The world of influencer marketing is dynamic and lucrative. We gathered insights from content managers and CEOs, who have shared with us their advice on developing effective influencer marketing strategies. From customizing the strategy to match your brand identity to investing in co-branded influencer campaigns, explore these thirteen expert recommendations to help you elevate your influencer marketing game.
- Customize Strategy to Brand Identity
- Align Influencer Niche With Product
- Outline Influencer Partnerships and Budget
- Implement Precise Data-Tracking Measures
- Match Influencer Values With Your Brand
- Set Clear Goals for Influencer Campaigns
- Engage With Influencers Across Spectrum
- Focus on Authentic Micro-Moments
- Start Small and Measure Results
- Select Influencers for Authentic Engagement
- Avoid Controversial Influencers
- Consider Key Points in Strategy Crafting
- Invest in Co-Branded Influencer Campaigns
Customize Strategy to Brand Identity
When making an influencer marketing plan, it’s really important to do what’s best for your brand, not just copy what others are doing. Each brand is unique, so a strategy that works for one might not be right for another.
Your strategy should match your brand’s style, values, and goals. This makes your approach feel more real and trustworthy to your audience. It’s about finding a fit that reflects your brand’s identity.
By having a plan that’s special to your brand, you’ll create better relationships with influencers. This leads to a more genuine connection with your customers and more effective marketing.
Marco Genaro Palma, Content Marketing Manager, PRLab
Align Influencer Niche with Product
In my experience, one crucial aspect to consider when developing an influencer marketing strategy is the influencer’s niche. It’s essential to make sure the influencer’s niche aligns with your product or service offering.
To further elaborate on this, I’ve witnessed numerous campaigns stumble because they selected an influencer solely based on their popularity, not considering if they’re directly linked to a specific niche. This is like trying to sell a sports car to an audience that is primarily interested in environmental sustainability—there’s a clear disconnect.
Therefore, it is crucial to select an influencer whose niche resonates with your product or service. This ensures the campaign feels authentic and reaches a genuinely interested audience.
Tristan Harris, Demand Generation Senior Marketing Manager, Thrive Digital Marketing Agency
Outline Influencer Partnerships and Budget
An influencer strategy should outline the influencers you’re targeting, your budget for partnerships, baseline deliverables, and campaign scope or frequency.
It’s important to understand the size, niche, and primary platform these influencers might use. You’ll also want to establish the number of influencers you’ll be needing ahead of time.
When working with Americana Motor Hotel, a newly opened motel in Northwest Arizona, we focused on a specific niche of influencers. Chronic travelers, road-trippers, and reviewers of local spots in Arizona were the kinds of influencers we targeted.
Using that strategy, we created influencer partnerships that grew their account reach and more than doubled their following.
Chelsea Evans-Flower, Owner, Scott Social
Implement Precise Data-Tracking Measures
It’s important to know that it is hard to get the data behind a firm ROI with influencer marketing. For example, imagine an end-user follows an influencer and sees your product in a different ad on social media.
Because they visited that person’s page at any point or followed them, the other ad that inspired them to buy your product could be considered moot, and the influencer ad could be considered as the buying factor that the end user listened to. Therefore, the influencer would count it as a commission or attribute the purchase of your product to their influence.
It can get tricky, so I would recommend putting data-tracking measures in place that narrow down exactly what made an end user buy your product.
Brittany Betts, Marketing Manager, StaySense
Match Influencer Values With Your Brand
Building an effective influencer marketing strategy requires meticulous planning and careful consideration of several vital factors. The most critical factor is finding the right influencer whose values and content align with the brand and target audience.
Imagine Sarah, a down-to-earth financial advisor, trying to reach young professionals just starting out. Instead of stuffy talks, she makes fun ‘adulting’ videos with relatable money tips. Her audience clicks, laughs, and learns—because Sarah seems genuine like a friend sharing wisdom over coffee.
That’s the magic! When an influencer’s values and voice match your brand, their message resonates like a perfectly sung duet. It builds trust, sparks interest, and gets results. Forget forced ads; we’re talking about genuine connections that lead to website clicks, quote requests, and even sales!
Skip the boring partner search and find that perfect friend-fluencer. Because when their light shines with yours, your marketing campaign will genuinely sparkle. Remember, it’s not about numbers but finding the right fit. That way, your influencer marketing won’t just be noise; it’ll be beautiful music to your target audience’s ears.
Amit Ranjan, Digital Marketing Manager, Stratosphere
Set Clear Goals for Influencer Campaigns
When creating an influencer marketing strategy, start by decisively choosing the influencer campaign and setting clear goals. Define your purpose behind collaborating with influencers and what you aim to achieve—whether it’s boosting brand awareness, driving traffic, or increasing sales. This clarity will help you align your marketing team and provide you with a roadmap for influencers to follow.
