Crafting well-structured briefs is key to maximizing your influencer marketing campaigns. A good brief equips influencers with the details and resources they need to represent your brand effectively, without being overly restrictive. Influencer marketing is a collaboration between popular social-media users and brands to promote brands’ products or services. These partnerships have been going on informally since the dawn of social media. By 2009, they were sufficiently commonplace for the US Federal Trade Commission to step in and regulate them through the so-called Mommy Blogger law. (China, India, and the United Kingdom have introduced similar regulations.) May sell products, services, and subscriptions directly to consumers or sell ad space on their content.

They’re also more affordable than larger influencers. But that doesn't mean they’re ineffective. Studies show micro-influencers have a 60% higher engagement rate than macro influencers, and can drive 20% more conversions for your brand. Nano-influencers a b c d Sundermann, Gerrit (2019). "Strategic Communication through Social Media Influencers: Current State of Research and Desiderata". International Journal of Strategic Communication. 13 (4): 278–300. doi: 10.1080/1553118X.2019.1618306. S2CID 203077360. The problem for most brands is that there are only so many traditional celebrities willing to participate in this kind of influencer campaign, and they are unlikely to come cheaply. The exception will if a firm makes a product that a celebrity already likes and uses. In that situation, the celebrity may well be prepared to use his or her influence to say how good he/she believes the product to be. I am sure many musical instrument producers benefit from musicians playing their instruments by choice. Don’t forget to inform influencers of any words or ideas to avoid in their content. For example, if you’re an eco-friendly brand, let the influencer know that sustainability is a core value and they should avoid using plastic and other harmful products in their content. Restricting the influencer’s creative freedom Still, while there are some unique considerations to working with influencers, setting up a campaign is the same as most marketing campaigns: research, set a budget, determine goals, find your influencers and review and revise.While being able to look at ROI is great for deciding whether to continue an influencer relationship, most of the time you’ll need to decide if you’re going to hire an influencer before you know what your ROI will be. In these cases, you’ll need to take a look at what your desired influencers have done for brands similar to yours. Of course, relying on follower numbers is not a good indication of influence, even within a particular niche. In reality, to be an influencer you need to be engaged with your audience, not simply a broadcaster. Plus, there’s no shortage of would-be influencers. In a 2019 survey of several thousand millennials and Gen Zers, 54 percent said they would become influencers if they could. Although we don’t know how long the market will be this hot, social media continues to be very popular. And brands and individuals are making the most of this gold rush while business is still booming. If you have the time and money, consider setting up a formal ambassador program. Fujifilm utilizes its ambassadors in new product launches and in supplementing their content. With a variety of photographers and videographers at their disposal, the company’s able to diversify their feed to showcase what their equipment can do. Unlike a more automated ad strategy, influencers are human and frequently balance multiple partnerships. Some may fall behind in their commitments to post on time or make errors in your requested tags or calls to action. You’ll need to more hands-on with these relationships to cultivate them, and refine your approach through experience about what works and what doesn’t in your niche.

As more influencers enter the social media landscape, the industry may become more competitive. Some of the foundational skills you’ll need as an influencer include: mastering the latest features of different social media platforms; cultivating authentic relationships with an audience; developing content people love; editing audio and video content; live streaming; conveying your expertise or authority on a particular topic. Mega/Celeb-influencers – These are the influencers with more than 500k followers [20] [19] [18] [21] [22]

Case Studies

The report also explores how marketers are feeling about influencer collaborations for the new year.