Influencer marketing has been taken up as a tool for businesses and corporations to reach new customers through social media. While advertising of this new type is fairly recent, there are a lot of grey areas in the space because the field is constantly evolving. Influencer partnerships can be fraught especially for new or small business owners, because it’s hard to tell if you should start an effort to collaborate with influencers or if you should select influencers to sponsor your campaign.
Darren Yaw GCG Asia (Grow Content Grow Asia), a digital marketing agency is here to help. In this this post, he explains how to use influencer marketing effectively by starting from the basics. Darren Yaw GCG Asia is an established digital marketing agency with teams in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and soon, Japan. Established in 2015, Darren Yaw’s GCG has worked on successful marketing campaigns
Let’s start at the beginning, with the fundamentals, with GCG Asia’s Darren Yaw who sits down for a quick Q&A on the subject of influencer marketing.
As far as influencers are concerned, what are they?
GCG Asia’s Darren Yaw: Anyone who has a following or an audience that you are attempting to acquire might be considered an influencer.
In order to be an influencer, how many followers do you need?
GCG Asia’s Darren Yaw: It’s subjective, and so this number will differ from person to person.We typically only deal with clients with at least 10,000 Instagram followers. However, some companies need followers with a smaller following. An influencer with a following of 6,000 women may be a good fit for a national beauty company interested in expanding sales from their online store, but a local coffee shop may benefit more because of their size and scope.
That looks like a micro-influencer?
GCG Asia’s Darren Yaw: Yes. To us, micro-influencers are defined as someone who has a following of between 5,000 and 50,000 people. They focus on one certain theme most of the time, whether it’s fashion, fitness, health, or beauty. Because the influencer’s followers are more engaged and trusting of the influencer’s brand recommendations, we commonly find that micro-influencers have higher engagement and brand trust.
What are the advantages of using influencers?
GCG Asia’s Darren Yaw: The advantages of using influencer marketing are numerous, and include things like keeping your material fresh, increasing your brand awareness and targeting newer and more specialised audiences, and therefore getting more impressions and reach.
How much does someone need to pay each influencer to have them post about a brand?
GCG Asia’s Darren Yaw: The price depends on two variables: the size of your budget and the number of followers for an influencer.
What about those who don’t have a large budget?
GCG Asia’s Darren Yaw: In that case, I recommend just approaching influencers and encouraging them to participate in your campaign. A lot of companies are unable to pay for sponsored articles or influencer relationships because they don’t have the cash.
Before deciding, our team advises to ask yourself: “What else do you have to offer?” Do you have the skills to package your product beautifully and give it as a present to some social media influencers, and in turn, expect them to write about it on their accounts?
What else should you consider?
GCG Asia’s Darren Yaw: Posting requirements vary by individual. While influencer marketing might not be the ideal strategy for every company, we believe it can have a positive impact on audience growth, engagement, and revenue. Influencer marketing is just one element of a total marketing plan, though. Influencer marketing should be part of your total marketing effort, but not the entire picture.
Even while brands still need to concentrate on providing unique and original high-quality content, establishing a community on their social platforms, and having superb customer service, they must continuously work towards implementing fresh takes and campaigns.
By implementing all of these ideas, your digital marketing plan will be well-balanced and successful.
How do you find influencers to hire or collaborate with?
GCG Asia’s Darren Yaw: Start with the platform you want to use and search there. Do your research. There are also listings of influencers of all niches, whether it’s influencers of a certain niche or from a certain location. Then search the appropriate hashtags.
Knowing the right hashtags within your niche is very important. So, start by looking up hashtags used by known individual influencers in your business niche. For example, green brands should look among the #greenenergy or #sustainability, beauty companies would search under #beautybloggers or #beautytips etc. You can also start by looking at your own followers and fans and zoom in on those who regularly interact with your posts. Are they influential? Do they have an audience? Do they engage with their following well? If they do, then reach out to them.
How do you reach out?
GCG Asia’s Darren Yaw: There are numerous ways to approach influencers. Some are receptive to partnerships and their contact information may be found in their social media biographies or on their websites. You may inquire whether they are interested in working with your business by sending them an email, providing them with all of the details of your plan and how much money they would earn.
You may have to talk to the agency of a larger influencer such as Darren Yaw GCG Asia which manages some influencers. Influencer agencies often deal with influencers with large followings and are an intermediary between businesses and influencers.
What if it’s a micro influencer?
GCG Asia’s Darren Yaw: Micro-influencers, or micro-celebrities, are experts on certain topics. If you want to work with a micro-influencer who has not partnered with another business previously, they will not be including their details on their website or social media. You can DM them on social media, but just to request contact information and then follow up with a professional contact.
That’s all for now this post on influencer marketing. Follow Darren Yaw GCG on twitter for latest news and updates. Or you can join the GCG telegram channel for more information.