Influencer marketing refers to the form of marketing in which a company or brand joins hands with a person who has a huge following on social media and is referred to as an influencer. The company’s products or services are promoted through the influencer. All the activities undertaken as a part of this process are called influencer marketing.
There are several reasons why most businesses feel compelled to invest in influencer marketing today. An influencer wields a certain amount of ‘influence’ over their followers. When they talk about something or share an opinion, their followers take it very seriously. Because of this, it makes a huge difference when they promote or endorse a product and suggest their followers use it.
With the help of an influencer, a company can ensure that its products or services reach its target audience. After they collaborate with an influencer, they get to know pretty quickly whether it is showing any results or not. Brands collaborate with an influencer after putting in a lot of thought. Based on the kind of content an influencer creates and the number of followers they have, the brand decides whether it should collaborate with them or not.
Apart from big businesses, small companies, too, have benefitted greatly by investing in influencer marketing. Many small brands have witnessed exponential growth after investing in influencer marketing. Across the world, more and more small businesses are coming forward and spending on influencer marketing.
Sometimes, small businesses decide not to invest in influencer marketing as they feel it would lead to them spending a huge amount of money. The truth is that a small business can invest in influencer marketing and gain from it in a cost-effective manner as well.
Here are some of the ways in which small businesses can do influencer marketing in a cost-effective manner:
Give Them Goodies
If you are a business entity that makes products that are valued very highly by the customers, you can give those products as gifts to influencers and request them to promote them on their pages. Some of the biggest influencers might not be interested in a collaboration where they receive just goodies. However, this is something new influencers or the ones with a lesser following could be interested in.
Getting into such arrangements tends to be easier for companies that offer goods that influencers could be interested in. If you are a company that manufactures audio and video equipment, you will come across many influencers who would be willing to promote them and get a bag of such products in return. When an individual is just starting their journey as a content creator, they would be more than willing to get into such collaborations.
Look At Returns
When you look at influencer marketing as an investment that could bring returns for you, you would not be reluctant to put money into it. If you paid an influencer for a collaboration or promotional activity and witnessed a growth in the demand for your products or services, you will want to collaborate with them again and gain from it.
Once you collaborate with an influencer, you should see the kind of returns you are getting out of it. If you engaged an influencer in promoting a particular product over a couple of weeks and you see growth in the sales of the product rising during this period, you should consider your investment to be successful. You must know that you are not burning money in marketing activities but gaining from it.
Join Hands with Micro-Influencers
A micro-influencer can be described as an influencer who has a minimum of 10,000 followers and a maximum of 100,000 followers. Since they do not have as many followers as the big influencers, they do not charge a lot of money for collaborations and partnerships. Such influencers are known for collaborating extensively with small businesses.
If you are running a small business and have a limited marketing budget, it would be a very good idea to collaborate with micro-influencers. People running small businesses are constantly making an effort to grow. The same is the case with micro-influencers. When these two entities come together, their energy matches, and both equally benefit from the collaboration.
Plan Everything
Many a time, businesses keep paying one influencer one after another and by the end of it, they realize they did not gain anything. When you are about to go for influencer marketing, you should plan everything and a meticulous manner. From getting influencers on board to how you would use their reach, everything should be planned in detail.
If you are planning to collaborate with nano influencers, you should have good knowledge about the cost of nano influencer marketing. You should have clarity about the number of influencers you plan to engage with over a certain period. With a good plan in sight, you can get a lot of influencer marketing done at minimum costs.
Create Good Content
If you are paying an influencer to post something about your brand, you must ensure the content they put out is of good quality. A piece of content, that has been created at controlled costs but is of very high quality, can travel further than you imagine. Spending just a little bit of money, therefore, can give you solid returns if your content is good.
While influencers are known for creating their content themselves, you can guide them in the process. Sometimes, businesses create ideas and concepts and develop them with the influencers. It is important to exercise some amount of control over the content that will be created and ensure that it is engaging and in sync with your company’s sensibilities.
Offer Them Coupons and Discounts
When you are planning to collaborate with micro or nano influencers, you can offer them coupons or discounts on your products and services. Instead of paying them, you could provide the products and services offered by your company at discounted rates. If they are genuinely interested in your products or services, they might be willing to sign up for this barter deal.
Since you are dealing with influencers and not regular customers, you have to customize your offer accordingly. Instead of one discount voucher, you can offer them a few. If you are offering a particular product at a 10% discount to your customers, you can offer it to the influencer at a discount of 30% or so.