Marketing is a challenging business. The time and effort needed for the right marketing strategies have made marketers crazy. But with Influencer marketing, it's a lot easier to get started.
It's no secret that social media influencers are your best friend when it comes to marketing. But, finding the right influencer marketing software can be a challenge. With the many different tools out there, it's not surprising that many marketers feel overwhelmed by their options.
If you are looking for the right influencer marketing software for your brand or start-up, there are seven tips you should know based on my experiences and some of the common mistakes we made while working with influencers in the past few years.
Determine Your Influencer Marketing Goals
A study found the majority (61%) of customers believe what influencers suggest during the COVID-19 pandemic. This means the majority of consumers trust influencers over other relevant marketing methods.
This is why the first thing you should do is to determine your influencer marketing goals. Determining these goals will help you better understand the type of software that will work best for your business.
For example, if your goal is to generate awareness, opt for a tool to find relevant influencers who can share their stories or experiences with your brand. If, on the other hand, you are looking to increase sales and conversions, then look for tools that allow you to track the ROI of each influencer campaign.
As a marketer, you have to ask yourself what you want to achieve with your influencer marketing campaign. Once you know your goal, then it's time for us marketers to start looking into different tools and platforms that can help us achieve those goals.
Influencer Search and Discovery Needs
Today, there are a number of influencer platforms that can help you find the right influencers for your campaign. But not all platforms provide the same features. Some of them have more tools and functionalities than others — and some may have more benefits depending on your business's stage or what kind of goals you want to achieve with your campaign.
Influencer platforms' search and discovery tool must be intuitive, easy to use, and powerful enough for your team to find the right influencers for your campaign. It should have a strong database if it's going to be effective.
You want to make sure the platform has a wide range of influencers, from beginners to experts, to choose from. Having a large database of influencers will also help you find the right fit for your campaign and ensure that you don't have any gaps in your strategy.
Influencer Content Creation and Workflow Management
Managing influencer content creation and workflow requires a lot of time and effort, especially if you have more than one campaign in progress. You want to ensure that your influencer marketing platform has tools to help manage this process efficiently.
The platform should have features like:
- A calendar for creating content, scheduling posts and monitoring deadlines.
- A messaging system for sending requests, updates and messages back and forth between yourself and your influencers.
- Tools that can streamline the process and make it easier for you to manage.
- Collaboration features (especially when your influencers are located in different parts of the world).
CRM tools should also allow you to easily manage the content creation process — from brainstorming ideas to writing posts, editing photos and videos together (if necessary), creating a campaign plan, and tracking results. Your customer relationship management processes should also integrate with CRM programs that you use.
Measure Your Influencer Marketing ROI
An influencer marketing report found that 42% of marketers consider influencer marketing offers the best ROI.
Any marketing program must be measurable to give it legitimacy and relevance. Thus, it would help if you establish metrics such as ROI of your influencer marketing efforts.
This can be done in a number of ways, depending on the objectives of your campaign. For example:
- Increase brand awareness and reach;
- Generate leads for your business;
- Drive sales conversions.
The best way to measure the ROI of your influencer marketing program is to have an established objective for the campaign. This will help you gauge whether or not your efforts are successful.
You can measure your success rate in several ways. For instance, if you use influencer marketing for your mobile apps, you’ll know if it’s successful by the number of new followers gained from the campaign.
It's important to remember that your metrics will be unique to your business, so you need to be sure that whatever you choose is relevant.
Prioritize Automation and Scalability
The influencer tool you choose should have robust automation and efficient scalability features. This is important because you want to be able to scale your influencer campaign quickly and easily. A tool that offers automated features will allow you to reach out to potential influencers without spending time manually or hiring someone else to do it for you.
You want a tool that will grow with you and adapt as your needs change. If you prefer using an influencer marketing platform for creators, it should also be flexible enough to accompany you as you grow your business. This is a crucial feature to look for because you don’t want to have to switch platforms as your business grows.
Think About Data Security
After creating your shortlist of influencer marketing platforms, identify which offers the most powerful security. This is another essential feature to look for in an influencer marketing platform because you want your data to be safe, especially if you’re dealing with sensitive information. You don’t want your platform to be vulnerable to hackers or security breaches. There are several security features that you should look for, including:
- Encryption services to protect your data from hackers;
- Two-factor authentication to prevent unauthorized access;
- Password management software to make it easy for you to create and manage passwords across all accounts
The data security of a platform is important because you don’t want to be responsible for a breach that could compromise your customers’ private information.
Support for Knowledge and Services
One of the most important things to look for in an influencer marketing tool is how well it supports you. This includes everything from education resources, customer support and services to help you manage your campaigns effectively.
Here are some things you should consider:
- Support services that include live chat, email or phone, available around the clock;
- FAQ section, knowledge base, and a library of tutorials and case studies on different topics related to influencer marketing;
- Video tutorials and other educational materials to help you navigate the platform;
- Training courses and webinars that can be used before or after launching your campaign.
Image from Pexels.com.
The right tool will make your influencer marketing more successful
Simply choosing the most expensive influencer software on the market doesn't guarantee success for your influencer marketing initiatives. It has to be the right one that addresses all your requirements.
The best influencer marketing software will help you identify and work with the right influencers, build a campaign strategy and plan, manage your campaign effectively and measure its results.
You can use this guide to choose the right influencer marketing software for your business. This will help you to get the most benefits from your influencer marketing campaigns.
