How to Use Influencer Marketing to Boost Your Brand Awareness and Credibility 1.0

Learn How to Use Influencer Marketing to Boost Your Brand Awareness Today!

Introduction

Influencer marketing is a form of marketing that leverages the power and influence of social media personalities, also known as influencers, to promote a brand, product, or service to their followers. Influencer marketing can help brands increase their visibility, reach, and engagement with their target audience, as well as build trust, loyalty, and credibility.

According to Influencer Marketing Hub’s Benchmark Report¹, the influencer marketing industry is projected to grow by $16.4 billion in 2023, as more brands are investing in this strategy to achieve their marketing goals. However, influencer marketing is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It requires a clear understanding of your objectives, your audience, your influencers, and your metrics.

In this article, we will guide you through the steps of using influencer marketing to boost your brand awareness and credibility. We will also provide you with some tips and examples to help you along the way.

Step 1: Define your influencer marketing goals

The first step of using influencer marketing is to define your influencer marketing goals. Your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). They should also align with your overall marketing objectives and vision.

One of the most common and effective goals for influencer marketing is to increase brand awareness. Brand awareness is a measure of how familiar your target audience is with your brand and how well they recall it when prompted. Brand awareness is often the first step in achieving performance-marketing goals such as generating leads, conversions, or sales.

Another common and effective goal for influencer marketing is to increase brand credibility. Brand credibility is a measure of how trustworthy, reliable, and authoritative your brand is perceived by your target audience. Brand credibility can influence your audience’s attitude, behavior, and loyalty toward your brand.

Some examples of influencer marketing goals are:

Increase website traffic by 50% in the next six months
Increase social media followers by 10% in the next quarter
Increase brand mentions by 20% in the next month
Increase customer reviews by 15% in the next week

To define your influencer marketing goals, you can use tools such as:

Google Analytics: A tool that tracks and reports website traffic, conversions, and other metrics.
Sprout Social: A tool that manages and analyzes social media performance, engagement, and insights.
Mention: A tool that monitors and measures online mentions of your brand, products, or keywords.
Trustpilot: A tool that collects and displays customer reviews and ratings for your brand or products.

Step 2: Identify your target audience

The second step of using influencer marketing is to identify your target audience. Your target audience is the group of people who are most likely to be interested in your brand, products, or services, and who you want to reach and influence with your influencer marketing efforts.

To identify your target audience, you need to create buyer personas. Buyer personas are semi-fictional representations of your ideal customers based on data and research. They include demographic, psychographic, behavioral, and motivational characteristics that help you understand their needs, preferences, I will continue the article as follows:

Challenges: The pain points or problems that your persona faces.
Goals: The desired outcomes or solutions that your persona seeks.
Motivations: The reasons or drivers that influence your persona’s decisions.
Behaviors: The actions or habits that your persona exhibits.
Sources: The channels or platforms that your persona uses to find information or entertainment.

To create buyer personas, you can use tools such as:

HubSpot Make My Persona: A tool that guides you through the process of creating buyer personas using templates and questions.
Xtensio User Persona Creator: A tool that helps you create user personas using customizable modules and drag-and-drop features.
SurveyMonkey Audience: A tool that helps you conduct market research surveys to collect data and insights from your target audience.

Step 3: Find and select your influencers

The third step of using influencer marketing is to find and select your influencers. Your influencers are the social media personalities who have the ability and authority to influence the opinions and behaviors of your target audience. You need to find and select influencers who are relevant, credible, and engaging for your brand, products, or services.

To find and select your influencers, you need to consider the following criteria:

Relevance: The degree of alignment between your brand, products, or services and the influencer’s niche, content, and audience. You need to find and select influencers who share similar values, interests, and goals with your brand, and who create content that is related to your industry, category, or topic.
Credibility: The degree of trustworthiness, reliability, and authority that the influencer has in their niche, content, and audience. You need to find and select influencers who have a good reputation, expertise, and experience in their field, and who provide accurate, honest, and valuable information to their followers.
Engagement: The degree of interaction, involvement, and loyalty that the influencer has with their niche, content, and audience. You need to find and select influencers who have a high level of engagement with their followers, such as likes, comments, shares, views, or clicks. You also need to consider the quality and relevance of the engagement, not just the quantity.

