good news is your TikTok influencer should have a good insight into trends themselves, so they can let you know which hashtags and challenges are gaining the most attention. But you should keep an eye on the latest content your competitors and other companies are creating, too. Aligning your content with the latest trends is a great way to ensure it stands out.
4. Experiment with Content and Video Types
Speaking of following the trends, it’s important to be creative with your TikTok influencer marketing campaign. Don’t just produce the same types of videos and content all the time. You can definitely start by creating trend videos and taking advantage of popular events, topics, songs, and hashtags.
However, it’s also worth experimenting with educational content, like how-to videos or ongoing content series. In fact, educational content is becoming some of the most popular content on TikTok for Gen Z consumers. Experiment with your options, and pay close attention to which forms of content get you the most engagement and views.
5. Give creators freedom
We mentioned above that giving your partners creative freedom is an important part of building long-lasting relationships with your influencer marketing strategy. However, on TikTok, it’s particularly important to “loosen the reigns” a little. In general, people on TikTok are looking for creative, unique, and authentic content – not standard promotional posts.
Your TikTok creators will know better than most which types of content will resonate best with your audience. Let them take over and make some suggestions. For instance, when Chipotle partnered with David Dobrik on their influencer marketing campaign, he suggested creating a new challenge, which led to a worldwide phenomenon: the #LidFlipChallenge:
5 Tips for your Facebook Influencer Marketing Strategy
Facebook might not have quite the same impact as Instagram or even TikTok in today’s world of influencer marketing, but it still has value. The channel has more than 3.05 billion active users and appeals to consumers from virtually every walk of life.
Plus, since Facebook and Instagram are owned by the same parent company (Meta), it’s easy to expand your lead generation strategy and share campaigns across both channels.
Here are some of the top tips you should follow with your Facebook influencer marketing strategy.
1. Take advantage of branded content tags
Like Instagram, Facebook has certain rules companies and creators need to follow when sharing sponsored content. Fortunately, Facebook makes it a little easier to ensure you’re staying compliant with branded content tools. These allow you to add “tags” to content created by influencers to instantly inform followers that a piece is sponsored.
It might seem like a small feature, but the ability to immediately identify your content as sponsored can save you a lot of headaches when you’re working with influencers. Plus, it can improve the level of trust you build with your target audience.
2. Use Influencer Marketing with Facebook Shops
If you’re using your Facebook influencer marketing strategy to increase sales, then it’s worth combining your campaign with Facebook Shops. This is a great feature on the Facebook platform that allows potential customers to purchase your products without leaving the channel.
One of the great things about having a Facebook shop is you can connect it directly with your influencer marketing campaigns. Your influencers can promote your store through their posts or tag your products for you. Plus, they can use Facebook Shop features like live streaming to host real-time tutorials or sales sessions with influencers. Companies like DavidOutwear are already taking advantage of this feature to draw more attention to their products.
3. Include Influencers in your Paid Ads
Although you can earn plenty of traffic and a lot of engagement from Facebook organic content, it’s worth considering paid ads from time to time, too. Facebook gives companies a lot of different options when it comes to paid advertising, such as lead ads, video ads, and even remarketing ads.
If you have an excellent paid advertising strategy in mind, then including influencers in your paid ads could be an excellent way to boost your chances of getting better results. As an added bonus, using Facebook’s paid advertising features will mean you can take full advantage of their advanced targeting tools and analytical capabilities.
Make sure you choose an influencer who has plenty of experience with paid ad campaigns on Facebook, however. This will make planning and creating your content much easier.
4. Invest in Video Content
One of the things that makes Facebook such a popular channel for social media marketing is that it’s so versatile. You can share a wide range of different types of content on the platform, including everything from images to text-based posts. However, videos have perhaps the biggest impact.
According to some studies, about 50% of the time customers spend on Facebook is spent watching videos. Plus, the interest in video has only continued to grow as Facebook invests in new “video-focused” features for the platform. For instance, as well as Facebook Live, companies can take advantage of Facebook “Stories” and short Facebook “Watch” videos, similar to Reels.
Quick tip: if you are using video on Facebook, it’s worth making sure you include captions, as many fans watch videos on the platform without the sound switched on.
5. Create Giveaways and Contests with Influencers
Another great way to boost your Facebook influencer marketing strategy is to experiment with contests and giveaways. Though this strategy works well on virtually every platform, Facebook makes it particularly easy to promote your giveaways through both paid and organic campaigns.
