Influencer marketing is on it’s way to becoming a 15 billion dollar industry by 2022. In fact, 63% of marketers intend to increase their influencer budget this year. Right now, more than 90% of companies that  use influencer marketing   reported positive results on the effectiveness of these partnerships in for awareness, growth and sales. Some reports suggest that influencer marketing has the single best return on investment in the marketing industry! If you’re not currently leveraging the power of influencers, not only are you missing out on huge opportunities for brand growth, but you might also be losing valuable market share to your competitors. 

Find The Right Partners

While Instagram can sometimes feel like a numbers game, it’s more important to find the right partners rather than the ones with the largest following. When you’re thinking about who to partner with, make sure that they align with your target audience, your brand values and that they have an engaged audience. 

Value Authenticity Over Perfection

While audiences previously flocked to influencers to live vicariously through their curated and seemingly perfect lives, users are now more engaged with authentic, in-the-moment content. While influencers can absolutely create stunning brand content for you, know that it’s ok for some of it to be less polished and more real- that’s what their audience will respond to. Influencers know their community and engage with them on a deeper level, so while you may have a campaign brief ready to go, be open to hearing their ideas and knowledge of how they connect with their audience best- it will ultimately provide you with the most value! 

Develop Long-Term Partnerships

While one-off sponsored posts might be what comes to mind when it comes to influencer campaigns, it’s important to prioritize quality over quantity. Influencers will become true brand partners in 2021, and the focus should be on investing more in long term partnerships. Seeing an influencer continuously integrate your brand into their life will help build trust from their audience and ultimately lead to their purchase decisions. Consumers have become more savvy to one-off partnerships and are responding with “ad blindness”. Longer term, more meaningful partnerships will be what truly moves the needle for your brand. By aligning your brand with select influencers for a longer term, you’re more likely to tap into their audience’s buying power. 

Ready to start building your influencer marketing strategy? Contact us to learn more about how we can help you!