By finding the right social media influencer(s) to represent your company, you can boost your online exposure organically and encourage customer engagement.

Getting a few influencers on board with your product/brand/service is extremely beneficial, but before you decide on one or more influencer, there are questions you need to consider.

If you really want to win at influencer marketing, read on and make sure your approach is thoughtful and efficient.

What does “influencer marketing” really mean?

By reaching the broad audience of celebrities, gurus and experts with large online followings, and importantly having having their (paid) endorsements for your product or brand you can quickly improve your company’s visibility.

However, before you get too ambitious about hiring an influencer right away to represent your business, there are questions you need to ask yourself.

Why choose influencer marketing?

Choosing an influencer should never be a decision made overnight. However, whether you opt for a macro influencer (such as a well-known celebrity) or several micro influencers (such as bloggers or YouTube personalities), your business can expect a solid return on investment.

What’s the typical ROI from influencer marketing?

According to the consulting agency Convince and Convert, one case study of the brand Silk Soy and Almond Milk products revealed that consumers exposed to influencer marketing purchased 10% more Silk products than the control group.

The Silk case study further showed that the ROI of the blog posts alone (not including social promotion) was 11x the ROI of banner ads, after 12 months. With quantifiable proof of the returns of influencer marketing, you can easily justify to your marketing team why it’s a smart move.

One of the biggest keys to making sure you’re taking advantage of influencer marketing is by utilizing the right digital tools to measure this ROI. With the Chainlink Marketing Platform, you can track data on the conversions driven by influencers and their partnerships with your business. When you have ROI attribution data, you can prove the difference that your influencer is making for your company.

How much should I be spending on influencers?

That kind of price tag is typical of a macro influencer like Kayla, who is constantly producing highly engaging content for her audience base. There is nothing inherently wrong about spending more money on a single influencer if it’s the optimal strategy for your company.

However, it’s worth considering how mixing up your partnerships with several micro and super-micro influencers could offer you more impact for your dollar. Micro influencers and even super-micro influencers can usually provide your company more targeted, relevant, and widespread visibility and returns.

The comparative returns of hiring one $150,000 macro influencer versus 10 different $15,000 micro influencers is startling. Smaller, more specially-focused social media stars might only have 50k to 400k followers across all social platforms, but the user engagement they promote is far-reaching.

Their lower price point also offers your company the opportunity to reach out to multiple micro influencers to greatly expand your audience base. TubeFilter, an online media publication, pointed out how micro influencers are the lowest cost per thousand impressions, with the average cost per post being well worth your dollars spent.

How can I ensure that this partnership is authentic and legitimizes my business?

Authenticity is of the utmost importance when it comes to deciding whether or not you want to do influencer marketing. Micro influencers are usually much more reputable in terms of the genuine engagement they foster among their followers.

For example, @chinaealexander is a fitness/food/beauty influencer who primarily uses Instagram as her platform, and boasts a following of 133k. With roughly 2,000 likes and around 50-100 comments per post, she has teamed up with companies from medium-sized make-up brands to food delivery companies to big names like Adidas.

Another advantage of partnering with micro influencers is it can connect your brand with another huge, well-established brand simply by influencer association. Followers that are drawn to an influencer due to the “Big Brand” relationship could take an interest in your smaller brand by extension.

For example, the same person that’s exploring Chinae’s Instagram feed to check out the Adidas clothes/shoes she’s promoting could easily stumble upon her post about how much she loves your start-up granola bar company.

To sum it up…

You could find your next influencer simply by staying on top of who is tagging you, using your hashtag, and attempting to engage directly with your company. Most importantly, remember to value your relationships with your influencer(s) to ensure that your partnership(s) continue to be mutually beneficial.

At Chainlink, we emphasize the importance of strong relationships. When developing relationships with micro influencers, it’s crucial to keep in contact and create the best mutually beneficial marketing game plan.

If you choose to use more than one micro influencer, you need to keep the lines of communication open so that no one feels slighted. In the end, these influencer relationships pay off because of the strong return rates of engagement.

Want to learn more about Chainlink’s uniquely effective digital marketing services?

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