Social Media

Influencer Marketing Strategies for Small and Large Businesses: Finding, Approaching, and Collaborating on Instagram

Published

1 year ago

September 30, 2023

Freelancer

If you’re a small business with an Instagram page, you may wonder how to get more IG followers who want to try out your product and support your business. One tool people use is influencer marketing. In the past decade, it’s become one of the best ways to reach the younger generation. Let’s look at what it is and the types of available influencers and tell you how to reach out to one.

What is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing is when a business deals with a popular social media user, e-celeb, or another prominent online figure to promote their products. This type of marketing is an extension of pre-Internet marketing techniques like celebrity endorsement, and it has existed in some form since the Internet came to be. However, it has exploded in the past decade with the normalization of social media and smartphones.

You may wonder why influencer marketing works so well. Here are some reasons why it’s so effective.

Influencer Marketing

People Trust Them

It’s because people like to buy products from people they trust. For many people who follow influencer accounts, they have a one-way relationship with the person who is posting content. They may look at their posts, videos, and Stories and interact with them. Sometimes, the influencer interacts back, increasing the bond of trust they have.

This is what makes influencer marketing even more powerful than a celebrity endorsement. A celebrity is more significant than life, but an influencer feels more relatable, especially if they are a smaller influencer.

The Influencer’s Audience May Intersect With Your Audience

There are many, many influencers online, each with a different niche. Some focus exclusively on a particular type of niche, for example, makeup. However, some influencers may not outwardly have a niche, but they may have an audience that shares many different things in common with your customer base.

If you pay an influencer whose niche fits your business, you are much more likely to see conversions than if you paid for a general ad.

It Can Be Affordable

With influencers, you must remember that not everyone has millions of followers. There are smaller influencers who still have an audience, and if you reach out to them, you may be able to cut a deal on a budget that fits your business. It doesn’t always have to create a hole in your pocket. Not every influencer is looking for a giant cut, so explore around and see what you can find, and then reach out and see if you can come to a deal that fits both of your needs.

Sizes of Influencers

Influencer Marketing

Let’s further expand on the sizes of influencers. Not every influencer account you will find has millions of followers. Some of them are smaller accounts. While they may not have as much reach, they may have a loyal audience, and if their niche matches yours, you can gain some loyal customers.

Currently, there are five types of influencers. Let’s look at them now.

Nano Influencers

These influencers have between 1,000-10,000 followers. On Instagram nowadays, this is not a big following, but people with a smaller following tend to have a more loyal group. This is because a nano influencer may interact with their audience more, and the lack of fame makes them approachable.

If you’re just starting, a nano influencer may be for you. They tend to charge less, and they’re much easier to make a deal with compared to a bigger account that may have a long line of people ahead of you. They also see it as mutually beneficial since they’re trying to grow as well.

Micro-Influencer

These are accounts with 10,000-100,000 followers. While they may have many followers, they are still relatively unknown in the grand scheme of Instagram. They may appeal to a specific niche, and they are the top person in that niche. However, many micro-influencers are still easy to reach and have a loyal fanbase, and you can easily cut a deal with them.

Mid-Tier

These influencers have 100,000-500,000 followers. Here is where we start to get to the big dogs. If this influencer is in a small niche, they are at the top of their game. If their niche is more broad, they are still respectable. If your business has a bigger advertising budget and can wait a bit, you can still reach them, but it can be more challenging than the previous two.

Macro

Here is where we enter the e-celeb territory. Macro-influencers are well-known in their niche, with 500,000-1,000,000 followers. If you’re just starting, you may not have the advertising budget or the time to meet their demands, but as your business grows, a macro influencer may be what you need.

Mega

Finally, we have mega influencers. They have over a million followers and include some noticeable e-celebs. Sometimes, these mega influencers are so famous that they can be household names even to people who don’t use Instagram. An endorsement by them is highly coveted, can be expensive, and it can take a while to get a deal. But their endorsement is worth it when your business is on top.

