Dominate influencer marketing channels

1. Clearly define how your influencer marketing strategy will help to achieve your marketing goals and objectives.

You can use influencer marketing to generate leads and sales, increase engagement, or boost brand awareness. Determine which platform best resonates with your target audience. By choosing a platform that your audience engages with consistently, you can narrow down your influencer search to brands or individuals with a strong presence on your chosen channel. Set KPIs based on your goals. For example, if your goal is to generate sales, set your target as 30 sales.

2. Identify influencers that match your goals and strategy, then use various techniques to locate and contact them.

Influencers can be individuals, blogging sites, or authoritative organizations with large followings. A good example of a prominent individual in social marketing is Mark Schaefer and Forbes is a renowned website with high business influence. Make sure the influencer is a credible resource for your audience, and that their audience overlaps with your target customers. Find influencers with a simple Google search, on influencer marketplaces like Influencer Plus and Hypr, Twitter, or Buzzsumo.

3. Prioritize your influencers according to a set criterion.

Categorize your influencers and consider those that have strong followings and high engagement rates. For example, you can look for an influencer with the most Facebook page likes, Twitter followers, or blog subscribers. Consider micro–influencers. They may have a limited but loyal following.

4. Start building relationships with influencers once you're sure your distribution channels are reliable.

As a start, follow influencers on their social media handles, subscribe to their blogs, comment on their posts, and share their content. This is one of the best ways to build a cordial relationship with them before you even initiate a conversation.

5. Initiate a partnership with the influencers and let them know you want to work with them.

Ask them for a quote, to write a guest post on your blog, to share your branded content on their platforms, or to run a webinar with you.

6. Start pitching the influencers with your requests through website messages, social media platforms, emails, or events.

Generally speaking, smaller influencers are more likely to answer you compared to bigger influencers, who likely have managers to handle their collaboration inquiries. You can create a big campaign with influencers, or a one-off piece of sponsored content.

7. Track conversions, referral traffic, audience growth, and engagement with analysis tools.

Look at metrics such as likes, shares, and comments, throughout your influencer partnership. Measuring these metrics against pre-established KPIs will help you evaluate the success of your campaign and make adjustments where necessary.