This type of marketing has become the fastest growing online customer acquisition strategy and delivers a considerable return on investment, according to a March 2015 survey of marketers<\/a> conducted by Tomoson, a software as a service company focused on blogger and influencer outreach. The survey found 59 percent of marketers planned to increase their influencer marketing budgets during the coming year, and businesses make $6.50 for every $1 they spend on influencer marketing.<\/p>\n Successful influencer marketing requires strategic thinking and careful consideration of who you\u2019re targeting and what you\u2019re trying to achieve. Here are four tips for businesses looking to form partnerships with influencers to attract potential customers.<\/p>\n 1. Identify your audience\u2019s influencers. <\/strong>Finding the right influencers to promote your brand isn\u2019t just about pinpointing the person with the most followers on Twitter. It\u2019s important to consider not only an influencer\u2019s reach (number of followers) but also their followers\u2019 characteristics, according to MarketingProfs<\/a>. Their followers\u2019 demographics should align with your profile of your target market\/audience.<\/p>\n MarketingProfs also advises<\/a> creating an influencer archetype to help you define your ideal brand ambassador. You\u2019ll want to consider quantifiable factors such as reach and how the influencer\u2019s message is shared within communities in addition to demographics such as their age, location, and interests.<\/p>\n 2. Create a written influencer agreement. <\/strong>Once you\u2019ve found the best influencers for your brand and reached out to them, it helps to create a written agreement to make everyone\u2019s expectations clear, according to MarketingProfs. The contract should cover the influencer\u2019s rights and responsibilities. Additionally, you can set terms to specify the types of content your influencer can post while representing your brand. For instance, you might want to stipulate that they can\u2019t post violent or derogatory content that could reflect badly on your business.<\/p>\n 3. Aim for authenticity. <\/strong>The message that influencers convey about your products and\/or services and their enthusiasm for your brand should be honest and authentic, according to the June 2015 Forbes article, \u201cLove It or Hate It: Influencer Marketing Works<\/a>\u201d by Daniel Newman, co-CEO of the integrated marketing and digital communications agency V3B. Otherwise, your efforts will fall flat and fail to win over your target audience.<\/p>\n To maintain authenticity and effectively harness the power of the relationship between influencers and their followers, it helps to give influencers flexibility to create content that conveys their voice and appeals to their audience while still getting the word out about your business, according to MarketingProfs.<\/p>\n 4. Set goals and track your progress<\/strong>. It\u2019s important to know what you\u2019re looking to accomplish with your influencer marketing campaign and monitor your progress toward your objectives. Otherwise, you won\u2019t be able to tell whether or not your efforts are paying off, MarketingProfs states. Define key performance indicators and make sure everyone involved \u2013 including your influencers \u2013 knows what they are.<\/p>\n Ultimately, influencer marketing can help your brand reach its target audience in a much more effective way than conventional ad campaigns. To learn more about influencer marketing and other alternatives to traditional advertising such as content marketing<\/a>, contact our expert team at Traffic Jams by emailing sales@trafficjams.com<\/a> \u00a0or calling (855) 599-9998. We can help you find the best way to successfully promote your brand, attract prospective customers and retain current clients.<\/p>\n
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