Finding the Right Influencer

Now that you know about the many types of influencers, you should figure out how to find an influencer that is right for the job. If you put your money down on any influencer, they may not be the right fit, and their endorsement can come across as not genuine.

That’s why your business needs to find a good influencer. Let’s look at some ways you can do this.

Do Some Hashtag Research

Your business should already have a list of hashtags you should use for your brand. Ideally, you want to be niche-specific and not go too broad. Look at some of the hashtags by searching them on Instagram. What are the most popular posts?

When you look at a popular post, see who has made it. Do they post about your niche often? Do their likes and comments match up with your target audience? If so, you may have found the right influencer for the job.

Use Tools to Find the Right Fit

Besides searching manually, several tools online can help you find influencers based on your niche. They can take the guesswork out. Of course, they do have some disadvantages. For example, they may require you to pay a subscription fee, or they may show the big names only. If you’re just starting, these tools may not show you the nano influencers who may be more budget-friendly.

Do They Do Deals?

Just because they have many followers doesn’t mean they are an influencer account. Some accounts have their own branding, and they may not want to do a deal with you. However, they may be a good fit for your business if they have a history of promoting products.

Do They Have Good Engagement?

You may see an account with tens of thousands of followers and assume they are perfect. But follower count tells only one side of the story. If they have that many followers but only get a few dozen likes, they may be juicing their numbers, or they may have an audience who is uninterested in the content.

On the other hand, you may have an account with only a few thousand followers, but they have hundreds of likes on their photos. This means they have a deeply engaged audience who will be more than willing to try out your product.

Do They Have Contact Information?

Some influencers will make it easy for you to contact them by having an email for business inquiries in their bio. If so, then send them an email. If not, then you may want to message them on Instagram itself. If there is no contact information, ask in the comments.

How to Reach Out to an Influencer

We know that ice-breakers can be a little awkward. Even if you are a business, you may not know how to reach an influencer. Here are some ways to do so.

First, Know What You’re Going to Do

If you want a collaboration and reach out to an influencer, you may have shot yourself in the foot if you don’t know what you want. Ideally, you should know what product you’d like to promote and how you would do it. Do you want the influencer to make their own video? Be in yours? You don’t need every single detail figured out, but having a rough sketch can cement the deal. If you only have vague ideas, the influencer may go for someone else.

Engage With Their Content

You don’t need to be besties with them, but you should give them a follow and engage with their content a little. This establishes a relationship and shows that you legitimately care about your product.

Send Them a Message

If it’s an email, have your brand name and the word “collaboration” or have another attention-getter. In the message, sound enthusiastic, but also professional. Get to the basics. Tell them about the product you’re promoting and the idea for a collaboration. Inform them if this is a one-time-only deal or if there is potential for a long-term relationship.

Influencer Marketing

Have a Media Kit

One way you can quickly explain your product is through a media kit. This can be a PDF explaining what your product is, giving a brief history of your business, and adding other details you believe are relevant. This way, you don’t need to write the same email explaining yourself repeatedly.

Mention Compensation

All influencers, regardless of size, want some compensation for their work. They may want less or a free product if they are nano influencers. However, you should not come to the table lowballing an influencer just because they’re small. Give your budget, and say you are open to discussing the ad.

Wait for a Response

Now that you’ve sent them a message, wait for a response. Influencers, even micro ones, have a lot of inquiries, so wait.

If it has been a week, sending a follow-up email may be worth it. Your email may have been buried so a bump may help. If they are still not responding, you may want to look for another influencer. They may not be interested in your offer.

Set a Deadline

If they respond and the two of you work out a deal, great! Now, you should figure out a deadline. Not having some sort of deadline means that one of you may forget the collaboration. Have a reasonable deadline set for the influencer to promote your product. If there are setbacks, be sure you two have regular communication.

How Much Creative Control Do They Have?

You may also give the influencer some creative control, and you should. Many influencers can advertise your product in innovative ways. If you make it seem like they’re reading off a script, it seems more inauthentic, and people are less likely to try out your product.

