How to do Influencer Marketing in 2022

Influencer marketing in 2022 including tips for influencers or tips for influencer marketing is important for a quick way to gain exposure. But before you rush to plan your next influencer marketing strategy for the next campaign, this influencer marketing do’s and dont’s tip is worth a read.

The DO’S

1. Find the Right Influencers

The key to a successful influencer marketing campaign is to find the right influencer for your brand.

Simply relying on someone with a big following to push your brand, product or service can be highly inefficient.

Finding the right influencer

• An active user – You want someone that’s active on their social media networks, email or blog.
• A user who knows what they’re doing – Pay attention to what’s being posted. Are they getting all the action on cute cat pictures but none on other messages? If so, pass. Also, pay attention to if the person or brand is using the correct format for the network (tagging handles correctly etc.)
• An engaged following – There’s no point to an influencer if their posts don’t generate actions. You wouldn’t pay for an ad in a magazine no one reads right?
• A following that aligns with your target consumer – Influencer marketing won’t work unless your influencer’s audience is a match to your target consumer. Have a clear buyer persona in mind when looking at the influencer’s followers.
• Content that aligns with your brand’s image/message/aesthetic – On brand, on target.

2. Have A Plan/Strategy

When working with influencers always have a plan or strategy in place. This can range from a super-simple campaign where they post about you, or something more integrated, like an account takeover or demonstration.

Also, remember to be clear with your instructions, including what deliverables will be required from the influencer.

For example, let’s say you want to drive traffic to a landing page – you’d need to include specific directions to add your URL to an Instagram Story about your product or direct your influencer if you need them to use specific hashtags. 

3. Repurpose Influencer Content

One of the best parts of working with influencer marketing in 2022 is the beautiful content they leave you with. Make sure you re-purpose content your influencer posts or creates for you (tips for influencer marketing)

Why repurpose influencer content?

• Eases creation – Repurposing can be easier than creating new content.
• You know it works – If you had a successful influencer marketing campaign, then you know the content that was created worked to attract your key audience. You can concentrate on optimizing other parts of your new, re-purposed campaign. This leads me to…
• You know who responded to it – You can tailor your campaigns more specifically towards different segments of your audience.

The DON’TS

1. Don’t Take Complete Content Control

You’re reaching out to the influencer for a reason – so let them have a say in your campaign.

For certain influencer marketing in 2022 campaigns, it’s okay to have a little more control over content or messaging. Tips for influencers is that who knows the audience better than you who built it up? If you’ve hired an influencer because their content style caught your eye, it would be ridiculous to stop them from creating something in their vision. Simply have a conversation with the influencer about your brand guidelines, or what you expect. Include them in the creative process so both parties can get the most out of the partnership.

2. Don’t Dismiss Micro-Influencers

The parameters that define a micro-influencer can fluctuate depending on who you ask. I consider an individual a micro-influencer when they have a following of 5,000 – 50,000 followers, but in general, someone can be considered a micro-influencer if they have fewer than 100,000 followers.

The reasons you shouldn’t dismiss micro-influencers are:

• Niche audience – Micro-influencers tend to have more niche audiences and higher engagement rates
• Greater connection – They’re usually perceived as more authentic by their audiences
• Availability – They may be more eager to work with brands because they’re in an earlier stage of developing their presence (which could mean they’re less expensive to work with as well).

3. Partner with the right influencer

Before you work with an influencer, make sure that they’re the right influencer for your campaign, and be clear and realistic about the results you want to drive before you work with them.

This requires a deeper understanding of what kinds of content generate what kind of engagement (for example, we notice how videos don’t drive as much interaction as photos that are tagged correctly), as well as what kind of content the influencer shares, and how the audience reacts to it.

Make sure you do your research and ask questions. Check out the influencer, what kind of content they typically post, what their audience is reacting to. If it falls in line with your goals, the next step is to decide what you want to get out of the campaign, or the specific partnership – beautiful content? followers? traffic to a landing page?

You should also have an understanding of how the audience reacts to different types of content to understand what your business will get from the post or posts.

Setting realistic goals, simplifying communication and maintaining a level of teamwork are the best ways to avoid expecting the wrong thing from influencer posts, and extracting maximum benefit from the campaign.

4. Don’t Miss Out On Influencer Traffic

One of the worst influencer marketing mistakes you can make is to not capitalize on influencer content and traffic.

Your account should be ready to make the most out of all the new eyes coming to check out your brand – are you giving them a reason to like your content and follow you?

• Traffic – Think about your feed “overall” and what these new visitors are seeing when they check you out on social media. This means your profile view on Instagram, the quality of images you share etc. Give them a reason to follow you.
• Content – Remember that influencer content can be re-purposed, generating even more traffic and filling in posting gaps for you. Even if someone isn’t an “influencer” take advantage of user-generated photos. People posting about your brand can provide really great quality content for your feed. Fans also like to see their content appreciated by the brands and businesses they love – giving them more incentive to create organic content and build relationships with their followers/customers.

If you are looking to include influencer marketing strategy in 2020, you can talk to us or look for more information here.