Always avoid vague objectives; instead, be specific about the outcomes you desire. Are you looking for engagement, conversions, or a mix of both? Establishing a well-defined campaign and clearly established goals ensures that your influencer marketing efforts are focused and measurable.
Daniel Willmott, Founder, Shortformvideo.co
Engage With Influencers Across Spectrum
When developing a robust influencer marketing strategy, marketing teams should prioritize cultivating relationships with influencers across the spectrum, including micro-, macro-, and mega-influencers.
Success in influencer marketing goes beyond just looking at follower count and instead prioritizes engagement. Micro-influencers (10,000 to 100,000 followers) have proven to be invaluable assets for brands, as they have shown to have a significantly higher engagement rate and yield higher conversion rates.
Their authentic interactions resonate within niche communities, making them cost-effective partners. A versatile approach that includes influencers of varying sizes ensures a well-rounded and effective influencer marketing strategy.
Taylor Caplan, Marketing Manager
Focus on Authentic Micro-Moments
One important factor to consider when developing an influencer marketing strategy is to focus on micro-moments. Instead of looking at influencers with massive follower counts, identify influencers who excel in creating authentic and intimate interactions that resonate with their audience.
These could be a behind-the-scenes glimpse, a personal story, or a genuine endorsement of nano- or micro-influencers. By aligning your brand with people who excel at creating these moments, you can tap into a more engaged and loyal audience.
This approach not only promotes a sense of authenticity but also ensures that the influencer’s audience is genuinely interested in the content they’re recommending, leading to more impactful and effective marketing outcomes.
Matias Rodsevich, Founder, PRHive
Start Small and Measure Results
I’d start with one campaign at a time, just to get your feet wet. This way, you can focus on this influencer and campaign, and you can more easily measure results. I’d also stick with finding an influencer among your customers or a smaller influencer, as most large influencers will not provide an ROI by receiving a ton of money for a single post.
One other thing to keep in mind: My anecdotal experience, as well as the general thought in the industry, is that a one-time post by an influencer typically isn’t as effective as developing a relationship with an influencer so customers see them regularly and associate them with your products or brand.
John Frigo, E-commerce Manager, Best Price Nutrition
Select Influencers for Authentic Engagement
One of the biggest factors to consider is authenticity. I recall a campaign where we partnered with a local food blogger instead of a high-profile celebrity chef. The blogger had a smaller following, but her audience was highly engaged and trusted her recommendations. The result? Our product sold out within days.
Here’s a piece of advice: Choose your influencers not just by their follower count, but by their alignment with your brand values and their audience engagement.
As for a strategy, consider creating a co-branded campaign with your influencer. This allows both parties to benefit from the partnership and can result in unique content that stands out from the crowd. Influencer marketing is about building relationships, not just making transactions. Treat your influencers as partners, and you’ll see better results.
Swena Kalra, Chief Marketing Officer, Scott & Yanling Media Inc.
Avoid Controversial Influencers
Don’t go for the influencers who are controversial, as they can impact your brand image as well. Decide on an influencer who has good awareness and a positive influence on their audience. With so many influencers on the market, research the influencers who do not take part in dramas but focus a lot on awareness, be it about diversity and inclusivity, self-awareness, and so on.
These are the influencers that your audience will like because they trust them more. Also, with diversity, you target a broad audience from different categories. There are a few influencers who like to be part of dramas and fights, and while this is good for their views, sometimes people go against the brands that collaborate with them, and that’s something you wouldn’t want for your brand.
Ravi Sharma, Founder and CEO, Webomaze
Consider Key Points in Strategy Crafting
When crafting an influencer marketing strategy, I suggest considering four key points:
1. Select partner agencies wisely; choosing the right agency can accelerate internal processes and enhance your network, but a wrong choice risks damaging your reputation and hindering goals.
2. Communication is key, particularly during negotiations with influencers. A smooth process fosters strong partnerships. If the initial process is too difficult, don’t expect further collaboration to go smoothly.
3. Performance evaluation can be complicated in the fast-paced influencer marketing landscape. While metrics are essential, adapting to unforeseen changes is equally vital for success.
4. Trusting your gut feeling is crucial; in this industry, where luck plays a part, intuition can often identify high-ROI opportunities.
Ugne Sineviciute, Marketing Manager
Invest in Co-Branded Influencer Campaigns
As Marketing Head, one often-overlooked yet highly effective strategy for influencer marketing is to create a co-branded campaign with your chosen influencer. A co-branded campaign means that both your brand and the influencer share ownership of the project, and both parties are equally invested in its success.
The result can be highly engaging and authentic content, as the influencer can incorporate their creative style and personal touch, which can resonate deeply with their audience.
Despite this, a co-branded campaign can boost the influencer’s commitment to the project, ensuring better quality content and more enthusiastic promotion. It’s crucial to remember, however, that such a collaboration requires clear communication and agreement on mutual objectives, responsibilities, and expectations to ensure a successful outcome.
Rehana Aslam, Head of Marketing, Oh My Luck