Final Thoughts

Finding the right influencer for your brand can elevate its reach. Even if the influencer is small, if they have a large enough fanbase, you may be able to gain a loyal new audience. Research if the influencer is a proper fit, have a budget that compensates the influencer well, and have an idea of your deal. We hope this article was helpful to you.

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Business

Unleashing Potential: How a Facebook Ads Marketing Agency Can Revolutionize Your Business

Published

6 months ago

May 21, 2024

Freelancer

Facebook advertising has definitely made its own place for businesses in the digital marketing space to reach out to their target and engage them. To say Facebook has monthly active users far more than 2.8 billion is to say this gives a reach second to none toward a broadly ranged audience. It definitely becomes an incredible and indispensable platform for businesses to drive growth and reach marketing objectives.

While using Facebook for advertisement, most businesses may not be at the level of knowledge and experience to understand the complexities of that marketing. And that is exactly where a Facebook Ads marketing agency would kick in.

And so today, in this blog, we are going to look in exact detail at what kind of transformational power Facebook Ads have, and how working with an agency well-versed with Facebook Ads Marketing could be life-changingly simple for you.

Understanding the Power of Facebook Ads

To understand the role of Facebook ads marketing agencies, we need to first understand why Facebook ads are so potent in marketing.

1. Unmatched Reach and Targeting: Certainly, the billion-plus users of this world who are on Facebook give it an unmatched reach and targeting potential. Businesses can create targeting precision down to demographics, interests, behaviors, and criteria like life events and purchase intent.

2. Cost-effective advertisement: The reason behind Facebook ads is a flexible approach to pricing, allowing businesses to set their budget and bidding strategy based on their objective or expectation. When used with careful targeting and optimization, a business is likely to achieve impressive results from the least spend on investment.

3. Different Ad Formats: There are different ad formats on Facebook, ranging from image ads to video ads, carousel ads, and many others. This gives a chance to a business to experiment with various advertisement formats and make a decision on the most impactful way of relaying their message to the target audience.

4. Advanced Analytics and Insights: Facebook has advanced analytic facilities and insights, empowering businesses to track how their ads are doing in real time. This gives them the information to tune their campaigns toward the most impact and ROI.

The Role of Facebook Ads Marketing Agencies

Here is a look at how a Facebook ads marketing agency can leverage the power of Facebook ads and take your business to the next level.

1. Expertise and Experience:

Facebook advertising marketing agencies have an expertise to create and run performance-driven Facebook ad campaigns.

These agencies keep your campaigns right up-to-date with all the latest trends, best practices, and algorithm changes to ensure only the best are optimized for success.

2. Customized Strategies:

Digital marketing companies run ads with strategies developed with your specific business goal, target audience, and industry in mind.

Such practices may involve audience segmentation, ad creative development, campaign optimization, and tracking performance that ensures a maximum return on investment.

3. Targeted Audience Reach:

– Facebook ads marketing agencies leverage advanced targeting options to reach your ideal audience with precision.

This kind of agency targets the right audience for your business: they target the specific demographics, interests, and behaviors to make sure that your ads reach the most relevant audience.

4. Creative Ad Campaigns:

– Facebook ads marketing agencies create compelling ad creative and messaging that resonates with your target audience. Whether that’s great design, persuasive copy, or engaging video content, such agencies have mastered the art of captivating your audience’s attention and driving action.

5. Continuous Optimization:

– Agencies, Facebook ads marketing constantly look after your ad campaigns for optimization toward performance and ROI. This leads to measuring important metrics, such as click-through rate, conversion rate, and cost of customer acquisition, to always find room for improvement and make sound decisions.

6. Comprehensive Reporting:

Agencies marketing through Facebook ads provide full reporting and insights to help them track performance over your campaigns. This will even include the impressions, clicks, conversions, and return on investment ratio in all the efforts of advertising that you make, making you wholly aware of the results and effectiveness.

Case Studies: Real-World Success Stories

Here are such practical examples of companies that have been turned around by working with Facebook Ads marketing agencies:

1. E-commerce Success Story: A boutique e-commerce store specializing in handcrafted jewelry saw sales increase by 300% after partnering with a Facebook Ads marketing agency. By executing search targeting well-off women aged 25-45 with an interest in fashion and jewelry, the agency had this targeted traffic pay off for the store.

