How can you exactly improve ROI on your influencer marketing campaigns? Influencer marketing is everywhere these days as more and more companies begin to implement it into their strategies. So, why does it matter?
Essentially, it’s nothing new. Pairing a well-known and respected name to help market a product or service has been a core part of marketing for as long as it has been a thing. It is a way of creating a stamp of approval from a source that your audience is more likely to trust.
However, one of the ways this approach has changed in recent years is due to big data. As influencer marketing becomes more widespread, understanding the granular details before, during, and after a campaign is vital. Why? This is to generate great results. With the rise of big data, brands now have the ability to execute an influencer campaign with the utmost precision. Furthermore, brands are safe in the knowledge that it can be successful based upon all the collected data available to them. So this leads us to some important questions, does influencer marketing really work? What does influencer marketing mean? And is influencer marketing effective?
Essentially, it’s nothing new. Pairing a well-known and respected name to help market a product or service has been a core part of marketing for as long as it has been a thing. It is a way of creating a stamp of approval from a source that your audience is more likely to trust.
However, one of the ways this approach has changed in recent years is due to big data. As influencer marketing becomes more widespread, understanding the granular details before, during, and after a campaign is vital. Why? This is to generate great results. With the rise of big data, brands now have the ability to execute an influencer campaign with the utmost precision. Furthermore, brands are safe in the knowledge that it can be successful based upon all the collected data available to them. So this leads us to some important questions, does influencer marketing really work? What does influencer marketing mean? And is influencer marketing effective?
Influencer Marketing Stats For this Year
Well the stats would certainly seem to indicate that it is. Over the last five years, brands have collaborated with social media influencers to create a $5-10 billion dollar industry. Many small business owners may be wary about investing in an emerging channel, however, nearly 90% of all marketers see an ROI from utilizing influencers that is comparable or better than more traditional channels. In the coming year, it is expected that almost two-thirds of all marketers will increase their spending on influencer marketing as this approach is only set to keep on rising.
The Benefits of Data-Driven Influencer Marketing
There are many benefits to influencer marketing, especially when combined with the merits of big data. Data-driven marketing allows you to better understand your customers. Meaning, to the extent that you can predict which products and services they want. You'll also know what marketing methods will be effective for them specifically. This means you can be incredibly thorough in your approach and form a marketing strategy. Furthermore, you will be much more efficient because you use data and insights. Big data also lets you analyze your marketing return on investment. In addition to that, it quantifies the effectiveness of each technique, which you can then alter accordingly as time goes on.
9 Ways Big Data Can Help Your Influencer Marketing Campaign
With this in mind, let’s take a look at some key ways that big data can help your overall approach to marketing and allow you to improve ROI on your influencer marketing campaign:
1. Analyzing ROI
Tracking the overall performance of your marketing campaigns is one of the major benefits that utilizing big data has. Collecting data such as engagement levels, conversions, or total views is made a lot easier due to big data. This monitoring and tracking will provide you with a clear idea of what’s working and what’s not. As a result, it lets you see where you can best adjust your influencer campaign.2. Form Your Direction
While setting general goals like increasing site traffic, growing an audience, and boosting sales are key targets, there needs to be a clear path for what your objectives are and how they can be executed. This is where big data can help. Using insights to identify trends is a great way to determine the direction of your influencer campaign. From the inception right through to the structure of your collaborated content; you have a clear direction and action plan.3. Find The Right Influencers
Using data will help you find the right influencer for your brand specifically. It won’t matter if an influencer has millions of followers. If they are not engaging with their audience or they have completely different interests in relation to your company, then you are just wasting time and money. Big data can help you to find the best influencer to partner with so that you target the right people in the right place.4. Filter Unnecessary Content
Influencers use multiple social platforms to connect with people which leads to a huge amount of data to wade through. Big data can help identify relevant content and users quickly and efficiently. This without the need for a person to sift through the data being generated, streamlining the entire process for you.
5. Find The Right Keywords
Whenever you are creating content, long-tail keyword research is an important step. By forming a data-backed strategy relating to what people are searching for, you can start to get the most out of your marketing. Additionally, you would also know what their intentions are for searching, and how you can position your content accordingly. Most content collaborations with an influencer should be rooted in keyword research and finding trending keywords and terms can serve as the basis for effective content creation.6. React Quickly to Trends
Internet trends are always changing. Thus, you need to stay up to date with them in order to create fresh content. Big data can help you keep up with real-time changes by tracking profile activity as it happens. These insights can help you unearth situations that you might need to adapt to ensure that you never fall far behind the curve.7. Create Beneficial Content
Knowing how to frame your messaging in a way that speaks to your audience is something big data can help you with. Your audience is incredibly tech-savvy. Also, it knows when something is disingenuous or inauthentic. By analyzing the data you have, conducting further research and working in tandem with your influencer will mean you can create the most engaging content possible that will be seen as beneficial by your audience.8. Track Everything
Big data is not just useful for tracking your ROI but it can provide you with every available metric you could want. No matter how granular or minute it may seem, having a full picture in regards to your influencer marketing strategy will help you maximize your campaign and continually improve it as time goes on.9. Make Data-Driven Decisions
Once your campaign is up and running, you’ll be able to make decisions based on the amount and quality of the data you are collecting. With this, you can make informed decisions based on facts and information. Thus, enabling you to determine what the next steps in your campaign will be.8 Influencer Marketing Pitfalls to Avoid
While influencer marketing is booming, there are many pitfalls and mistakes that companies can make that will damage their campaign and hurt their conversion rate down the line. The most common of these are:
1. Quantity Over Quality - Choosing an influencer involves more than just looking at the number of followers they have. In fact, the number of followers can be a highly misleading metric. Thus, it is not evidence that working with them will be a success. An influencer with 5k followers with an engaged audience who shares the same values as your company will be much more effective to collaborate with than one with 50k followers who has no relation to your industry or brand ethos. Thus, you always want quality over quantity.
