Advertising Through Influencers: A Comprehensive Guide

Influencer advertising has become a key strategy for modern marketers everywhere. But for many, this is still unchartered territory, a way to reach their audience that they’re unsure how to use. This article explores insights shared by marketing experts Abtin Buergari (Blueprint) and Andrew Behringer (Urban Legends) on a number of the most pertinent questions regarding influencer marketing like: 

• How to find and vet influencers
• How to integrate influencers into your marketing program 
• How to measure influencers’ success

By the end of this post, you’ll have answers to these questions and more, enabling you to harness the power of influencer advertising and turn it into another piece of your media plan. 

Understanding Influencer Advertising 

What it is 

Influencer advertising leverages individuals with significant social media followings to promote your brand. Because of the personal connection they have with their followers, influencers have a unique ability to shape opinions and drive consumer behavior. By partnering with them, you can tap into their established trust and credibility to reach wider (and more niche) audiences, build brand awareness, and ultimately increase sales.

Relevance and Growth

Influencer marketing has taken off, with 43% of marketers using or planning to use influencers in 2024. This impressive growth shows that influencer marketing isn't just a fad that will fade away. It's a legitimate and highly effective way to reach targeted audiences and drive engagement. 

43% of marketers are using or planning to use influencers in 2024

Value and ROI

Influencer marketing is often cited as having the second-highest ROI among marketing channels. Suffice it to say it's a smart investment. But maximizing your return hinges on partnering with the right influencer for your brand. To do that, it's important to realize that the size of an influencer's follower base doesn’t always equal success or value. 

Micro-influencers, for example, have smaller but highly engaged followings. Partnering with them can save you money (their content costs less than big brand-name influencers) while building strong social proof, especially among Gen Z, who value authenticity and relatability in the brands they support.  

Starting Your Influencer Marketing Program

Selecting the Right Influencer(s)

Not all influencers are right for your brand. When assessing influencers, focus on their engagement rates, audience demographics, and what their content is about instead of who they are. Platforms like Urban Legend help with this assessment step by vetting influencers to ensure they are real people who have authority with real followers, helping you make informed decisions about who you partner with.

Integrating Influencers

Influencers should fit in seamlessly with the rest of your digital advertising program. They shouldn't stick out like a sore thumb against the rest of your efforts. Successful campaigns, from TikTok to YouTube, deliver your message the way you want with the influencer’s style and artistic bent. 

Tips for Integration

• Ensure influencers' past content aligns with your brand.
• Use performance-based models to align expectations with results.
• Employ technology for tracking and measuring influencer performance.

Best Practices for Working with Influencers

Set Expectations and Guidelines

Set clear goals, deliverables, and brand guidelines from the onset of your partnership. As mentioned, you want to treat influencer marketing like any other channel in your paid media efforts, so don’t hesitate to have those kinds of conversations. The type of influencers you want to work with will be open and amenable to working in this manner.  

Ensure Authenticity 

Authenticity is so crucial to successful influencer collaborations that it's worth mentioning again and again. It's how you maintain trust and effectiveness, which is why micro-influencers, with their niche tight-knit communities, are worth consideration. Their followers see them as genuine and relatable, which fosters a deeper connection and greater influence. You want to leverage their authenticity to create more meaningful interactions with your audience, enhancing your brand's credibility and driving better overall results. 

Authenticity is so crucial to successful influencer collaborations that it's worth mentioning again and again

Balance Creative Freedom

Collaborating with influencers is a balancing act of giving them creative freedom while setting proper guardrails so the content they produce makes sense for your brand. You want them to have the flexibility to express their unique voice and style to make whatever you're promoting together feel genuine. However, their messaging needs to align with your brand values and speak credibly to the topic at hand.   

FREE EBOOK

ADVERTISING THROUGH INFLUENCERS

Unlock the secrets of successful influencer marketing with our comprehensive guide. Discover how to effectively integrate influencers into your advertising strategy and maximize your ROI.

 

Get the Free Guide

Measuring Success in Influencer Campaigns

Key Metrics to Track 

How to measure the impact of influencer campaigns is where marketers often get stuck on this subject. The good news is you can evaluate the success of these campaigns by focusing on various key metrics. For example: 

• Monitor reach to understand how many people are exposed to your content. 
• Watch engagement rates and cost per conversion to determine the efficiency of your campaign. 
• Consider the ROI to assess the profitability and effectiveness of what your influencers are doing.  

Effective Measurement Techniques

Use UTM tracking links and promo codes to understand how your influencer advertising efforts work independently and within the context of larger campaigns. These tools allow you to track where your traffic is coming from and how it interacts with your content, giving you valuable insights into performance. Also, don’t sleep on the power of A/B testing. You’ll want to implement tests to compare different versions of your messages, identify which resonates best with your audience, and then fine-tune your overall strategy if needed.

Comprehensive Tools

It would be quite a heavy lift to do all this tracking, measuring, and testing without the right tools. Fortunately, platforms like Blueprint offer real-time feedback and detailed analytics on the metrics you need to watch to ensure your influencer campaigns are working. Additionally, Blueprint provides relevant insights so you can make data-driven decisions and optimize what you’re doing. 

Overcoming Influencer Marketing Challenges 

Building Accountability  

What you want is accountability between your brand and the influencers representing you. Not taking the time to set clear goals, adequate measurement infrastructure, and messaging alignment will diminish your ability to have that. So, start by thoroughly vetting influencers as if you were doing due diligence with any other vendor. Once your campaign is underway, use performance-based models to hold influencers and their content to established standards. This approach will lead to fewer headaches and better partnerships. 

Managing Multiple Influencers 

Odds are you'll be working with more than one influencer at a time. When dozens or hundreds of people share your brand's message with the world simultaneously, you have to stay organized and communicate effectively so your campaigns stay on track. It helps to use centralized platforms that coordinate campaign details and maintain consistent communication so all your influencers sing from the same sheet of music. 

Flexibility and Adaptability 

Influencer campaigns aren't something you can set and forget. Constant monitoring and flexibility are a must. Be prepared to make adjustments at any time based on performance data and feedback from your audience. Staying agile and responsive puts you in a better position to keep your marketing initiatives moving in the right direction.  

Influencer campaigns aren't something you can set and forget. Constant monitoring and flexibility are a must.

Conclusion 

When executed correctly, influencer advertising can play a significant role in boosting brand visibility and engagement. Fortunately, how to tap into the power of influencer marketing isn't a mystery anymore. There are plenty of readily available industry best practices and expert insights for you to leverage. When you do that, you ensure that your campaigns will be more effective and adaptable to changing trends and feedback, leading to the results any marketer would want. 

For more information, visit Blueprint.tech or contact: 

Blueprint: info@blueprint.tech 

Urban Legend: info@urbanlegend.com