10 Best Influencer Marketing Hacks

The word “influencer” has taken on a new meaning in the last decade. Influencer marketing is now a universal form of online marketing.

As more and more consumers draw on the digital realm for advertising content, brands have taken to influencers for better engagement and an increase in revenue.

This post will give you the best tips to generate revenue and increase ROI for your business.

1. The Importance of Influencer Marketing

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, we’ll review the basics of influencer marketing and why you need it.

1.1 What is an Influencer?

An influencer is a person with a group of followers on social media that engage with them, admire them, and are influenced by their content.

Influencers generally have a specific niche that they focus on, like fashion, beauty, or fitness.

For this reason, anyone can be an influencer if they know how to engage on social media, even if they don’t have a lot of followers.

They post regular content that their audience interacts with, and they work with brands as a way of marketing the brands’ products or services.

Their influential power often affects their audiences’ buying decisions, which is where influencer marketing comes in.

1.2 What is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing involves brands working with online influencers to market their product or give their brand exposure.

The collaboration between the brand and an influencer is what sets influencer marketing apart from regular marketing campaigns.

One of social media’s biggest influencers is a renowned soccer player and five-time Ballon d’Or winner, Cristiano Ronaldo.

He collaborates with well-known brands and makes an average of $750,000 per sponsored post on Instagram. It’s been said that he earns more from Instagram posts than from the Juventus football club!

He posts regularly and some of his 241 million followers make sure to like and comment on his posts.

This fan engagement prompted Niketo offer him a lifetime deal as an ambassador of the brand.

Ever since he started working with Herbalife Nutrition, the brand has gained incredible popularity amongst the global community.

All over the world, people trust Cristiano’s endorsements and therefore trust the brands he’s promoting.

This is why it’s imperative to use influencer marketing.

2. Influencer Marketing Tips to Increase ROI 

We’ve established how important influencers can be in marketing your brand.

Now, let’s get into the tips and tricks to increase your ROI through influencer marketing.

2.1 Understand Your Goals

Before conducting any type of research, you must understand your goals as a brand. 

What do you want to achieve? What are the goals for your campaign? Who is your target audience?

Once you’ve mapped these out, you’ll know what metrics

to keep track of.

If your goal is to increase brand awareness, you’ll need to monitor your brand’s social media growth, following, and interactions.

If your goal is to generate more sales, you’ll need to monitor conversion rates from affiliate links through the influencer.

You’ll also need to determine the type of influencers you want to work with and what value they’ll add to your brand.

2.2 Research Influencers & their Audience

After you’ve determined your goals, it’s time to do the research. Search for influencers in your brand’s niche, and the audience they attract.

Research all their social media profiles and any other background information you can find.

Here are some questions to ask when looking at influencers:

• How do they engage with their followers?
• How regularly do they post content?
• What is their content about and does it align with yours?
• Will your audience trust the opinion of this influencer?
• Have they worked with brands previously?
• How often do they post sponsored content?
• What type of payment system would work best for remuneration?

You can look for influencers by searching organically or going through an agency. There are also platforms created for this, kind of like an “influencer hub”. 

2.3 Choose the Right Influencer

You’ll want to choose an influencer who aligns with your brand.

The idea isn’t to choose someone whose aesthetic and whose feed will need to change to fit in with your brand.

You should choose an influencer who already has a similar aesthetic and target audience to your brand.

They’ve got their following and support for a reason, so your collaboration with them must develop naturally.

This will project a genuine relationship that won’t look and feel like just an ad.

2.4 Engage with Them on Social Media

Once you’ve decided who your chosen influencer is, you’ll need to reach out to them both privately and publicly.

You can start by following them, and liking and commenting on some of their posts. Do this in an authentic way so it doesn’t sound or feel forced.

Share their posts, mention them in your blogs, and tag them when you post about their blog.

Reach out to them privately via DM (direct message) or email. Ensure that you construct a personalized message so that they know you’ve taken the time to research and learn about them.

Although Instagram is typically the platform brands go to, influencers are also prominent on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. 

Choose a platform where your target audience interacts the most.

This is a surefire way to increase revenue because your potential customers are likely to be followers of your collaborator.

2.5 Market to Smaller Communities

You don’t have to stick to influencers with a huge following.

Micro-influencers could be better suited to your brand, especially for increasing revenue and engagement.

Micro-influencers tend to have more engagement with their followers than major influencers do. They also tend to nurture their niche and dish out regular creative content.

Their group of followers may be small, but they’re dedicated and value the influencer’s opinion.

Smaller communities usually gather on Facebook groups and platforms like

Reddit. 

Marketing to smaller communities allows you to create high target campaigns.  

For even more exposure, you could approach a few of the best influencers in your niche. If more than one wants to work with your brand, that’s a big score.

2.6 Understand Value

The influencers you work with will also want the collaboration to be of value to them. 

In this case, you’ve got to offer them something beneficial. 

When you reach out to them, offer to write about them, offer to write guest posts about them or, co-host or feature on your podcast. You can also reach out and potentially ask them to create a vlog with you.

This results in exposure for both parties, and it can secure a lucrative, beneficial relationship.

A mutually-beneficial collaboration will go a lot further than just asking them to create a post featuring your brand.

2.7 Compensate Your Influencers

Most influencers charge less than $500 for a sponsored post. The compensation you give will depend on the type of collaboration.

Although, you don’t have to solely compensate through money.

You could gift them free products, or exclusive products that haven’t been released yet.

Influencers can be affiliates getting commission from every sale that comes through their link. Alternatively, they can be paid on a monthly basis.

Gifting and compensation reminds the influencer that you value the relationship. 

2.8 Build Partnerships

The idea is to build a partnership with an influencer.

It’s a mutually-beneficial relationship that should be sustained, not just a one-time deal.

Collaboration doesn’t only have to be sponsored posts. You can work on other projects together outside of social media and eventually help each other to build both your brands.

Be sure to continue to engage with them on social media and keep up communication.

2.9 Spread the News

It’s essential that you broadcast any partnerships on all platforms.

Share your collaboration on social media and feature it on your site and anywhere else you can.

You can also share the collaboration via your email list or newsletter.

Remember to tag the influencer in any post you share that features them, and repost and share each other’s content.

Discuss with your influencer partner how you can optimize exposure and promote the content as much as you can.

2.10 Track Metrics

The final tip is to measure the success of your partnership.

Did it bring in more sales? Did your brand gain more exposure? Is it worth continuing the partnership?

Keep track of the sales generated through the influencer’s affiliate link or social shares.

Influencers can use a discount code, which is one way for you to track sales.

Use brand tracking to understand if the collaboration had a positive impact on your brand awareness.

UTM’s (Urchin Tracking Module) are codes that can be attached to a URL. They’ll let you track the analytics of the campaign.

Compare influencer marketing to other marketing avenues your business uses and examine whether or not you’re generating a return on investment.

If you’ve seen a higher ROI, the campaign was successful. If not, you’ll need to re-visit the campaign and try new strategies.

3. Final Thoughts & Takeaways 

As a brand, the first time you collaborate with an influencer can often be a gamble. 

The process will come with a trial and error phase but that’s to be expected.

Once you chose the right partnerships you’ll see huge improvements in your reach and revenue. Yes, influencer marketing is here to stay and is effective.

I hope this article has taught you some great tips and tricks that you can put into practice.

So, go out there and start building your Influencer marketing partnerships.

This mega-marketing strategy is a surefire way to boost your bank balance.

Title	10 Top Influencer Marketing Hacks
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Meta	Running an influencer marketing campaign? Discover 10 ways to increase ROI and generate revenue using influencer marketing.
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