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We know many will agree with us when we say that PR relies heavily on word of mouth. We can do as much selling as we want, but at the end of the day if we are recommended something by a reliable source, that will most probably be the option we will opt for.
This thought process is exactly what influencer marketing is based on. For this reason, the importance of influencer marketing in a PR strategy should never be underestimated, and that is why we are going to cover some of the basics of influencer marketing that anyone working in the PR industry should know about.
Why should you consider influencer marketing as part of an effective PR strategy?
Influencers have a lot of power on social media, and when used in the right way, they can be incredibly beneficial for your company’s PR strategy.
- Influencer marketing offers an authoritative voice from experts in the industry that enables positive branding. 61% of consumers trust influencers’ recommendations as those people have worked to build a trustworthy and reliable relationship with their audience. Influencer marketing capitalises on those audiences, allowing influencers to testify about your brand to them.
- When tapping into an influencer’s audience, you are opening your company up to a much larger audience than their own following alone. Influencers tend to command themselves to fairly large audiences, so tap into those audiences and make the most of the extra exposure! Not only that, but by selecting the right influencer you can tap into an audience that reflects the demographics and interests of your own.
- When influencer marketing is incorporated into your PR strategy, influencers become powerful advocates for your company and can craft attention-grabbing content. This will increase engagement within your target audience both in terms of rate and quality.
- All of these benefits will work together to increase your overall ROI. In fact, a 2019 report showed that on average a business will make $5.20 per $1 spent on influencer marketing.
Ok, so now you understand why influencer marketing is such an important element to incorporate into your PR strategy. However, you might now be asking yourself where to start with this new strategy? Well, here are some basics of influencer marketing to help you on your way to developing your strategy:
- There are four types of influencers you could consider:
- Mega influencers (1M+ followers)
- Macro-influencers (100k-1M followers)
- Micro-influencers (10k-100k followers)
- Nano-influencers (<10k followers)
- Ensure you define clear goals and KPIs. It is important to gain an understanding for why you are doing influencer marketing in the first place and be clear about the purpose and goals of your campaign. A few goals you can set in advance include:
- Decide which social platform(s) you want to market on
- Choose the right influencer for your company
- Define the KPIs that will indicate a successful campaign
- Set and communicate clear goals with everyone involved
- Establish clear expectations to hold influencers accountable
- When selecting your influencer(s), prioritise engagement over follower count. An influencer might have a very large follower base, but that doesn’t always translate to engagement. Do your homework and look into your influencer’s engagement metrics, including comments and interactions, to gauge whether they are the right fit for the job. Some key areas to investigate when looking into influencers include:
- Audience demographics
- Interactions, voice and content
- Authenticity and influence
- Experience with branded content
- Ensure you fully brief your selected influencer, setting clear expectations and guidelines upfront. Following that, be sure not to restrict their creativity. You selected that influencer for a reason, and their audience follows them for a reason. They have to be allowed to remain themselves and have some creative freedom and control over the end product.
- Finally, it is important to establish your influencer outreach strategy. How are you going to find the right influencers, and how are you going to contact them? This is an example of where a PR agency such as Origin Communications can help deliver your influencer marketing PR strategy.
We know that including influencer marketing in your PR strategy can be daunting, and you often don’t know where to start. If you are looking to explore this option further, get in touch to see how we can work with you to establish an influencer marketing strategy for your business.
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