Why Your Business Should Have an Influencer Marketing Strategy

After years of missed experiences with family, friends and co-workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers are reevaluating what matters and are turning to brands that can provide them with authenticity.

So, how can your brand genuinely connect with consumers? Introducing: “influencer marketing.”

Influencer marketing is a paid collaboration between a brand and a social media influencer. Through negotiations, the two parties agree on terms for a certain fee. This type of relationship varies depending on your goals and budget. Collaborations can look like one static Instagram post, a year-long social media campaign or anything in between.

In this strategy, there are two main types of influencers to work with:

• Micro-influencers, who typically have smaller audiences and specific niches
• Macro-influencers, who are very well known and boast large audiences

But which one is right for your brand and how can you find them?

Micro-Influencers

If you’re interested in using multiple influencers to promote your products or services, then working with micro-influencers may be best for you. Micro-influencers are not your typical household name – they are your everyday consumers with a smaller following between 5,000 to 50,000 followers on their preferred social media platform.

Sometimes, brands can partner with micro-influencers at no cost. Instead, the partnership is a mutual agreement with an exchange of goods. A brand can send the influencer its product or, if your brand is a restaurant, provide them with a free dining experience in exchange for promotion on social media. This avenue is perfect for brands that may not have a large budget to spend on influencer marketing but still want to reap the benefits on a smaller scale.

When looking for the right micro-influencers to partner with, it can be as simple as a quick search of an industry-specific hashtag on social media. Looking for foodie influencers in the Houston area? Try out the hashtag ‘#HTXfoodies’ on Instagram to see which posts and profiles appear. Finding micro-influencers can be a process of trial and error but sticking through the process leads to very rewarding results.

Macro-Influencers

On the other hand, if you are more interested in using a specific influencer to promote one product or service, then you may opt to partner with a macro-influencer. Macro-influencers can be the household names – like Jennifer Aniston’s partnership with Aveeno. But they can also be your favorite influencer with 500,000+ followers, like Emily Mariko, who found her claim to fame last year with salmon rice bowls.

When brands partner with macro-influencers, they can expect hefty price tags and contracts to come along. The process of finalizing and executing the promotion could take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Brands need to go through meetings to discuss the collaboration, outline the scope of the collaboration, discuss contracts and pricing, along with every minute detail in between. While this can be a time-consuming process, macro-influencers are ideal for brands with a large budget that are looking for only a few grand-scale promotions.

Finding the right macro-influencers is a much easier process than finding the right micro-influencers. Brands may already have their ideal candidates in mind and may only need to do a quick Google search to ensure the macro-influencer is right for the promotion and aligns with their brand goals.

Is Influencer Marketing Right for Me?

Now more than ever, consumers are looking for brands they can trust. Influencer marketing acts as an endorsement of your product or service and provides the third-party credibility consumers are often looking for. There are different avenues in pursuing an influencer marketing strategy, so as we’re early in the year, evaluate both your short-term and long-term goals when deciding whether micro- or macro-influencers are best for you.