Leveraging the popularity of public figures is a time-honored marketing strategy. However, the rise of ecommerce as an industry and social media as a platform has fundamentally changed the world of marketing.
Where celebrity endorsements were once exclusively big-ticket items, niche or “microcelebrities” have created new forms of thought leadership that can be leveraged by ecommerce sites of all sizes.
Internet influencers—once the butt of jokes anywhere outside their inner circle—have created a multi-billion-dollar global industry utilized by the world’s biggest brands.
So, why do influencers have so much market leverage, and how can you benefit?
Let’s discuss!
Understanding Influencer Marketing in Ecommerce
Since the influencer marketing landscape has shifted notably in recent years, let’s start with a quick recap of the market and how it all works.
What’s an Influencer?
Influencers are people who gain significant social media followings with a focus on community-building and engagement. They are a subcategory of “content creators,” or people who produce and share media on digital platforms.
While, the broader content creator industry tends to focus more of their resources on the media they produce, influencers are the focal point of their content. They prioritize interaction and engagement with their followers, making their personal brand and relationship with their audience central to their influence.
For example, a content creator in the travel niche might produce a blog or photo series about their destinations. A travel industry influencer would share content about their experiences with the destinations they visit.
This difference parallels their audiences, too. Someone who follows a content creator is most interested in the value their media produces (e.g., entertainment, education, etc.), while someone who follows an influencer account is most interested in the host’s opinions, community and topic of interest.
The relationship between influencing and content creation is a spectrum rather than a binary. It all depends on how much the creator personally engages with their followers.
Benefits of Influencer Marketing for Ecommerce
Ecommerce companies have taken increasing notice of influencers. If you’ve ever watched a sponsored product review or other form of promotional user-generated content (UGC), you’ve already seen this trend in action.
Global ecommerce brands partner with influencers to stay relevant, while up-and-comers use them to establish and expand their market presence.
Influencer marketing works because it's social proof in action.
According to Nielsen, "ninety-two percent of consumers say they trust 'earned media,' such as word of mouth and recommendations from friends and family, above all other forms of advertising."
Because influencers take a central role in their content, their followers build a parasocial relationship with them over time. As a result, the influencer’s opinions become as moving as those of a friend or family member.
Effective Strategies for Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing can be relatively simple and inexpensive to implement. Those with the biggest audiences are the most difficult and expensive to recruit, but you can get measurable results from relatively small communities.
1. Identifying Your Target Audience
Before you reach out to influencers, identify who your target audience is. While there may be several buyer personas that benefit from your product or service, it’s best to choose one.
Describe who your target is and be specific. This exercise will help you narrow down the list of influencers you want to reach out to.
Once you determine your target audience, it’s time to get inside their head. Figure out what they read, listen to, watch and think about on a daily basis.
Imagine yourself as the customer. What type of content captures your interest? Where do you typically find this content? Do you turn to Instagram for fashion tips or YouTube for beauty tutorials and cooking guides?
Think about where you would look for inspiration, and which platforms influencers would use to reach you.
2. Identifying the Right Influencers
Explore social media channels and search for accounts that post frequently about interests related to your brand.
For the best results, reach out to influencers with a substantial but not enormous following. Around 2.5–25 thousand followers is a good starting point for your first influencer marketing campaign.
Make sure their content and overall delivery align with your brand values. Who your brand associates with is a significant part of its public perception.
During your search, be sure to record influencers’ names, emails and websites to track your efforts. Aim to collect information for as many qualified influencers as possible.
Not everyone will be receptive to your offer, so finding someone open to collaborating may take many tries. The more you reach out to, the better.
3. Finding Prospective Influencers by Platform
Here are some great places to start looking for ecommerce influencers and tips on searching for them.
Note: Besides using the most popular social platforms (YouTube, Meta, etc.), look for niche platforms for even more direct audience access.
For example, one of our clients wanted to reach out to gamers, so we used Twitch—the world’s leading gamer community—to find influencers with the highest impact in that market.
Meta (Facebook & Instagram)
Identify popular and relevant hashtags: Explore topics your target audience would search for and come up with a list of hashtags. Search relevant terms to get a list of photos posted by various users.
Engage with influencer content: Once you’ve found a few accounts with interesting content that seems like a good fit, engage with them.
Follow, like and comment on their newer posts. This gives them a chance to become familiar with your brand before you reach out to pitch a collaboration.
Don't spam them with constant comments and requests. One or two interactions per week are enough to build rapport.
YouTube
Search for topics your audience would be interested in: Your searches can be a little more specific on YouTube than on Meta platforms.
Feel free to search longer keywords or phrases. This approach will help you find influencers with content on more specific topics that connect with your brand.
Read the comments: It's important to watch prospective collaborators’ videos and read their comments sections. Comments help reveal if the influencer’s followers match your target audience.
Comment sections are also effective for gauging how controversial a figure is, especially if you notice an unusual amount of hate or criticism.
Good Old Google
Search for up-and-coming bloggers in your area: Bloggers are more likely to collaborate if they feel personally connected to your brand.
Localizing your search is a good way to increase your odds of successful outreach. For example, add “Orange County” into your search terms if your company is based in Orange County.
Set Google alerts that notify you when people are talking about your brand: Set up Google alerts to get notifications when people mention or post about your brand. If the attention came from someone who might be a good fit for your brand, reach out promptly!
4. Building Authentic Partnerships
Once you have a list of prospective influencer partners who align with your brand and target audience (and warmed up the relationship by “liking” and commenting on some of their content), it’s time to connect!
