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15 Tips How to Collaborate with Influencers to Increase Your Conversions
Conversions are the end game for any enterprise, and in today’s age of social media and internet dominance, influencers have evolved into a handy marketing alternative. As many brands have proven, with the right strategy and approach, influencers can offer you much commercially. Here are 15 tips on how to collaborate with influencers to increase conversions.
Consider reach
Influencer reach should be your first concern. The value an influencer actualizes conversion wise comes down to the followership they command. The breadth of influence should also guide you in developing the terms such as compensation. Of course, the bigger the reach, the better.
Target audiences
If you offer a niche product, this effectively means that you would be better off with an influencer with medium reach who appeals to your niche as opposed to an influencer with a broad reach featuring diverse people most of whom are likely to be uninterested in your products.
Do they reflect what your brand represents?
If your brand represents integrity and quality, do not go for an influencer who has a history of cutting corners, especially if such information is in the public domain. If you do, you will be effectively shooting yourself in the foot by doing more damage than good. The influencer should mirror the brand qualities of your enterprise or at the very least, be neutral.
Examine the influencers
List influencers that fit your requirements in terms of reach, and what they represent and then, do further research as to how they got where they are. This way, you will have a bank of insight regarding the influencer’s talents, weaknesses, closet skeletons, etc., and you can then adjust your expectations and proposition accordingly.
Influencer history
As you investigate, look into the influencers history with other brands. You would not want to get into business with an influencer who has dealt with shady brands, or brands that represent the polar opposite of what your business or company is all about.
Come up with a strategy
As the cliché goes, if you fail to plan, you will most likely fail. In this case, plan out your marketing strategy and determine your marketing mix with influencers among the enabling tools in line with your overarching conversion goals.
Offer them something worthwhile
Different influencers have different goals, and while money is often a common denominator, it is possible to sweeten the deal thereby increasing the influencer’s morale. Leverage the insights gained through investigation to determine other things that you can offer that can better entice the influencer of choice.
Create a win-win scenario
Your value proposition must catalyze a win-win scenario for best results. Realize that influencers want to offer their followership value to both increase their influence and better their brand. Limited giveaways, for instance, present a great way to achieve this.
Set goals
Determine goals in conjunction with your influencer to have a yardstick for determining the success realized. The goals should be ambitious but reasonable and achievable. More so, all parties should be in agreement.
Leverage bonuses
Develop a bonus system that will apply if the influencer goes over and above the goals set. It should be a reasonable offer, but one that is still very appealing to the influencer. This way, you will significantly increase morale and chances of realizing a superior ROI.
Trust the influencer
Given an influencer’s pool of talents and capabilities, they may amend your approaches or even prefer a different action plan. If you have already laid out the specifics, trust them to make good their side of the agreement even if their approach seems unorthodox. After all, an influencer knows his followers best.
Have an open mind
In the same wavelength, have an open mind and do not be averse to trying out innovative schemes. Keep in mind that most influencers are maverick millennials who like standing out by doing things differently. So, be open to suggestions.
Make them brand ambassadors
If an influencer proves himself, make him a brand ambassador. Of course, you will have to do further digging at this point since ambassadorship will mean an in-depth commitment on your part but if you do it right, you can reap much. The big brands do it because it actualizes value.
Cultivate trust
Build trust between you, the influencer and his/her followers. First, be straightforward as the influencer can taint your brand in case of contentions. You can drive followership trust be encouraging the influencer to attend you events, grace occasions of relevance, cover events, etc.
Be supportive
Bear in mind that influencers are not typical business persons or marketers. As such, they might need help concerning things commerce, and you should be present and willing to guide them based on your experience and expertise.
Influencers are the latest marketing buzz, and since the internet is here to stay, they are here to stay too and the earlier you make use of them, the better. However, be careful that the celebrity status of the influencer you go for does not overshadow what you want him/her to represent with regard to your brand.