To find and select your influencers, you can use tools such as:

BuzzSumo: A tool that helps you discover and analyze influencers based on their content performance, reach, authority, and engagement.
Upfluence: A tool that helps you identify and contact influencers based on their profile data, social media metrics, audience demographics, and content quality.
AspireIQ: A tool that helps you manage and optimize your influencer marketing campaigns by finding, vetting, collaborating with, and measuring the impact of influencers.

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Step 4: Create and execute your influencer marketing campaign

The fourth step of using influencer marketing is to create and execute your influencer marketing campaign. This is the stage where you put your plan into action and collaborate with your influencers to create and distribute content that promotes your brand, products, or services to their followers.

To create and execute your influencer marketing campaign, you need to consider the following elements:

Content: The type, format, and style of content that you and your influencers will create and share. You need to create content that is relevant, valuable, and engaging for your target audience, as well as consistent with your brand identity and message. You also need to consider the best content formats for each platform, such as blog posts, videos, podcasts, or stories.
Distribution: The channels, platforms, and networks that you and your influencers will use to distribute your content. You need to distribute your content on the platforms where your target audience is most active and receptive, such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, or Twitter. You also need to consider the best distribution strategies for each platform, such as hashtags, captions, tags, or links.
Compensation: The amount and method of payment that you will offer to your influencers for their collaboration. You need to compensate your influencers fairly and transparently, based on their reach, engagement, quality, and impact. You also need to consider the best compensation methods for each influencer, such as cash, free products, discounts, or commissions.

To create and execute your influencer marketing campaign, you can use tools such as:

Loomly: A tool that helps you create, manage, and schedule your social media content and campaigns.
Influsoft: A tool that helps you track and measure the performance and ROI of your influencer marketing campaigns.
Grin: A tool that helps you automate and streamline your influencer marketing workflow by finding, contacting, contracting, paying, and managing influencers.

Step 5: Evaluate and optimize your influencer marketing campaign

The fifth step of using influencer marketing is to evaluate and optimize your influencer marketing campaign. This is the stage where you measure the results and outcomes of your campaign and compare them with your goals. You also identify what worked well, what did not work well, and what can be improved or optimized.

To evaluate and optimize your influencer marketing campaign, you need to consider the following metrics:

Reach: The number of people who saw or were exposed to your content or campaign.

Engagement: The number or percentage of people who interacted with your content or campaign, such as likes, I will continue the article as follows:

Engagement: The number or percentage of people who interacted with your content or campaign, such as likes, comments, shares, views, or clicks. You need to measure the engagement rate of your content or campaign, which is the ratio of engagement to reach. You also need to measure the quality and relevance of the engagement, not just the quantity.
Awareness: The number or percentage of people who became aware of your brand, products, or services as a result of your content or campaign. You need to measure the brand awareness of your content or campaign, which is the increase in the recognition and recall of your brand among your target audience. You also need to measure the brand sentiment of your content or campaign, which is the attitude and emotion that your target audience has toward your brand.
Credibility: The number or percentage of people who trust and respect your brand, products, or services as a result of your content or campaign. You need to measure the brand credibility of your content or campaign, which is the increase in the trustworthiness, reliability, and authority of your brand among your target audience. You also need to measure the brand advocacy of your content or campaign, which is the willingness and likelihood of your target audience to recommend your brand to others.

To evaluate and optimize your influencer marketing campaign, you can use tools such as:

Google Analytics: A tool that helps you track and measure the traffic, conversions, and other metrics of your website or landing page.
Sprout Social: A tool that helps you track and measure the performance, engagement, and insights of your social media platforms.
Influsoft: A tool that helps you track and measure the performance and ROI of your influencer marketing campaigns.

Conclusion

Influencer marketing is a powerful and effective way to boost your brand awareness and credibility. By collaborating with influencers who are relevant, credible, and engaging for your target audience, you can create and distribute content that showcases your brand, products, or services in an authentic and compelling way.

By following these steps, you can use influencer marketing to boost your brand awareness and credibility. You can also use various tools and examples to help you along the way.

References

[1] Influencer Marketing Hub’s Benchmark Report

[2] International Women’s Day events

[3] Red Backpack Fund

[4] Forbes list of scholarships for women

[5] Women Owned

[6] The Female Lead

[7] SheEO

[8] The Ad Girls

[9] Freefrom

[10] Skillshare list of classes for women entrepreneurs

[11] Women’s Leadership Teleconference