7 Tips to Awesome Influencer Marketing

7 Tips to Awesome Influencer Marketing

7 Tips to Awesome Influencer Marketing

One of our all time favorite ways to leverage social media for your business is through influencer marketing. 92% of consumers trust an influencer more than a brand (source). We’ll let that sink in for a minute.

Let’s define an influencer:

  • An influencer is an individual who has the power to affect purchase decisions of others because of his/her authority, knowledge, position or relationship with his/her audience.
  • An individual who has a following in a particular niche, which they actively engage with. The size of the following depends on the size of the niche.

An influencer can be an incredibly powerful asset for your brand, not just in social media, but in your overall broader communication efforts. It’s important to remember the 3 A’s when you are getting into influencer marketing: audience, aesthetic and authenticity. You want influencers that can deliver on all three of those in a way that suits your brand, product or business.

Here are our 7 tips to executing an awesome influencer marketing campaign for your brand.

  1. Know what result you are looking for. Do you need to drive users to a specific link? You’ll want to make sure you have bloggers with good traffic and high click through rates (ask for their media kit). Do you need to showcase your product in a beautiful, fresh way? You’ll want to get Instagram influencers that can take great photos and who has a high engagement rate. Do you need a compelling story told about your brand or product? Make sure you like the influencer’s writing style.
  2. Know your budget. Budget determines everything: how many influencers you will work with, the quality of influencer, the number of posts. If you average $500-$2,000 per post (depending on your niche), you’ll have a head start on figuring out how big your list needs to be.
  3. Tier your list. Let’s say you want to work with 10 influencers. Have your list of top 10, then tier down from there and have at least 20 back up influencers (a list of 30 total). Remember, follower count isn’t everything. You also want to make sure your influencers’ have engaged communities. Ensure that their blog posts have comments/shares, their Instagram posts have comments/likes, etc.
  4. Negotiate. Reach out to your top ten all at the same time. Find out what they charge and you’ll be able to see how your budget comes together. Negotiate the budget and the terms – make sure you get permission to use their content if need be. For example, make sure you can use the post for a promoted post on your channels if you needed to, or use their recipe on your website for a set amount of time.
  5. Give your influencers loose guidelines & creative freedom. Show some examples about what you want to see and then let the influencer run with it. You picked these influencers because of their audience, aesthetic and ability to create something authentic for your brand. Let them be themselves and create something authentic for their audience.
  6. Be clear about expectations. Make sure your influencer knows what you expect in terms of keywords in the captions (try not to over do it), features of your product discussed, hashtags, account tagging, URLs, etc. Also, be especially clear on the expectation of posting on certain dates.
  7. Amplify influencers’ posts. You will have gotten permission to use the influencers’ content how you wanted to in the negotiation phase. Make sure you share their content to your social channels, blog, website, etc. Remember, you can share the pieces of content more than once or twice!
Award-Winning Design Series: G-SHOCK Tactical Product Catalog

Award-Winning Design Series: G-SHOCK Tactical Product Catalog

About G-SHOCK: G-SHOCK watches are synonymous with toughness. It all started in 1981 with developer Kikuo Ibe’s dream of “creating a watch that never breaks.” Focusing on the “Triple 10” concept of 10-meter dropping shock resistance, 10-bar water resistance and...

Award-Winning Design Series: MetTel 5G Presentation

Award-Winning Design Series: MetTel 5G Presentation

MetTel is a leader in communications and digital transformation (DX) solutions. Founded in 1996, MetTel converges all communications over a proprietary network to give enterprises a single unified view and control point for all their communications and advanced network services. The company’s comprehensive portfolio of customer solutions can boost enterprise productivity, reduce costs and simplify operations.

Award-Winning Design Series: Maxell USA Website Redesign

Award-Winning Design Series: Maxell USA Website Redesign

Hoping to reengage their brand with a new generation, Maxell came to Vision looking for a bold, new and responsive website that would reflect their retro-modern style. The original “Blown Away” ad and the newly reimagined 2005 revival featuring new products and a fierce “Blown Away Woman” both resonated with our team and inspired us throughout this project.

Friday Five

Friday Five

Friday Five

Every week, we share our favorite links from across the world wide web. Find something you want us to see? Share it in the comments section!

Five things you cannot miss this week:

Add GIFs to your Facebook polls for an exciting new way to to engage.

Reddit has a lot to say about net neutrality.

Our guide to December “holidays” will help you build out your content calendar for the month.

Just how many characters, hashtags and emojis should you use in your social media?

Get ready for Social Media, 2018.

