Do you wonder if influencers can help promote your business? Do you also wonder how to work with influencers?  Ben Givon will teach you about the strategies on how to work with micro and macro influencers and find out what types of offers are best for influencer marketing campaigns. Many people talk about influencer marketing, but are not sure what exactly should be done to make it happen. The good thing about influencer marketing is that it can be implemented on any social media platform. In addition to Instagram, one can work with YouTube influencers, as this content prompts recurring views that can be indexed in search.

The advantage of using influencer marketing especially for smaller businesses is two-fold. The advantage number one is the opportunity to be recommended by someone trusted by the audience. Most of the people will opt for an option that was recommended by someone they know, rather than trusting a total stranger. The advantage number two is social proof. Social proof is a psychological and social phenomenon when people mimic the actions of others in order to conform. When an influencer speaks about your brand and its products or services, their audience will start asking questions and check out your website and social media profiles. You can get hundreds of new followers every week due to the exposure provided by influencers these results are scarcely achieved via hashtags or giveaways.  

Ben Givon points out that influencers are usually differentiated by the size of their audience. If an influencer audience ranges from 5k to 100k followers they are considered micro influencers, if they have a larger audience then they are macro influencers. Depending on your product and target audience you will find a number of micro and macro influencers. With micro influencers you can create commission-based partnerships, while macro influencers typically prefer to be paid up front. Influencers switch from commission to a flat fee when they think that they have enough influence to get paid up front. It is recommended to discuss your goals and measure risks when it comes to the payments in advance. You should be ok with a potential money loss in case the campaign goes south. If you have means you can test influencers’ performance and assess if partnership was profitable or not. 

On the bright side, working with micro influencers is very simple. To start a partnership you need to find and contact micro influencers. After that you send them your products and make sure they have reached their destination. Discuss with them the timeframe of their posts and the format; it can be a series of Instagram posts, a YouTube video or any other form of a social media post. It is important to find influencers whose posts do not look like straightforward ads, but naturally match their social media feed. If you see posts that you like on the influencer’s social media, you can provide them as a reference for your posts. You can assign them a personal discount code, so you can track their success. 

If you wonder where to start, Ben Givon suggests you choose 10 micro-influencers in slightly different niches to identify who suits your campaigns best. As you see the results coming, it will become easier for you to plan your future partnerships with influencers. After you have found influencers who generate sales, Ben Givon recommends maintaining relationships with them. It does not matter if it is a macro or a micro influencer, you want to have an ongoing partnership with them, so they publish posts about your products every week or month. However, at the beginning it is advised to make a break between posts of 30 to 45 days. This way there is time to see the results in sales that influencer campaigns have generated. If you see that the influencer succeeds in bringing over 200 sales per post, make sure that you make them feel appreciated. You can send them gifts, engage on social media and show them the love they deserve. You should also respect the boundaries if the influencer says that they need a little time before they proceed to the next post. 

This guide by Ben Givon should help you get started with building your strategy. While there are unique considerations to working with influencers, setting up a campaign is generally the same: set a budget, research, define goals, find influencers, review and revise.