Studies show that contests and giveaways have an average conversion rate of around 34%, which is much higher than most other kinds of content. Plus, they’re a great way to engage and activate your audience. If, like many companies, you’re having a hard time managing engagement on Facebook, contests and giveaways could be the perfect way to give yourself a much-needed boost.
5 Tips for your YouTube Influencer Marketing Strategy
Like Facebook, YouTube is regularly overlooked by companies investing in a new influencer marketing strategy. However, it’s one of the most powerful tools for connecting with a wide online audience in today’s world. In fact, YouTube is the second most popular platform for influencer marketing, according to some studies.
While you’ll still need to follow the five steps we outlined above for building any kind of influencer marketing strategy with YouTube, there are some extra ways you can boost your chances of success. Here are our top tips for your YouTube influencer marketing strategy.
1. Entice influencers into your community with freebies
Some YouTube influencers earn millions of viewers per month, and they make a decent income on the platform as a result. They invest heavily in building a strong and trustworthy relationship with their audience. This means they won’t be willing to partner with just anyone.
If you’re struggling to find an influencer who’s happy to work with your company, offering them a free product they can review is a great way to open the door to a long-lasting relationship. Plus, it means your influencer will have everything they need to create some of the most popular types of videos on the channel: unboxing videos and review videos.
2. Experiment with different types of videos
Experimenting with various kinds of content is a good idea on virtually any channel. The more you experiment, the more you’ll learn about the types of pieces your audience really enjoys and what convinces them to make a purchase. However, it’s particularly important to be experimental on YouTube, where there are already countless videos produced every day.
Work with your influencer to develop a comprehensive content marketing strategy that positions your products or services in the best light possible. They might suggest starting out with the basics, such as unboxing videos, haul videos, or reviews. However, depending on the influencer you work with, you might find that other forms of video, like how-to guides and demos, are more impactful.
Remember, you can experiment with the format of your video, too. Standard horizontal videos are common, but “Shorts” are also becoming increasingly popular in the age of TikTok.
3. Write Comprehensive Campaign Briefs
Once again, this tip could apply to virtually any kind of influencer marketing strategy. However, it’s often more important for your YouTube influencer marketing strategy because your creators will typically be designing more comprehensive content.
While it’s difficult to go wrong with a single image or a Story on Instagram, there are a lot of things that could end up negatively damaging your brand in a video. With that in mind, it’s worth providing your creator with comprehensive instructions on how to produce your content.
Highlight the kind of statements they should use, teach them how to use your product before they conduct a review, and draw attention to your unique selling points.
4. Don’t Underestimate Video SEO
One of the biggest mistakes we see companies making with YouTube marketing is forgetting to implement the right SEO strategies. Remember, YouTube is owned by Google, and it also uses specific algorithms to determine how to display content on search result pages.
If you don’t know how to optimize videos, meta descriptions, and even captions for better SEO, consider looking for a YouTube influencer who’s well-versed in these areas. They should be able to help you figure out how to improve your visibility with the right tags, keywords, and even titles for your campaign content.
5. Invest in Audience Engagement
Hopefully, the YouTube influencer you choose to work with will allow viewers to leave comments on their videos or encourage them to interact with them in other ways. This is an important part of building a relationship with your target audience.
Make sure you have a strategy in place for connecting with your audience and answering any questions or comments they might have. Many YouTube influencers will handle this for you and have their own strategy for keeping followers engaged. However, if you can help out with assistance from your own customer service team, this can elevate your brand equity and improve your reputation with your customers.
5 Tips for your LinkedIn Influencer Marketing Strategy
Finally, we come to LinkedIn, often the unsung hero of the influencer marketing world. While LinkedIn’s audience isn’t as big as that of TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, or Facebook, it does give you access to a very specific group of consumers.
If you want to target a B2B audience, developing a strong LinkedIn influencer marketing strategy could be a good idea. Remember, B2B consumers are influenced by thought leaders in their industry, too. In fact, around 78% of B2B marketers say influencer marketing is effective for driving leads and generating sales.
1. Use LinkedIn Tools to Find Influencers
LinkedIn is an excellent resource for finding potential influencers to work with. You can even create advertisements for influencers and partners to share on LinkedIn, which is a great way to “recruit” professionals for your team. Of course, the easiest way to search for influencers is to simply type a word related to your industry into the search board and select the “People” option.
