The Influencer Strategy for Social Media Campaigns

Looking to create a more diversified brand image, drive sales and grow your audience reach? You’re in the right place! Influencers can help your brand stand out as part of your overall social media marketing strategy.

Why Social?

Social media campaigns are a fantastic opportunity to reach target demographics. 85% of U.S. consumers use social media. With 95% aged 18-34 (Millennials) following brands through social media. And 92% of adults aged 34-44 utilizing social media to follow brands. Parents tend to be avid social media users as well, 93% of parents are more likely to use social media than non-parents.

What about TV ads, magazines, emails, text alerts, and website ads?
According to industry research, “Respondents trust UGC 7X more than traditional advertising.”

With traditional advertising, there is not much incentive. 48% of U.S. customers ages 18-34 follow brands on social to get regular coupons and/or promotions.

“I want to reach older demographics… “ Fear no more, 37% of U.S customers ages 45-64 utilize social media for incentivized elements, such as promotions, coupons, and sweepstakes.

Why social? To reach your target demographic and build a personal connection to the consumer.

Why should your company consider using social media influencers?

There are several reasons why your company or brand should consider utilizing social media influencers:

The market is growing exponentially - 67% of marketers think influencer marketing campaigns helped them reach a more targeted audience, therefore leading to more impactful results.

Adweek states the market is estimated to be worth $2 billion in 2017 and set to reach $10 billion by 2020.

With the market growing at this rate, here are tips and tricks to get the most out of influencers for your social media campaign:

• Use Images to create a story on each social media platform
  • Adweek reported that Tweets with images get 150% more retweets and 89% more favorites than Tweets without visual media.
• Build a relationship with the influencer
  • The relationship you build with the influencer will contribute to the content they produce. Social media influencers drive relatable content, which 70% of US customers say they are more likely to buy a product if they saw positive relatable customer photography. Industry research found that 76% of social media users view content posted by other consumers as more honest than advertising. And not only that, but 56% are more likely to buy a product after seeing it featured in a positive or relatable user-generated image.
• Host Giveaways and Sweepstakes
  • This will not only build your following, but it will increase your reach.
  • Brands host giveaways and sweepstakes to generate leads. They do so by asking you if you would like to opt-in to the sponsor's mail list for news and information about products or services.
  • Gain valuable market research. Provide optional or required survey questions for consumers to answer while filling out a sweepstake entry form. This will create insight into the company’s products, what people like, and what people don’t like.
  • Sweepstakes encourage people to visit websites, learn more about your company, and potentially generate sales.
  • Make it a requirement for your influencer to post the rules on their social media accounts, some may include: tag 3 friends, share this post, and comment the reason why you want this giveaway/prize. This creates buzz about your brand and the contest. Gaining your brand more followers, engagement on social posts, and people talking about the contest with friends and family. Although, it is important to give your influencer creativity with social posts to give the post more authenticity.
  • Here is an example of a giveaway that the CW did, to promote the premiere of Dynasty:

This contest contributed to the growth of The CW Dynasty 58,000 followers and more active interaction on posts.

• Keep tabs on your Influencer Marketing ROI
  • Influencers are an important tool for your social media campaign. You can attribute the revenue your influencers bring in with tracking and data analytics. Partnering with RTM provides the resources to track data from your campaign, provide promotion regulations and prize fulfillment. or a full-service agency like Realtime Media. This way you are not wasting your employees’ hours on things like researching regulations, data tracking, and prize fulfillment.

If you follow these tips, you will have a successful social media influencer campaign. Realtime Media served as a strategic partner with CW Dynasty to launch this successful campaign and achieve measurable results. To learn more click here to view our blog about Instagram Sweepstakes.

Feel free to contact Realtime Media with any questions or comments.