Influencer marketing is a marketing strategy model that relies on the ability of certain figures to be able to generate positive word-of-mouth towards brands and products, thus influencing their purchasing decisions.
In the 1990s, such activity was mostly entrusted to testimonials, often celebrities, chosen by companies; today, however, as a result of the growing popularity of social networks, a large number of opinion leaders, bloggers, have made their way into the marketplace, exploiting their visibility and channels to significantly affect a brand’s brand awareness.
Influencer Marketing has thus fully entered the marketing strategies of companies, which, increasingly, invest in this model in order, not only to increase and strengthen brand awareness, but also to consolidate brand reputation in certain market niches.
While the benefits of an Influencer Marketing strategy are relevant to a brand, especially an emerging one, it is not so obvious to plan a successful strategy.
Here, then, are some important steps to follow:
- choose a main channel in which to identify influencers of interest, in line with the company’s image and positioning, but above all with the target audience and buyer personas;
- define a precise budget in order to identify influencer profiles in line with this;
- provide the chosen influencer with a precise brief of the activities with special attention not only to the selected products but also to the tone of voice of the communication, hashtags and mentions to be used;
- define a set of goals and objectives to be achieved, so that the activity can be measurable and thus understand the ROI;
- evaluate the influencer’s activity and analyse the outcomes in detail so that any corrective actions can be taken.
