How to utilise influencers to launch a product

If you’re looking to take a new product to market, there are various strategies you can implement. But, have you considered influencer marketing?

Along with a targeted marketing and sales campaign, which should include content marketing, social media, PPC and SEO, it’s worth adding influencers to the mix. However, before you reach out to them, it’s important to understand the difference between the different types of influencers, along with their associated costs.

Influencers & Audiences

Influencers use social platforms to provide their followers with an insight into their life, often promoting and recommending products they believe in.  However, these product mentions are often part of a sponsorship deal. Essentially, they’re advertising an item to their followers.

Once you’ve identified your target market and you have a marketing budget in mind, set aside some for influencers. You can then begin considering which influencers to reach out to.

International

General influencers with an international reach could include famous film stars or TV personalities, reality stars or YouTubers, Chefs etc. These influencers usually have hundreds of thousands, even millions of followers. PewDiePie, for example, is one of the biggest YouTube stars boasting 101 million subscribers and Kylie Jenner has over 149million followers. She reportedly makes an estimated $1 million per sponsored post on her Instagram!

So, if you want to reach a wide international audience, you’ve got to have plenty of cash available to spend.

National

You don’t have to spend a large amount of cash to have an impact and start making sales. Consider being more targeted. You can then begin reaching out to micro-influencers that your audience are likely to follow.

Micro-influencers tend to have around 5,000 followers up to 50,000 and they work hard to maintain these numbers, along with engagement. They usually focus on a specific theme or niche, which means you can work with them to create hyper-targeted campaigns that reach your ideal customers.

Micro-influencers have less of an international reach, but their followers will be much more engaged in their content and will trust them when they promote or review a product that is typical of what they’d usually use and mention. What’s more, they’ll be more reasonable cost-wise than if you were to work with celebrities. You can expect to pay on average £50-£70 per Instagram post, but more for a dedicated YouTube video.

Local

Nano influencers have between 1,000 and 5,000 followers with engagement rates of around 15%. They usually have a more localised following of friends and family. Their content will also have a specific theme or niche. In return for promotion they may simply ask for products to review and use as competitions to help increase their following and encourage further engagement.

Effective influencer campaigns

Engagement usually drops the more followers an influencer has, which is why it’s recommended to use a mixture of influencers if your budget will allow for it.

When identifying which influencers you want to work with, be sure to check the content they produce, ensure they’re consistent, publishing regular content on different platforms to maximise their reach. What’s more, if you’re looking to work with nano and micro influencers, they should be replying to comments from their followers.

Who is doing it well?

There are so many companies that have used influencers to great success. Including BoomBod, who use celebrities and micro-influencers to advertise their products. However, as we mentioned before, it’s important to work with influencers who would usually talk about similar products or work within the same space. YouTuber jasminevillegas received some negative feedback from her followers for her “unboxing” video.

Another company who has done extremely well is HiSmile, who used ads in Instagram Stories and influencer partnerships to reach 14 million 18 to 24-year-olds. In just four years, the company turned a $20,000 investment into a turnover of over $100m. Through working with Conor McGregor, as well as dozens of micro-influencers they’ve had a 90% increase in male customers. They’ve also worked with the likes of Kylie Jenner.

Sponsorship options

Influencers will usually offer a variety of packages to companies that approach them. It’s worth having a mixture of partnerships in place to allow you to monitor their effectiveness. Here’s what you can usually choose from:

• Simple mention
• Dedicated Instagram post
• Instagram story
• YouTube review
• Dedicated YouTube video
• Blog post

Once you’ve begun working with an influencer, consider whether it’s worth working with them on a regular basis. You may wish to have a set contract with them, allowing you to work with them to promote your products exclusively – To act as a brand ambassador.

Steps to take

Here’s how to get started:

1. Identify which influencers you want to work with. Ensure the themes they discuss and their values are aligned with your own.

2. Check they have engagement. Having followers is great, but you only want to work with influencers who have genuine comments, questions and feedback from real people. Quality is everything!

3. Get involved in the conversation. Follow your chosen influencers on social media and get involved with the conversation, commenting on their posts and replying to their followers to start building relationships with your target audience.  

4. Reach out to them with your proposition. Set out how you’d like to work with them and tell them about others you’re working with so you can create a circle of supporters who help one another grow by tagging each other in posts and engaging on one another’s social media.

5. Share their content on your social accounts. Once a n influencer has posted about your product, show support by sharing it, also engage with people who comment or ask questions about your products on their post. Show your willingness to create a fair and genuine partnership.

Any marketing campaign takes time and effort before you’re able to reap the rewards. However, partnering with the right influencers can really help your product take off!

This article was written by Richard LeCount, Founder and Managing Director of USBMakers – Specialist branded USB Stick and Power Bank supplier.