The Internet is booming with new possibilities every day. The internet usage behavior has shifted dramatically in the past two decades. Influencers are the new digital rulers and content their swords. The previous decade saw how quickly content marketing picked up the pace and replaced traditional methods of marketing. While new-gen marketers and advertisers were still learning the nuances of content marketing and mastering the craft, the scene was dominated by influencer marketing in the meantime.
A study by BigCommerce found that 89% of marketers believe that ROI from influencer marketing is much better or comparable to alternate methods of marketing. The stats about influencer marketing are quite mind-blowing. For every $1 you spend on influencer marketing, you generate $6.50 on average. Still, it is taking time for a lot of large and small brands to capitalize on influencer marketing.
How are content marketing and influencer marketing effective together?
Content marketing is a natural progression of decentralization of media production because of the internet. Similarly, influencer marketing is a natural progression of social media. There exists a very direct relationship between influencers and content. It is quality content that makes the influencers relevant to their audiences and brands alike. It is the influencers that maximize the reach of the content and bring a human element to otherwise things devoid of human meaning.
Today, if you are developing content for content’s sake, it won’t work. Content must spearhead a strong influencer marketing strategy. These two things when taken together yield amazing results for brands.
Why influencer marketing is so effective?
Influencers are people who come from between the crowd, they are voices among us. This makes them much more relatable to audiences. People tend to take the word of influencers as gospel. Their reach is one thing, but their impact is what brands are looking for.
- Clubbed with quality content tailored for micro-influencers, influencer marketing can have a phenomenal impact.
- The reach is very niche. Influencers are a great way of hyper-personalizing marketing efforts.
- It offers off-the-chart ROI.
- Since it is a partnership of mutual benefit, it is more convenient to execute than traditional methods.
- It humanizes the brand and its message.
Brands of all scales are tapping into influencer marketing, spearheading the strategy with carefully crafted content. The two dimensions of this symbiotic effort are Content development and Influencer targeting. We’ll go into how we can conduct both these two dimensions to create successful campaigns and marketing strategies.
Content Development
Though we are heavily relying on influencers to maximize reach, create impact, and whatnot the importance of content is still the same. Without carefully crafted content, likely, the reach and impact of the influencer won’t likely have the same magic. There are many things about content that need to be addressed before targeting influencers to take your message to their audiences.
Preliminary research: You must do basic preliminary research that’ll help you identify what kind of content you are supposed to create.
- The first you need to see is what kind of content in terms of media, keywords, news, hashtags, etc. is being published in your industry type.
- Secondly, you need to eliminate content that is receiving less traction and keep the one that is getting more traction and engagement.
- Figure out how you can bring uniqueness and your brand style to it.
This simple preliminary research will give you a very basic kind of understanding of how and where you want your content to come from. You must be very clear about your marketing goals. Your goals will help you stay on track during this research. It will also help you monitor the performance of your campaign at later stages.
We’ll come back to content development but before we need to identify relevant influencers based on our marketing objectives.
Find The Right Influencers
The first step to bringing influencers in on the campaign is to have a list of potential and relevant influencers you would approach. Instead of manually trying to find influencers on various channels, platforms like BuzzSumo and HYPR can help you automate many steps of the process.
Check for the following metrics while researching influencers:
- Relevant keyword searches and hashtags
- Observe influencer reach
- Examine engagement
- Examine their tone, style, and image. Identify if it meshes with your brand
- Investigate if they have bot followers
Based on these metrics, you can filter out the best influencers that meet your criteria. Now getting these influencers on board is the crucial part. There are so many dos and don’ts that you need to take care of.
- Be straightforward and discuss the points of mutual benefit
- Start an interaction on their social instead of cold mailing. It’ll make your pitch less sales-like.
- Set realistic expectations on both sides.
- Listen to the terms of the agreement as well. It’ll nurture a positive working relationship.
Content Development: Production
It is time you figure out what content format you are going to use. It is best to create personalized content tailored to each influencer’s audience. A few examples of content formats for influencers are ‘Give away announcements and contests, tutorial videos, social media takeovers, etc.
Depending upon your contract with the influencer, you can either choose to create content yourself that the influencer only maximizes, or you work in collaboration with the influencer to create the content together or you can even let the influencer create the entire content for you. It depends upon the arrangement you have with the influencer.
Final thoughts!
Influencer marketing is perhaps one of the most effective marketing strategies out there. Clubbing it with content marketing makes it potent. However, a lot of people misconceive that they can indulge in influencer marketing without getting to the nuances of content marketing.
The reality of the matter is that without properly curated content, it is almost impossible to create a successful influencer marketing strategy. These two things belong to each other. The more content creation became independent, it empowered influencers and opened a unique opportunity for marketers.
All it takes is a bit of research, careful content development, and a robust implementation plan.
