How to Launch an Influencer Marketing Campaign (Successfully)

Many businesses are beginning to realise the benefits of influencer marketing, so we’ve compiled 6 easy steps to nailing your influencer campaign!

01 Get your goal straight

Social media campaign goals come in all shapes and sizes — but what makes a good goal? Here at Viral Access, we think that a good influencer campaign goal is SMART:

Specific: The scope of your influencer marketing goal should be clearly outlined — do you wish to increase your brand’s online presence? Extend your reach? Drive digital sales?

Measurable: You should pinpoint the relevant performance metrics to track the success of your goal. For example, aiming for greater brand recognition may require measuring impressions and tracking unique views as metrics. On the other hand, if you’re seeking to drive engagement, focusing on user interactions such as likes, comments, and shares may be a better choice.

Attainable: The goal should be realistic. It is important to conduct risk analysis and determine what resources will be needed to carry it out — if the goal is too complex, too idealistic, or too expensive it may be time to return to the drafting table.

Relevant: A solid influencer campaign goal is one that solves a need for your brand. Influencer marketing has the power to elicit many positive effects, such as strengthening brand identity, giving your company a “human” connection, and enforcing your brand’s values. Knowing the needs of your brand is key to developing the right goal for your campaign.

Time-bound: Your influencer marketing campaign should have a time constraint. This allows for better planning and leads to more accurate performance measurements. Setting a timeframe for the campaign is important for developing (and later on, evaluating) your influencer marketing strategy.

02 Address your target audience

Before drafting a campaign message and selecting the influencers, it is vital to know who the target audience is. Audiences can be grouped according to age, nationality, special interests and a variety of other factors, but the more niche the group, the easier it is to strategise. Narrowing down the audience into specific groups makes it easier to select appropriate platforms/influencers and to determine what tones, messages, and calls to action they will be most receptive to.

Influencer marketing works best with a clear target audience in mind so that content and messages can be specifically tailored to their tastes. Photo from Freepik

03 Pick your platform

The effectiveness of your influencer marketing campaign depends entirely on its visibility, connectivity, and memorability with the target audience — something that is important to consider when selecting a platform. With hundreds of social media platforms to choose from, take note of…

1. The number of monthly active users — The more users an app has, the more complex its landscape can be. For example, there may be a greater variety of niche communities and interest groups. There can also be stricter rules and guidelines for sponsored content.
2. Content type — Different apps have different primary content formats, such as video, photo, or text (TikTok is primarily for short videos, Pinterest for photos, and so on). Many apps tend to prioritise certain content types, meaning they receive extra boosts from the algorithm. For example, it is well known that YouTube’s algorithm favours videos that are over 10 minutes long, and Instagram has been heavily promoting its newest feature, reels. Your choice of platform will determine your campaign content, and vice versa.
3. Demographics — Each social media app has unique demographic distributions. It’s useful to note whether an app’s user demographics are heavily skewed to one extreme, such as 41% of TikTok’s users being between the ages 16–24 and 42% of Pinterest users being female. Geographical significance is especially important to consider if you’re marketing to an international audience. If you’re hoping to reach a Chinese audience, WeChat and Weibo will be ten times more effective than Facebook and YouTube, which can only be accessed in China using a VPN.

Knowing what performs best on which platform will make it easier to create a direction and guideline for your campaign content. Photo by Artem Podrez from Pexels

04 Find a good fit

The influencer selection process can make or break a campaign. When looking for the right influencers to represent your brand, make sure that…

1. They can reach your target audience
2. They share similar values as your company/brand
3. Their engagement is authentic
4. Their content and communication style is in line with your campaign direction

With the rise of micro-influencers and key opinion consumers, the options for influencer campaigns are only going to grow. Businesses will need to know how to differentiate between influencers according to their niches and ability to deliver results.

Influencers can be broadly grouped into general categories, but having a deeper understanding of their niche and fanbase will garner the best results. Photo from Freepik

05 Communicate clearly

The creative expression of the influencer is one of the biggest strengths and also the biggest risks of influencer marketing. Although user generated content has proven to be extremely effective, it still entails relinquishing some of your control over content/quality and placing a certain amount of trust in the influencer.

Being explicit in your campaign brief and clearly clarifying the message, tone, and content specifications helps you as well as the influencer. Not only does it create less work on their part, but it also helps avoid misunderstandings, ensuring that content is well-suited for the campaign.

Maintaining an open dialogue with the influencer will establish a good rapport between you and the influencer. Influencer marketing is a two-way communication, as the influencer can provide feedback and useful insights that will help you develop better strategies in the future. It is important to make sure that influencers know they are appreciated, which can be done by giving gifts or solidifying their status as a valued brand ambassador.

06 Review your results

At the end of your campaign, compile and analyse the results. Performance metrics, influencer feedback, and customer feedback are great ways to evaluate the success of a campaign.

Organise the data and think through each of the aforementioned steps. Ask yourself:

• Did we achieve our goal? Why or why not?
• Did we target the correct audience? How receptive were they to our campaign?
• Would another platform have worked better in hindsight? Was our content pushed by the algorithm?
• Which influencers performed the best? What could be the reasons for this?
• Did the influencer content satisfy our expectations? Were there any miscommunications or misunderstandings along the way?

Final Thoughts

Influencer marketing is dynamic and unpredictable by nature, which is why these steps are designed to organise the process and optimise results as well as the learning process. We hope that this guide was helpful to anyone interested in influencer marketing.

If you want to learn more about influencer marketing, check out our website and social media!

Viral Access is an AI and data-driven digital marketing company who helps you tell your story through social media. We pair your brand with relevant micro and nano influencers that help you increase brand awareness, engagement, and conversion. We have the systems and team in place to support large scale communications throughout Asia.

For business inquiries, contact us at: info@viralaccess.asia.