1 – Set your expected outcome through clear objectives
Before you jump in, blindsided by the attractive possibilities influencer marketing can do to your business, make sure you have set your short term and long term objectives. Questions like: “Is it a one shot campaign? Or do I want to have a long term approach by allocating a budget several times throughout the year?” can help you determine the outcome. You can also quantify your ROI if your objectives are purely sales-driven. If your main objective is awareness, you can also quantify your ROI through different indicators such as number of views, re-shares or even engagement rates.
2 – Know your target audience to determine your platform(s)
Once you’ve listed your Key Performance Indicators, in line with your overall objectives, you should have a clear idea of your target audience. Depending on the age demographics of your future consumers, and your visual brand identity, you would be able to determine the platform or platforms you wish to launch your campaign on. An influencer campaign does not need to be single-platform oriented, but it must be relevant to your brand, as well as your end goals. Be aware that social media platforms have all different objectives and users (although you can overlap in communities), so the better you analyze them, the more efficient your campaign will be. Try not to fall in the trap of being everywhere just to maximize your reach, as sometimes a narrowed strategy can give better results if done well.
3 – Choose a creative concept that matches your brand positioning and visual aesthetic
If your creative notions are limited within your organization, agencies such as YKONE can help you come up with a suited and brand relevant concept. Visuals are key to gaining the interest of communities, so you would need to define your creative directions in terms of content when planning your campaign. Content can be done through the agency itself or can be managed on your behalf if done directly by the influencer. Choose a concept that your audience can relate to, and that would help you achieve the objectives you’ve set prior to starting. Be bold, but not too disconnected from what your target audience is looking for. Finally, maximize storytelling as this would help your audience engage with your brand.
4 – Select your talents according to all points listed above
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Finding the right talents is securing at least half of your campaign success. Influencers have become public figures over the years, so you need to consider the advantages and the risks working with them. As public personalities, they do have a voice you want to use, but due diligence is key to make sure you do associate your brand with influencers that can jeopardize your reputation. Once again, agencies like YKONE can assist during that research process and selecting talents according to KPI’s you’ve set.
5 – Monitor and analyze KPI’s
At that stage you’re all set to kick off your campaign. Once you’re live, tracking all your content published is key for 2 reasons: 1. tracking live can help you re-adjust if anything goes wrong (influencer not posting the image you selected for example), and 2. you would need to analyze all performance post-campaign to see if you’ve met your targets: number of views, likes, comments, or re-shares.
Once you have that full report at hand, now starts the real work of assessment: what do you learn from your campaign? What would you do differently? Try to keep an objective eye on your analysis, as there are so many parameters that come into the equation of success.