 

 

 

Image credit: pixelfit | Getty Images
Award-Winning Design Series: G-SHOCK Tactical Product Catalog

Award-Winning Design Series: G-SHOCK Tactical Product Catalog

About G-SHOCK: G-SHOCK watches are synonymous with toughness. It all started in 1981 with developer Kikuo Ibe’s dream of “creating a watch that never breaks.” Focusing on the “Triple 10” concept of 10-meter dropping shock resistance, 10-bar water resistance and...

Award-Winning Design Series: MetTel 5G Presentation

Award-Winning Design Series: MetTel 5G Presentation

MetTel is a leader in communications and digital transformation (DX) solutions. Founded in 1996, MetTel converges all communications over a proprietary network to give enterprises a single unified view and control point for all their communications and advanced network services. The company’s comprehensive portfolio of customer solutions can boost enterprise productivity, reduce costs and simplify operations.

Award-Winning Design Series: Maxell USA Website Redesign

Award-Winning Design Series: Maxell USA Website Redesign

Hoping to reengage their brand with a new generation, Maxell came to Vision looking for a bold, new and responsive website that would reflect their retro-modern style. The original “Blown Away” ad and the newly reimagined 2005 revival featuring new products and a fierce “Blown Away Woman” both resonated with our team and inspired us throughout this project.

December Holidays For Your Company’s Social Media

December Holidays For Your Company’s Social Media

December Holidays For Your Company’s Social Media

Ho Ho Ho, December is (almost) here, which means a brand new batch of fun “holidays” to leverage in your social calendar this month. Let’s jump right in!

 

Santa’s List Day – December 4th

It’s the day Santa checks that naughty or nice list – which list is your audience on? Be sure to ask them!

Recommended hashtags: #santaslistday #santaslist #checkingittwice

 

Letter Writing Day  – December 7th

What better day than this one to send out those Christmas cards! It’s a great day to send a “letter” via email to your customers, too.

 

National Cotton Candy Day  – December 7th

If your brand has anything to do with food, this could be a cute day to use! There are desserts and cocktails that feature cotton candy, so you could leverage those items. Or just give permission to your fans to eat cotton candy for no other reason than that it is National Cotton Candy Day!

Recommended hashtags: #cottoncandy #cottoncandyday

 

Pearl Harbor Day  – December 7th

If this is brand appropriate for you or relates to your staff or brand story in any way, it would be okay to acknowledge this day in social media. If not, we recommend staying away from it so as to not seem trite.

National Brownie Day  – December 8th

Share those brownie recipes! Do a round up, share on a dedicated Pinterest board, have a guest Pinner share a recipe, have a blogger create a recipe for you, ask for your audience’s favorite recipes and photos! You can even ask if your audience likes the ends for the crispiness or the middle for the chewiness.

Recommended hashtags: #brownieday #brownies #brownierecipe #baking

 

National Pastry Day – December 9th

Share an easy pastry recipe for Christmas morning, have a blogger create a recipe, curate a board on Pinterest, etc. You can leverage this day very similarly to National Brownie Day!

Recommended hashtags: #pastries #pastryday #baking #pastrydough #pastryrecipe

 

Channukah  – December 12th

Be sure to wish your audience celebrating the holiday a Happy Channukah!

Recommended hashtags: #happyhannukah #happychannukah #channukah #hannukah #8crazynights

 

Poinsettia Day  – December 12th

Ask your followers for pictures of how they decorate with poinsettias! If appropriate, remind your audience the plant can be poisonous to dogs.

Recommended hashtags: #poinsettia #christmasdecor #christmasdecorating #poinsettiaday

 

National Chocolate Covered Anything Day  – December 16th

What things are your audience’s favorite to cover with chocolate? Ask them! Run a promotion, share some ideas, put up some pretty photos, have a bunch of chocolate covered things in the kitchen for your staff and share a photo of it!

Recommended hashtags: #chocolatecovered #chocolate

 

National Bake Cookies Day  – December 18th

Leading up to this day, you can host a cookie recipe contest! If you own a store or bakery, have it be a contest to have the cookie produced in your business. You can also ask users to submit photos and recipes, pick your favorites, have the community vote on your top choices and then award the winner with a prize (a KitchenAid mixer, grocery gift card, a year’s supply of chocolate chips, etc.).

Recommended hashtags: #nationalbakecookiesday #bakecookies #[cookie emoji]

 

National Go Caroling Day – December 20th

This sounds like a day just primed for some great video content. Serenade your audience! Host a live caroling session with a local choir. Use the day to do something fun and different for your audience!

Recommended hashtags: #carolingday #gocaroling #singing #singinginthestreet #christmasmusic #christmassongs #holidaymusic

 

Winter Solstice  – December 21st

First day of winter! Who is excited? It’s also technically the shortest day of the year – from here on out, our sunlight will last longer!

