Influencer Marketing to Boost Sales and List Growth

Influencer marketing is growing ever more popular as consumers seek honest reviews from real people vs. just trusting what brands say.

It also works. 

• 81% of marketers who have tried influencer marketing found it effective. 
  
• Over 70% of consumers consult social media before making buying decisions.
• The average return on investment for every $1 spent on influencer marketing is $6.85 and rises as high as $11.33 for some sectors.
• 84% of consumers trust peer recommendations over brand advertising.

GET YOUR TOP 300 INFLUENCER LIST HERE

Everything you need to know about influencer marketing

Here is a breakdown of the different types of influencers, how to choose the best ones, what strategy to use for your business goals and budget, and finally how to put together your own list. 

To start let's define what an influencer is: Influencers are people who speak about a particular subject niche and have a following of 500 - millions on channels like Blogs, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest or Twitter and can help influence many people to purchase your product or service.  

Types of Influencers

1. Celebrities or Macro (over 1 million+ followers or subscribers): think your average Kardashian.
   
   Results: Engagement rates might not be high, but a blast of your content to over a million people will certainly make your brand more recognizable.  These influencers generally only associate with national brands or high-end products.
   
   Cost: tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars
   
   How to Reach: Very difficult although you can try unique video services like Cameo, you will still have to host the content on your own channels. 
   
   
2. Macro-influencers (around 100,000- 1 million followers or subscribers):
   
   Cost: According to recent reports, on average influencers on the following platforms will charge:
   Instagram: $1,000 per 100,000 followers
   Snapchat: Starts at $500 per campaign in 24 hours
   YouTube: Roughly $2,000 per 100,000 followers
   
   How to reach: Create a small list and email them to build a relationship, get prices and offer incentives.
   
   Results: Higher engagement rates  at 5-25% with more likelyhood of delivering conversions and sales
   
   
3. Micro-influencers (around 1k-100,000 followers or subscribers): Definitely the biggest influencer category that covers millions of blogs.
   
   Cost: Often will post for a free product (aim for 5k - 2.5k followers), affiliate links (you can use programs like affiliatly*), or pay $50 - $500
   
   How to Reach: Create a list of 300 or more about 10% will convert to work in exchange for a product or little compensation
   
   Results: With audiences in any niche you need, their fans are the most engaged, with engagement going above 25% in many cases.

Benefits to Micro-Influencers

For small companies and start-ups I definitely recommend targeting micro-influencers for many reasons:

• They are Cost effective
• Their posts helps establish trust - 92% of consumers consider micro-influencers to be more believable and credible than brand content
• They generates higher engagement, the smaller the amount of followers the higher the engagement rates but smaller the reach. 
• It boosts conversions

How to Find Influencers for Your Business

1. Know your Strategy

• Is your goal to promote a prelaunch and get email sign ups?
• Do you want to drive direct sales?
• So you want to improve your SEO with blog links?
• Do you want to invite them to be a part of your affiliate program?
• If you do not use an affiliate program can you give them coupon codes to track their sales? (recommended for a small group of affiliates of 20 or less)
• Do you want them to do an unboxing or authentic review?
• Will you offer the another box to do a giveaway to their audience?

2. Know your Budget

• Do you have a larger budget $500-2,000 and want to focus on just a few larger influencers with 10-100k followers?
• Do have a lower budget and want to send out many freebies or boxes in exchange for many posts (Influencers with 1-10k followers)? Then you will need a larger list since only 10-20% or so will be willing to do this. 
• Do you want to do a mix of the above?

2. Know your Audience 

• Who is your audience and brand persona.
• What age are they what are their interests, who do they follow?
• Where is your audience on social media. Are they most likely to engage on FB, Blogs, Pinterest, or are they younger and more likely to be on Instagram, Youtube or Twitter? You will want to have a varied list of influencers who specialize on may of these platform but focus mainly on where your audience is.  

3. Know Your Influencer 

• Are they are relevant in your niche?
• Do they have high reach (number of followers)?
• Do they have high engagement? Follower numbers don't mean much if their audience isn't engaging with their content. Check out likes and comments to make sure their community is active. 
• Do they share your values and are they a trustworthy source of information?
  
  

Where Can You Find the Right Influencers?

• Social Media: Social monitoring and listening tools like Hootsuite, Mention, or Simply Measured can help you find influencers talking about your industry and can track your brand mentions. 
  
• Hashtags: Search for #sponsored, #ad, #blogger, or #influencer on Instagram and check out the results. Also search for hashtags in your niche.
• Google Alerts: Set up an alert for words in your niche to find articles and people talking about it. I do this all the time for my own companies. 
• Or Just Hire a Professional 
  The number one way I recommend to get an influencer list is to hire a professional. Searching for 300 or more influencers can be incredibly time consuming when your talent is needed for higher level thinking in your business. At Subscription Box Branding we get to know your business and create the perfect list in days.

GET YOUR TOP 300 INFLUENCER LIST HERE

With The average return on investment for every $1 spent on influencer marketing is $6.85 and rises as high as $11.33 for some sectors it just makes sense to try this for your business today. 

When you purchase our 300 Influencer List you also get FREE bonus templates you can use to reach out and speak to influencers effectively so that you can promote your prelaunch or sales instantly.

How to Engage with Influencers?

Ok so you got your niche influencer list now what?
 Be friendly and create a great proposal including:

• Your business and what you do
• Flatter them with why you chose them
• What are your goals 
• What can you offer in return
• Next steps to get involved
• Don't be afraid to follow up, these people are busy
• Bulk email them using Yet Another Mail Merge - simple free tool that integrates with Google Docs and Gmail

Ok Now Get to It!

So now that you know what influencers are, how they can help you, how to find and reach out to them, you are ready to get started. Beyond boosting sales, influencer marketing can be so rewarding because you get to connect with people your niche community and get conversations started. Seeing your company have reach and influence is truly satisfying.

 

* Items with asterisks are affiliate links where I receive a commission for sales.