How‌ ‌to‌ ‌Prepare‌ ‌for‌ ‌Influencer‌ ‌Marketing‌ ‌in‌ 2022?

This article is contributed by Mr. Maddie Amrutkar, Founder, Glad U Came. Glad U Came is a leading PR & Influencer Marketing agency in Mumbai.

If you think it’s too early to plan Influencer Marketing strategies for 2021 then you’re wrong. The industry has grown leaps and bounds in the past few months and Influencer Marketing has played a huge role in it for businesses. With powerful tools like Instagram Reels, Shop, IGTV, Facebook pay and Instagram Live badges, social media has become a rich and engaging alternative tool to encounter the traditional form of media; to target consumers in a new manner.

Influencer Marketing is the backbone of this and has helped brands map out their strategies and get ahead of their curve. Since companies plan marketing campaigns months in advance, now is the right time to prepare a strategic and advanced Influencer Marketing approach for 2021!

In the past, brands would approach an influencer and pay them to create content promoting their products - new launches or talk about the service. The fees would vary as per the following range and engagement rate of the influencer. The influencer would then post the content and share it with their social media following – usually on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. The best part about Influencer marketing is that it can work for businesses of all shapes and sizes, whether you’re a startup looking to grow your awareness and following, or a big brand wanting to launch a new range or drive sales of a specific product. Isn’t that amazing? Considering the above, here’s how one can prepare for Influencer Marketing in 2022.

Know Your Ultimate Goal
Create a Breakthrough Influencer Marketing Plan
Choose the Right Influencers
Select the Right Social Media Platform
Use the Art of Storytelling
Influencer/ Celebrity Gifting Is the New Thing
Engagement and Analytics

Know Your Ultimate Goal

Well, how will you aim if you have no goal to achieve? Your goal will be the driving force of your Influencer Marketing strategy. You need to know the 5 Whys behind your actions before beginning. There are certain crucial things one needs to keep in mind before setting your goals:

• Be specific
• Set attainable goals
• Make sure that your goals are measurable

Create a Breakthrough Influencer Marketing Plan

The success of an Influencer Marketing plan relies on how well strategies are planned and executed.  The strategies can rapidly build brand awareness by generating premium content for the customers it’s designed to engage in. Executing a complete influencer marketing strategy that boosts your brand exposure and connects with your target audience sets the base of a successful plan.

Choose the Right Influencers

When there are too many creative influencers out there, it becomes difficult to choose the best one for your campaign. There could be various ways to choose influencers on the basis of their genre, engagement, content and lots more. The ideal way is to see which influencer is the best in their own niche and whether or not that fits well with your brand.

Select the Right Social Media Platform

Being on every social media platform is not necessary. What matters is to create an impact on the ones you are present. Your presence is what counts rather than being on all social media platforms. Putting out substandard content will only make things worse for you. Instead, research and plan your social media presence that aligns with your goals and appeals to your target audience. Focus on the platforms that are preferred by your targeted demographic.

Use the Art of Storytelling

It is the story that sells, not the product! Consumers are always driven by good and impactful stories. It is the emotional attachment that the brand builds with its audience that counts. They inspire ideas and create attachments.

Influencer/ Celebrity Gifting Is the New Thing

Influencer/ celebrity gifting can be one of the most effective ways to gain exposure for a client, particularly when they need to make an immediate impact. Although it’s not an easy service that can be accomplished effortlessly. Researching out to the right bloggers can take hours, and often your top choices don’t respond right away. You can go back and forth a dozen times just to finalize delivery details, and follow up for weeks after to ensure the post is published. Despite this, the good part is that influencer/ celebrity gifting is a super cool and effective way to reach out to your audience through top-notch celebrities and influencers.

Engagement and Analytics

Analytics help you understand your audience and learn what generates more traffic. Without them, you can’t make accurate sales forecasts and perfect your products. You can effectively use social media data to drive performance and analytics must be focused on. Review the analytics, and give attention to the stats like follower growth, page views, number of posts, likes, shares, impressions, clicks, etc.