If you’re not utilizing influencer marketing as part of your digital strategy, you’re missing out on one of the most valuable marketing opportunities out there today. Nearly 84% of marketers say they plan to implement at least one influencer campaign in the next twelve months, and for good reason. Influencers have the reach and the sway to raise brand awareness and drive brand loyalty in ways with which traditional methods simply can’t compete. Here’s a basic breakdown of what you need to know about influencer marketing and how to get started.

What it is (and what it’s not).

The internet offers varying definitions of the term influencer marketing, but I find a definition from the influencer relationships management company Traackr to be the most comprehensive and concise: They define influencer marketing a s“the process of identifying, researching, engaging, and supporting the people who create high-impact conversations with customers about your brand, products, or services.” Essentially, influencer marketing is a strategy by which a brand  (most often) pays or otherwise compensates a key culture or thought leader in a target niche to create and relate content promoting certain products or services.

Influencer marketing generally incorporates two main, intertwining components: social media and content. According to influencer marketing company TapInfluence, “Many influencer campaigns have some sort of social media component, whereby influencers are expected to spread the word through their personal social channels.” This often includes “a content element in which either you create content for the influencers, or they create the content themselves.” The nature of this content component is one of the main factors differentiating an influencer campaign from, for example, a celebrity endorsement. With celebrity endorsements, it is presumed that the brand being endorsed has created the content -- the article, advertisement, commercial -- in which the celebrity appears. Conversely, in an influencer campaign, “the influencer, not the brand, is perceived to be the creator of the entire message.” Additionally, while any celebrity can recite a given script, influencers are almost always people who are considered experts or leaders in their field or niche, which is only sometimes the case with celebrity endorsements.

Influencer marketing is also not the same as advocate marketing, which involves having existing customers provide testimonials or reviews about the brand and its products or services. Influencers, who are almost always paid or otherwise compensated, aren’t necessarily existing brand loyalists or even customers of the brand; they are hired because of their influence they already exert over a particular audience.

Why you should incorporate influencer campaigns into your current marketing strategy.

Marketers use influencers to raise brand awareness and increase sales by placing their product or service in front of an audience that (a) is already interested in the type of product or service the brand offers, and (b) already paying attention to the person who is talking about the brand. Even beyond that, though, “[c]ontent created for [influencer] campaigns contributes to overall SEO, benefits other marketing efforts through redistribution, and continues to inspire sales.”

Target Audience. An effective influencer has direct access to consumers who are already interested in the type of product or service your brand offers. They engage with their followers on a regular basis, and they know their audience well. “In many cases,” according to blogging platform Bloglovin, “influencers have spent years growing their readership. They know what products and types of content their audiences enjoy best.” This eliminates a need to track down and seek out members of your target niche, and dissolves the concern that your message may not be reaching its intended audience.

Trust.  Through their continuous engagement with followers, influencers have built up a level of trust and loyalty in their audience that is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve with traditional advertising methods. Need proof? A recent study by Twitter found that:

• 49% of consumers seek purchase guidance from social media influencers.
• 20% said that a Tweet from an influencers inspired them to share their own product recommendation.
• Nearly 40% said they had made a purchase as a direct result (a direct result!) of an influencer.

These numbers are huge, and they simply can’t be ignored in today’s digital marketing landscape.

How to get started.

Now that you know you need to invest time and money in influencer marketing, let’s talk about some basic steps to help you get started.

1.  Identify your target audience.

You first need to identify which influencers are right for your brand and marketing goals. Christina Newberry, from social media management platform Hootsuite, recommends considering the “three Rs” -- relevance, reach, and resonance.

• Relevance.  Fairly self-explanatory. Your best influencers will be ones whose primary audience is focused on and interested in the the kinds of things you’re offering. For example, if I’m an aspiring pop singer, I’d want to seek out established pop singers with a strong following (think Taylor Swift). On a smaller scale, if I’m a car dealer, I might want to partner with a local racecar driver with a loyal following in the community.
• Reach. Reach refers to how many people you reach with your campaign. The natural inclination here is to think that the more followers an influencer has, the more successful the campaign will be. But that’s not necessarily the case. In fact, Markerly, an influencer marketing platform, recently conducted a survey of more than two million social media influencers, and found that “partnering with ‘micro-influencers’” -- in particular, influencers with between 10,000 and 100,000 followers -- “can provide much better ROI than trying to snag a big celebrity.”
• Resonance.  Newberry describes resonance as “the potential level of engagement the influencer can create with an audience that’s valuable and relevant to your brand.” A prime example of this is the partnership between Lynda.com and YouTube personality Jack Douglass and his channel called jacksfilms. Lynda, a site that offers online courses in business, technology, and creative skills taught by industry experts, enlisted Jack to promote its site to his nearly three million subscribers. Jack challenged his followers to try a Lynda course for free, use the skills they learned to create videos, objects, songs, and the like, and then submit their creations to be featured in one of his videos. He provided the link for Lynda below his videos, and the submissions came rolling in -- a prime example of strong resonance in an influencer campaign.

2.   Build a Relationship.

Once you’ve selected several potential influencers, it’s time to start building relationships with them. As with any relationship, you should be sure to take things slowly; you don’t propose to someone on a first date, and you don’t ask someone to promote you before you’ve created value for them. Start by making some quality, value-evidence (not self-promotive!) posts and comments on their pages, and then, eventually reach out. Scott Ludwig, writing for content marketing platform Skyword, emphasizes the importance of showing them that “you’re a person and that you’re actually interested in their business objectives before ever talking shop.” And Bob Pearson, president of the W20 group and the brains behind J.K. Rowling’s massive marketing success, boils it down to this: “It’s really old-fashioned relationship-building applied to the new ways of doing things.”

Now that you’ve established a relationship, reached out, and entered into the necessary agreements with your influencers, effective and respectful communication is key. You should be constantly empowering your influencers with material that is relevant to your mutual objectives and that can help them create content relating to your brand. Ludwig suggests providing them with a steady flow of quality sources and information, including items such as articles, videos, e-Books, white papers, press releases, event tickets, and interviews with experts and industry leaders. It’s also important (again, as in any relationship) to be respectful. Remain open to your influencers’ opinions and suggestions -- after all, they know their audience better than anyone.

3. Measure Your Results.

Finally, measure the results of your efforts. You may want to invest in an influencer tracking and program management platform to help you track things like hashtags, mentions, views, and engagement, since measuring these can be tricky. Tracking and measuring the results of your influencer campaigns is no different, and no less important, than measuring the results of your other marketing efforts: monitor, measure, and change or adjust as needed.

Remember, urges Newberry, “that influencer marketing is one of the hottest marketing trends right now, but you still need to do your research, ensure your efforts align with your overall marketing strategy, and test and track your results to improve performance[.]”