The latest buzz on the digital platform for some time now is about Influencer Marketing. Oh no! it’s not going to replace Social or Content Marketing because it can’t exist without them. So you are new to the term and not sure what influencer marketing means? Let us start with the basic idea.

What is Influencer Marketing?

To put it simply it is a hybrid of the old and new digital marketing tools where celebrities are roped in to endorse brands and place it into a modern-day content-driven marketing campaign. In influencer marketing, the results of the campaign are collaborations between brands and influencers.

Influencer Marketing Strategies 

We can easily think of celebrities teaming with a brand and endorsing a product. Very often the pitch is just a series of 10-minute videos instead of a 30-second television ad. But no one would talk about it or Influencer Marketing but if it didn’t have a much wider set of applications. INFLUENCER is the keyword here.

Anyone can be an influencer

Influencers can be a fashion photographer, a blogger or a well-known business person and unlike celebrities can be anywhere.  Their influence is because of their followings on the web and social media. You have to find them and benefit from their hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of followers

Influencer marketing: what works

You should consider your approach very carefully in influencer marketing

First of all organize a strategy, plan and budget, spend time on research

Adopt a human connection the best approach is– people talking to people, not companies talking to companies

Stick to a schedule

You can talk to the influencer and select a monthly/quarterly/biannual calls or newsletters?

Work on a plan to integrate with your PR schedule, product release schedule, etc.

See that you are up to date in sending emails on behalf of key executives. 

Know more about Influencer Marketing

It is not about finding someone with an audience and offering them money or exposure so they can say good things about you. Popular Influencers are people who’ve spent time building their own brand and cultivating their audience. They are fiercely protective of their reputation and also of who they trust. Influencers have patience and focus to succeed in social media, and build there brand one organic follower at a time and they are definitely not looking for a quick buck. Because influencer marketing is about demonstrating your authority, credibility, and thought-leadership within your industry. Therefore to collaborate with influencers you’ve to earn their trust and respect. 

What doesn’t work 

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You simply can’t generalize your approach to finding & making use of different influencers. Because here one size doesn’t fit all influencers. So you have to customize  your approach to the specific influencer

Moreover, you can’t be banking on popularity alone.Because your goal is to elicit of prompt a specific action from your customers.