Influencer marketing is going to continue to be a driving force for brands looking to grow their audience and improve sales through social media in 2018. What can you do to get the most out of influencer marketing this year? Will the same tactics from 2017 pay off in 2018? We’re here to answer all those questions.
FTC Guidelines for Influencer Marketing
Disclose every paid piece of content
- Check each paid post
- Make sure the influencers you work with clearly disclose that they’re being compensated for promoting your brand
- Other ways for influencers to disclose partnerships
- Use something less spammy than #ad
- No need to overcomplicate or overthink it
Say Goodbye to Transactional Relationships
Focus on building long-term relationships with the influencers you work with
- When influencers feel you’re invested in them and genuinely care, they’re more likely to be loyal to your brand and will promote you with more enthusiasm
Don’t Limit Your Influencer Marketing to Instagram
Influencers are also active on Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest as well
- Consider other platforms to work with influencers on that other brands might be ignoring
- You could generate a better ROI if you’re paying less
A Larger Pool of Influencers to Work With
A larger pool of influencers means a lower barrier to entry for brands.
- You’ll be able to work with micro-influencers who might have less than 10,000 followers, which is great for capturing attention of your audience.
Start Using Influencer Marketing Tools
In the early stages, brands managed their social efforts directly through platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
- As social became a more integral part of marketing strategies, there was a need for tools like Sprout Social to help facilitate the process (e.g. Tapinfluence and Upfluence).
A Push for YouTube Influencers
Influencers on YouTube still have significant reach and there’s plenty of value to be gained from working with them
- 70% of teenage YouTube subscribers say they relate to YouTube content creators more than traditional celebrities
- There are plenty of benefits to working directly with content creators
- The influencer knows their audience and what resonates with them
Make Influencer Marketing Work in 2018
There are no guarantees.
Measure Influencer Marketing ROI
Assign specific parameters to your influencers so you can track the actions of every visitor they drive to your site.
- Another option is to give influencers unique promo codes to share with their audience to directly attribute the revenue to that influencer.
Create Useful Content, Not Ads
In 2018, your influencer marketing campaigns should look a lot less like generic ads and much more like content marketing
- Create videos, large scale campaigns and original content that serves a purpose outside of getting people to buy your product
- Great content entertains, educates, and invokes some level of emotion