2. Not Being On Brand - It can’t be overemphasized but: your influencer needs to share your brand ethos. The audience of the influencer has to match your target group and the influencer has to be in some way related to your sector. If it’s not on brand, then there will be dissonance between your content and your audience which can quickly ruin a marketing campaign.
3. Only Utilizing One Platform - You do not need to stick to just one platform for influencer marketing to work. Even though one platform may be working well, it doesn’t mean it’s the only one where you can target this audience. Also, working with influencers across a variety of channels can help you reach a much wider group of engaged potential customers.
4. Treating Influencers Like Agencies - Running an influencer marketing campaign is not like running an advertising campaign. It is therefore crucial that you get the influencer involved with your brand and give them the freedom to express themselves creatively. If they are passionate about your products or services, then the overall quality of the content they share will improve dramatically.
1. Quantity Over Quality - Choosing an influencer involves more than just looking at the number of followers they have. In fact, the number of followers can be a highly misleading metric. Thus, it is not evidence that working with them will be a success. An influencer with 5k followers with an engaged audience who shares the same values as your company will be much more effective to collaborate with than one with 50k followers who has no relation to your industry or brand ethos. Thus, you always want quality over quantity.
2. Not Being On Brand - It can’t be overemphasized but: your influencer needs to share your brand ethos. The audience of the influencer has to match your target group and the influencer has to be in some way related to your sector. If it’s not on brand, then there will be dissonance between your content and your audience which can quickly ruin a marketing campaign.
3. Only Utilizing One Platform - You do not need to stick to just one platform for influencer marketing to work. Even though one platform may be working well, it doesn’t mean it’s the only one where you can target this audience. Also, working with influencers across a variety of channels can help you reach a much wider group of engaged potential customers.
4. Treating Influencers Like Agencies - Running an influencer marketing campaign is not like running an advertising campaign. It is therefore crucial that you get the influencer involved with your brand and give them the freedom to express themselves creatively. If they are passionate about your products or services, then the overall quality of the content they share will improve dramatically.
5. Not Paying Attention to Earned Media Value - Earned media value demonstrates the level of awareness an influencer enjoys. Interactions with their audience make up a big part of the earned media value of an influencer. However, their relationship with other influencers also matters. If the influencer is mentioned and tagged by a lot of other people, it means that they enjoy a great media value. Thus, their opinion carries greater weight and what they say about your brand will be more effective.
6. Not Monitoring Content - While it is important to give influencers creative freedom, the promotion needs to be done responsibly. If you are going to give someone the right to talk about your brand in front of the masses; then the message they are delivering is critical to success. Monitoring the influencer's content closely. Hence, nothing goes out that may negatively affect your brand or doesn’t fit with the current messaging you're trying to put out there.
7. Only Using One-Off Campaigns - If your influencer marketing campaign works, keep working with them. They shouldn’t just be viewed as a one-time thing. On the other hand, crafting a long term and mutually beneficial relationship should be the way to go. Over time, this should also mean that your brand and the influencer will become synonymous with your audience. Thus, making them feel more natural.
8. Ignoring Endorsement Rules - Recent changes in the US Federal Trade Commission’s rules for endorsements need to be adhered to. If you fail to identify which posts are sponsored or are an endorsement, it could lead to problems. It’s your responsibility to ensure that all the rules and regulations related to advertising are followed to the letter.
6. Not Monitoring Content - While it is important to give influencers creative freedom, the promotion needs to be done responsibly. If you are going to give someone the right to talk about your brand in front of the masses; then the message they are delivering is critical to success. Monitoring the influencer's content closely. Hence, nothing goes out that may negatively affect your brand or doesn’t fit with the current messaging you're trying to put out there.
7. Only Using One-Off Campaigns - If your influencer marketing campaign works, keep working with them. They shouldn’t just be viewed as a one-time thing. On the other hand, crafting a long term and mutually beneficial relationship should be the way to go. Over time, this should also mean that your brand and the influencer will become synonymous with your audience. Thus, making them feel more natural.
8. Ignoring Endorsement Rules - Recent changes in the US Federal Trade Commission’s rules for endorsements need to be adhered to. If you fail to identify which posts are sponsored or are an endorsement, it could lead to problems. It’s your responsibility to ensure that all the rules and regulations related to advertising are followed to the letter.
Take Action: Improve Your Influencer Marketing Campaign
Working with an influencer can be a great way to connect with an already engaged audience who trusts the source inherently. When this is paired with big data insights, you can begin to craft marketing campaigns that can drastically improve your ROI. Additionally, you can continue to be effective over an extended period of time. Hence, if you’re not already using influencer marketing and big data, you really should start doing so.Growth Hackers is a top influencer marketing company helping businesses create better brand awareness through proven and tested influencer marketing hacks designed for growth. If you're in need of assistance in launching an influencer marketing campaign soon, hire an influencer manager or reach out to influencers in your niche, drop Growth Hackers a line today!
David Pittaway
I am a creative content writer for the New York based digital agency Aumcore who specializes in social media marketing and supporting companies and brands with their overall marketing strategies and campaigns.