Some influencers have specific contact information for business communications. If not, you can send them a private direct message (DM) to start the conversation.
Remember that influencers may receive similar messages every day. Keep it short and sweet.
Consider using the following template:
- Brief introduction: Share your name and position within your organization in one sentence.
- Comment or compliment: Show them you’ve watched their content with a short, positive comment.
- Most influencers prefer to work with brands that care about their content.
- Quick description of collaboration: In two to three sentences, outline the team-up you have in mind, including:
- Basic info on your brand, product or service
- Your reason for choosing the influencer as a potential partner
- The type of collaboration you’d like to engage in, if you have a preference
- Farewell: Make sure to leave the option open for the influencer to share their input, ideas and preferences for working with others.
This outline sets a friendly, open and professional tone to kick off a positive experience. Your collaboration will be more enjoyable and effective for everyone if both parties treat each other as creative equals rather than business assets.
5. Developing Compelling Campaigns
The nature of your influencer marketing campaign can vary widely depending on your specialty (and the influencer’s). Here are some of the most popular forms of influencer marketing:
- Unboxing and reaction content: Sometimes the best way to market with an influencer is to send them a regularly packaged product.
- Unboxing and initial reaction videos introduce and teach their viewers the basics of your product while allowing the influencer to inject plenty of their own personality.
- Unboxing and initial reaction videos introduce and teach their viewers the basics of your product while allowing the influencer to inject plenty of their own personality.
- Product demos and reviews: Giving influencers a chance to try your product or service is a highly interactive way for them to produce content and engage your target audience.
- User-generated content: Though this term can include the content described above, businesses pay creators to make UGC. The aforementioned content types could be made just by giving away a free product or service demo.
- This arrangement gives brands more say in the content’s messaging, but inherently comes at a higher cost.
Make sure to get the influencer’s input on what type of content their audience is most interested in.
Provide as much creative freedom as possible. They know their followers’ preferences better than anyone and can engage them more effectively with minimal restrictions.
Optimizing Influencer Marketing Strategies
As with most things in business, influencer marketing isn’t just about getting good results, but the best results. Here’s how to do it.
Leverage Data and Analytics
Tracking your campaigns’ progress is the best way to compare different approaches and find areas for improvement. At minimum, you should know how many visitors and sales you’re getting from any given campaign.
You may find some strategies are more effective than others, or that some influencer communities are particularly receptive to your product.
Remember not to make hasty assumptions from early data. It often takes many content iterations over a lot of influencer channels to hone in on what works best.
When you find a content format or influencer consistently delivering above-average results, double down on that strategy.
Integrate Influencer Marketing with Other Channels
Designing your influencer collaboration to span multiple channels can boost the benefits for both parties. This process can be as simple as reposting their content about your product or as involved as a long-term sponsorship.
Leverage your website and social media to announce and promote your collaboration. The more you can spread the word, the more mileage you’ll get from your efforts.
As always, consult with your influencer to get their input on how to best promote your collab. They’re used to thinking of communication strategy all the time, so they’re sure to have insights on how to improve the content’s reach.
However, carefully consider your relationship with the influencer to decide how closely to integrate them into your broader messaging. Making someone a poster child for your brand can backfire if their other content is at odds with your image.
You can probably think of times when companies have publicly cut ties with celebrities in the wake of controversy. Choose who your brand associates with wisely.
Measuring Success in Influencer Marketing
Measuring the effectiveness of influencer marketing efforts is trickier than using your owned media channels.
In most cases, the influencer posts the promotional content. This approach is the best way to make sure you reach their audience. However, it also puts the publishing platform and analytics in someone else’s hands.
So, how do you track the results of influencer marketing?
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in Influencer Marketing
Although social media platforms don't offer tracking for this KPI, promo codes are still a way to see if your influencers are changing your bottom line.
Don't just send your influencers a free product and leave the rest up to chance! Create a unique promo code for them to publish or mention in their content. This way, you can see exactly how many sales they generate and update your strategy accordingly.
Alternatively, you can make individualized website landing pages for each influencer you work with. This strategy unlocks all the analytics you know and love on your ecommerce site.
Ensure that, aside from information directly about the influencer, all other features of the landing pages are identical. Keeping a level playing field ensures you only measure their direct influence.
Make sure to measure the following to track the success of each campaign (or find the comprehensive list of ecommerce KPIs here):
- CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost): The cost associated with acquiring a new customer, calculated by dividing total acquisition costs by the number of new customers.
- ROI (Return on Investment): A metric comparing the profitability of investments or marketing activities, calculated by dividing net profit by total cost and expressing it as a percentage.
- MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio): A ratio measuring the efficiency of revenue generated per marketing dollar spent, calculated as total marketing spend divided by total revenue.
Note: Make sure to enable user tracking to map your new visitors' behaviors on your website!
Mastering Influencer Marketing
Once you dive in, influencer marketing is an exciting world that can enhance and expand your brand.
Above all, these collaborations are about partnership. When both sides work together, the result is more than the sum of their efforts.
Moreover, influencers are quickly becoming a staple in marketing strategy. As the world shifts ever deeper toward platforms, influencers are key stakeholders in the economy of user attention.
I hope this guide has empowered you to venture out and find influencers who resonate with your brand! If you need guidance or insights, Human specializes in creating comprehensive marketing strategies. We can help you figure out how influencer marketing fits into your overall approach. Reach out and start a conversation.