2. Local Service Provider: • A local landscaping business saw leads and bookings double when they teamed up with a Facebook ads marketing agency. The agency enabled the company to generate more qualified leads and further expand its customer base by targeted messaging that included a list of homeowners located within a 10-mile radius and featured their portfolio of work.

3. B2B Software Company – A software company that offers project management solutions, Bjsondashtoa, doubled its sales pipeline within half a year of doing business with a Facebook ads marketing agency. Compelling ad creative and messaging were used by the agency to target the decision-makers of companies in IT and Marketing industries, subsequently driving the inbound Sales team’s Sales Qualified Leads and Opportunities.

Conclusion

In short, Facebook advertisements have the potential to transform your business by allowing you to reach out and communicate with your target audience effectively. An agency’s role in helping you with Facebook advertising is to bring to the table skills, experience, and resources that can be marshaled toward Facebook advertising to deliver best results in line with your marketing objectives. Due to the help of a Facebook ads marketing agency, e-commerce stores, local service providers, B2B software companies, and anyone for that matter will be able to reach the point where they have achieved the maximum success and growth for their business.

Social Media

Welcoming A Digital Detox from Mindless Social Media Scrolling

Published

7 months ago

April 19, 2024

Freelancer

Welcoming A Digital Detox from Mindless Social Media Scrolling

What comes to your mind when you think of today’s digital age? You won’t even need to think before you say ‘social media platforms.’ Consequently, we often find ourselves mindlessly scrolling through our feeds, being consumers of an endless stream of usually substance-lacking content. But are they adding any value to our lives?

At most, they are only negatively impacting our mental health and levels of concentration. In the middle of these endless tweets, posts, and likes lies a hidden gem called podcasts, offering content to help us grow and evolve. So why should you prefer listening to a podcast over indiscriminate social media scrolling? Let’s begin!

Mindful Consumption

Scrolling through social media, we easily succumb to passive consumption’s trap. Our interaction remains mindless as we swiftly flick over images and information snippets without often retaining any value. Contrastingly, podcasts command our attention. They require active engagement from us – a refreshing change indeed!

Inviting us to actively engage with our preferred subjects, be it science, history, comedy, or personal development, they offer a constructive pathway. Through this medium of choice, we immerse ourselves in meaningful dialogues and thought-provoking debates, thus fostering not only intellectual stimulation but also catalyzing personal growth.

Escape the Echo Chamber

Social media algorithms tend to curate echo chambers. Our feeds overflow with content aligning only with our existing beliefs and interests. While this might offer a fleeting sense of comfort, it constrains exposure, limiting us from encountering diverse perspectives or alternative viewpoints.

Conversely, audio books present an extensive range of voices and opinions. Podcasts, offering a rich diversity of perspectives that challenge and expand our worldview, expose us to the expertise of professionals in diverse fields.

Community and Connection

“Social” media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter often create shallow and superficial connections despite their descriptive term. In contrast to these platforms, audio stories wield the ability to nurture authentic relationships and cultivate a sense of community. Listener feedback, online forums, or live events actively facilitate meaningful engagement for its audience. Also, participating in podcast communities allows us to form connections with individuals who, like us, share our passions and interests.

Curated Content

Social media inundates us with an overwhelming volume of content, making the discernment between quality and noise a challenging task. Audio books present themselves quite differently. They offer curated experiences planned by dedicated hosts and producers who invest substantial time and effort to deliver meaningful content. Prioritizing quality over quantity is their trademark, be it investigative journalism, in-depth interviews, or immersive storytelling.

In Conclusion

Social media blinds us with its promise of instant satisfaction. However, podcasts offer an alternative that is deeper and more meaningful. Engaging in podcast consumption allows us to flex our intellectual muscles and expand our viewpoints while nurturing authentic connections with others. The next time you feel the urge to mindlessly scroll through social media, pause. Reach for your phone, but with a purpose, and consider playing a podcast.