Recommended hashtags: #firstdayofwinter #winteriscoming #wintersolstice #winter #bringonthesnow

 

Festivus  – December 23rd

Festivus – for the rest of us.

Recommended hashtags: #festivus #fortherestofus #festivusfortherestofus

 

National Egg Nog Day – December 24th

A perfect day to ask about holiday traditions and whether or not your audience enjoys egg nog. Nothing like a divisive drink to get that chatter going!

Recommended hashtags: #eggnogday #eggnog

 

Christmas Day  – December 25th

Be sure to wish your followers a Merry Christmas!

Recommended hashtags: #christmasday #merrychristmas #happychristmas #santa

 

Bacon Day  – December 30th

Oh, the possibilities are endless. Refer to National Brownie Day, Cotton Candy Day and Pastry Day for some thoughts!

Recommended hastags: #baconday #bacon #breakfast #givemeallthebacon

 

New Year’s Eve  – December 31st

Reflect on your year, share your brand’s biggest moments, etc. Wish your followers a Happy New Year!

Recommended hashtags: #newyearseve #happynewyear #happy2018 #goodbye2017 #peaceout2017 #welcome2018

Award-Winning Design Series: G-SHOCK Tactical Product Catalog

Award-Winning Design Series: G-SHOCK Tactical Product Catalog

About G-SHOCK: G-SHOCK watches are synonymous with toughness. It all started in 1981 with developer Kikuo Ibe’s dream of “creating a watch that never breaks.” Focusing on the “Triple 10” concept of 10-meter dropping shock resistance, 10-bar water resistance and...

Award-Winning Design Series: MetTel 5G Presentation

Award-Winning Design Series: MetTel 5G Presentation

MetTel is a leader in communications and digital transformation (DX) solutions. Founded in 1996, MetTel converges all communications over a proprietary network to give enterprises a single unified view and control point for all their communications and advanced network services. The company’s comprehensive portfolio of customer solutions can boost enterprise productivity, reduce costs and simplify operations.

Award-Winning Design Series: Maxell USA Website Redesign

Award-Winning Design Series: Maxell USA Website Redesign

Hoping to reengage their brand with a new generation, Maxell came to Vision looking for a bold, new and responsive website that would reflect their retro-modern style. The original “Blown Away” ad and the newly reimagined 2005 revival featuring new products and a fierce “Blown Away Woman” both resonated with our team and inspired us throughout this project.

Friday Five

Friday Five

Friday Five

Five things you cannot miss this week.

 

  1. Just how often should you be posting on social media?
  2. Sleep better with noise-cancelling ear plugs.
  3. Tweak your morning routine to be more successful.
  4. How has Thanksgiving dinner changed over the past 20 years?
  5. Use these hashtags for your Thanksgiving content.
Award-Winning Design Series: G-SHOCK Tactical Product Catalog

Award-Winning Design Series: G-SHOCK Tactical Product Catalog

About G-SHOCK: G-SHOCK watches are synonymous with toughness. It all started in 1981 with developer Kikuo Ibe’s dream of “creating a watch that never breaks.” Focusing on the “Triple 10” concept of 10-meter dropping shock resistance, 10-bar water resistance and...

Award-Winning Design Series: MetTel 5G Presentation

Award-Winning Design Series: MetTel 5G Presentation

MetTel is a leader in communications and digital transformation (DX) solutions. Founded in 1996, MetTel converges all communications over a proprietary network to give enterprises a single unified view and control point for all their communications and advanced network services. The company’s comprehensive portfolio of customer solutions can boost enterprise productivity, reduce costs and simplify operations.

Award-Winning Design Series: Maxell USA Website Redesign

Award-Winning Design Series: Maxell USA Website Redesign

Hoping to reengage their brand with a new generation, Maxell came to Vision looking for a bold, new and responsive website that would reflect their retro-modern style. The original “Blown Away” ad and the newly reimagined 2005 revival featuring new products and a fierce “Blown Away Woman” both resonated with our team and inspired us throughout this project.

Our Thanksgiving Week Content Strategy

Our Thanksgiving Week Content Strategy

Our Thanksgiving Week Content Strategy

Happy Thanksgiving Week! We thought it would be fun to share with you our social media content strategy for the week and tell you a little bit about how we are pulling it off!

What would be fun and interesting content for our audience and team?

This was the first question we asked when trying to come up with content this week. We settled on creating a Thanksgiving survey to hear what our employees loved about the holiday, what they ate, where they spent the day, what their traditions are. We sent this out 1 and a half weeks prior to the holiday to collect the data.

How do we share the info on social media?