You can then sort through options based on levels of seniority, current company, locations, and connections. Plus, you can see if you already have a “1st” or “2nd” degree connection with the person. If you already have a connection, you might have an easier time convincing them to work with you.
2. Go Deeper with Your Content
In any influencer marketing strategy, it’s important to adapt your content to the channel you’re using. On LinkedIn, if you want to attract B2B leads, you need to be willing to go a little deeper with the content you share. Images of people using your products won’t drive the same results.
Instead, you’re more likely to see engagement if your influencer shares genuine statistics, authoritative thought-leadership-style comments, and opinions. Here are some great ideas for the kinds of content that can make an impact on LinkedIn:
- Video interviews with recognized thought leaders in your industry
- Longform blog posts with statistics and data
- Infographics to convey complex information quickly and easily
- Podcast sessions and snippets from podcast interactions
- Polls and surveys to collect user information
3. Use images and other media in your content
Since LinkedIn is a B2B-focused platform, most people see it as an environment for sharing more professional or “dry” content, such as long-form articles and statistics. However, while LinkedIn isn’t as reliant on visual media as YouTube or Instagram, it’s still a great place to showcase different types of content. In fact, plenty of companies share images and videos in their posts.
Photos of your team members can be an excellent way to showcase your company’s culture, particularly when you get an influencer involved. Videos can be a great way to share how-to content, demonstrations of products, and other valuable insights. You can even use videos to share interviews with thought leaders in your niche.
4. Leverage LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn Groups are an excellent tool for your influencer marketing strategy. First, they offer an excellent way to find influencers in your niche. When you join groups related to your industry, you can find out which people get the most engagement and attention from other members. You can then reach out to them for insights into building your marketing campaign.
Once you have your influencers, groups can also be an excellent place for your partner to post content that helps elevate your brand. By actively interacting with buyers in groups, Influencers can draw attention to the benefits of your product or service in a natural, organic way. This can be particularly valuable if you’re targeting a very specific audience.
5. Choose Quality over Quantity
Sometimes, when you’re developing an influencer marketing strategy, it’s a good idea to create as many different posts and promotional assets as possible. On a channel like Instagram or TikTok, constantly changing trends and highly active news feeds make it much harder to keep your brand top-of-mind with your target audience.
However, LinkedIn is a little different. The pace of content shared on the platform is often slower, and people spend more time paying attention to longer posts, videos, and more comprehensive content. With that in mind, it’s worth going for quality over quantity. You can still create a series of posts for your campaign but try to make them more in-depth and informative.
For instance, a single comprehensive interview with a thought leader will usually be more impactful than a series of short snippets.
Mastering your Influencer Marketing Strategy (on all Channels)
Developing a powerful influencer marketing strategy takes time and work. While every strategy should contain a few key factors, such as extensive audience research, goals, and a plan of action for tracking metrics, the methods you use can vary across different channels.
Each social media platform, from YouTube to Instagram, has its own unique nuances to consider when you’re working with an influencer. Choosing a partner who’s already well-versed in promoting companies on your chosen channel is a good way to give yourself an edge.
If you need help finding the ultimate influencer for your campaign, contact Growth Collective today. We can match you to an influencer with years of experience working with similar brands and help you find professionals with the right presence on your chosen channels.
FAQ
What are influencer marketing strategies?
An influencer marketing strategy is a plan of action for how you’re going to work with influencers to promote your brand, products, and services. It includes everything from in-depth customer research to promotional methods like guest posting, creating sponsored content, and mentions on social media.
Is influencer marketing an effective strategy?
Influencer marketing is one of the most powerful strategies for any business to invest in, whether you’re targeting a B2B or B2C audience. Influencers give your brand more reach, improve your reputation, and boost your visibility, helping to generate opportunities and leads.
How do you succeed in influencer marketing?
With any influencer marketing strategy, you should always research your audience, take time to choose the right influencer, and track and measure your campaigns. It’s also important to have a clear set of goals and the right strategy aligned with the channels you’re going to use.
How do brands approach influencers?
Before approaching an influencer, you’ll need to conduct comprehensive research. Assess the types of brands they’ve worked with in the past. Determine who their followers are, make sure their values and personality align with your brand, and then reach out with a compelling offer.
Is influencer marketing worth it?
If you’re looking to build credibility and trust with your target audience, increase your access to prospects and leads, and elevate your brand reputation, influencer marketing is worth it. You can even get started with a small budget if you’re willing to work with micro and nano influencers.