Our team puts the “vision” in Vision Creative Group, so we turned to our designers with the data in hand and let them create some fun pieces of content that we could share throughout the week.

What is the cadence and in what order do we share the graphics?

In setting up our survey, we really tried to keep things in order. So, where are you spending Thanksgiving, then how do you prepare the turkey, then a question about sides, a question about dinner. We are going to be following the survey questions primarily since that order make the most sense to us.

Is there anything we can do with the data to bring it to life in the office?

Based on some of the results we thought it would be fun to bring in the staff’s favorite side and dessert! In the office today, we’re going to be enjoying stuffing (out of the box is the office preference) and pumpkin pie.

What can you learn from our strategy?

Plan ahead! The whole process to get to this week of content took over 2 weeks to come up with the survey, distribute, put together results and design content. While we are enjoying stuffing and pie today, you won’t see that photo until later in the week – case in point that you just have to plan ahead!

Where can you see all of our content for the week?

Check us out on FacebookTwitter and Instagram!

 

How are you celebrating Thanksgiving with your employees? What are you sharing on social media?

Award-Winning Design Series: G-SHOCK Tactical Product Catalog

Award-Winning Design Series: G-SHOCK Tactical Product Catalog

About G-SHOCK: G-SHOCK watches are synonymous with toughness. It all started in 1981 with developer Kikuo Ibe’s dream of “creating a watch that never breaks.” Focusing on the “Triple 10” concept of 10-meter dropping shock resistance, 10-bar water resistance and...

Award-Winning Design Series: MetTel 5G Presentation

Award-Winning Design Series: MetTel 5G Presentation

MetTel is a leader in communications and digital transformation (DX) solutions. Founded in 1996, MetTel converges all communications over a proprietary network to give enterprises a single unified view and control point for all their communications and advanced network services. The company’s comprehensive portfolio of customer solutions can boost enterprise productivity, reduce costs and simplify operations.

Award-Winning Design Series: Maxell USA Website Redesign

Award-Winning Design Series: Maxell USA Website Redesign

Hoping to reengage their brand with a new generation, Maxell came to Vision looking for a bold, new and responsive website that would reflect their retro-modern style. The original “Blown Away” ad and the newly reimagined 2005 revival featuring new products and a fierce “Blown Away Woman” both resonated with our team and inspired us throughout this project.

Providing Value In Your Social Media Content

Providing Value In Your Social Media Content

Providing Value In Your Social Media Content

“Content is king.”

The more social media grows into every facet of every day life, this now cliched phrase has never been more true. Content, is, in fact, king. But good content is queen, and the queen rules the house.

Whenever we talk to clients about content, we talk about it in terms of providing value. At Vision, we believe that providing value with your social media content means you are either educating your customer or entertaining them. Sometimes when you strike gold, you are able to do both.

Providing value with your social media content means you are either educating your customer or entertaining them.

Educating customers can mean:

  • Teaching your customers about your product
  • Introducing your product to a new audience
  • Sharing information about something related to your product/business (i.e., how to use a french press with your company’s coffee grinds)

Entertaining customers can mean:

  • Sharing a fun anecdote about your business/industry
  • Sharing behind the scenes looks at your factory, office, stores
  • Giving insight to the people who run your day to day business
  • Sharing articles, posts, videos related to your business

When coming up with your content for every month we challenge you to ask of every piece of content, “how does this provide value to my customer?”

Continually challenging yourself and/or your team to ensure every piece of content either educates or entertains will help you create more powerful content for your audiences.

Award-Winning Design Series: G-SHOCK Tactical Product Catalog

Award-Winning Design Series: G-SHOCK Tactical Product Catalog

About G-SHOCK: G-SHOCK watches are synonymous with toughness. It all started in 1981 with developer Kikuo Ibe’s dream of “creating a watch that never breaks.” Focusing on the “Triple 10” concept of 10-meter dropping shock resistance, 10-bar water resistance and...

Award-Winning Design Series: MetTel 5G Presentation

Award-Winning Design Series: MetTel 5G Presentation

MetTel is a leader in communications and digital transformation (DX) solutions. Founded in 1996, MetTel converges all communications over a proprietary network to give enterprises a single unified view and control point for all their communications and advanced network services. The company’s comprehensive portfolio of customer solutions can boost enterprise productivity, reduce costs and simplify operations.

Award-Winning Design Series: Maxell USA Website Redesign

Award-Winning Design Series: Maxell USA Website Redesign

Hoping to reengage their brand with a new generation, Maxell came to Vision looking for a bold, new and responsive website that would reflect their retro-modern style. The original “Blown Away” ad and the newly reimagined 2005 revival featuring new products and a fierce “Blown Away Woman” both resonated with our team and inspired us throughout this project.