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Influencer marketing is a relatively new field that has developed over the past decade. It has evolved in various forms, becoming more sophisticated, complex, and expensive. Brands are eager to explore new community-building approaches and increase sales through influencer marketing. However, it can be challenging to start, knowing that many have failed before you.

Viktoriia Petrova from Famesters shares her tips and tricks for successfully launching your first influencer marketing campaign and turning influencer marketing into a cash cow for your brand.

1. Define your goal

The most important step is to define your goal. Are you using influencer marketing for brand awareness (to increase visibility and get views), community building (to gain followers and build a loyal audience), or sales (to achieve the  ROI)? Depending on your needs the strategy will vary significantly.

If your goal is to increase brand awareness, you might consider 2 options: 

1) Collaborate with a few celebrities to generate significant views and buzz on each video.
2) Partner with many micro-influencers to produce a large content volume and achieve a high total number of views.

If you focus on community building, consider using a giveaway strategy to increase comments and followers on your page. If your primary goal is to drive sales, you should calculate each person's potential investment and revenue. 

2. Define your budget

You need to decide how much money you are willing to spend. Are you prepared to pay influencers a fee, send them gifts, or share revenue? Do you have enough products to send? How many products need to be promoted? Do you want each influencer to create a single video or several? Consider how much you are willing to spend per influencer. Your budget will define the type of cooperation you can afford. 

3. Define the type of cooperation

There are several types of cooperation, but if we narrow them down, we can define 2 options: paid and unpaid. 

But let’s go deeper into this and explore the details.  
The first option is the more common one, where you pay a flat fee for the influencer. It doesn’t guarantee sales or even the expected number of views. So, you might wonder what we are paying for. To be honest, in this case, you are primarily paying for the content itself, like for UGC. 

If you know your audience and have a clear portrait of the influencer you’re looking for, choosing the right person will likely lead to success, so this option might be suitable for you. But if you are not sure who your target customer is, it might be better to consider another option. 

The second option is a combination of a flat fee and revenue share. this hybrid option allows you to lower the flat fee, motivate the influencer to generate sales, and secure you financially. In case you don’t get sales, at least you didn’t pay much for content and brand awareness. 

The third option is for those who are 100% confident in their product. You can offer revenue share without any flat fee. However, compared to the previous options, it’ll be harder to find influencers willing to agree to this, so your product should be either well-known or so impressive that people are willing to take the risk. 

Option 4 is suitable for physical products: the gifting collaboration. Here,  you provide the influencer with your product in exchange for the content and placement on their channels. You can also add a revenue share to sweeten the deal and increase your chances of finding influencers for your marketing campaign. 

4. Define your target audience

Who is your ideal customer? Is it a Gen Z girl who’s into beauty and fashion? Or perhaps a 30-something guy who’s a fan of horror and action games? Maybe it’s a housewife who’s a kitchen boss and watches all the TikTok cooking videos? Or a middle-aged man, a top manager, or a company founder who loves to play golf? If you don’t know who your customer is, no matter what you do – with or without influencer marketing – you’ll fail. But if you know your target audience well, you’ll have a clear understanding of what they might like, what content they consume, and which platforms they prefer. So, before you start marketing, study your customers.

5. Define type of the content

The right choice of content type depends on several factors: your audience, your goals, and your product.  If you have a complex, tech-savvy device, it might be better to showcase all its functions through a YouTube dedicated video. For a software product, integrate a promotional ad into work productivity or AI-related videos. If you’re focusing on Gen Z with mass-market and everyday products like clothes, cosmetics, kitchen tools, you will find customers on TikTok, YouTube shorts, and Instagram by creating short-format vertical videos. The content should communicate your product value,  resonate with your audience, and align with your strategy.
 

6. Define platform

It’s important to know which platform is best suited for your product.

For games, focus on YouTube-dedicated videos, streams, Twitch streams, and TikTok. For hardware and software products,  YouTube dedicated videos and integration videos, along with Shorts work well. TikTok can be added as well. For products targeting women, prioritize Instagram, followed by  TikTok and all formats of YouTube. The same for kitchen, pet, and home products. 

7. Define metrics and data

Once you’re ready to work with influencers, it’s crucial to know which data to request: 

• Geo in percentages. Since each brand targets specific markets and has geographic sales goals, it's essential that the influencer's audience aligns with these targets. If the influencer has less than 30% of their audience in your target market, it may not be worthwhile to collaborate with them. Additionally, geographic data can help identify if an influencer has a fake audience — anything less than 30% from a single country could indicate a significant number of bots or fake followers.

Avoid working with influencers who do not have an audience in our target sales market.

• Age in percentages. If the audience is under 18, they typically cannot make purchases without parental consent, which hinders quick 'buy now' actions. Every brand has a specific target customer profile that includes age. Currently, the most active consumers on Instagram are aged 25-34. 

If an influencer's audience does not align with our target age group, do not send products or collaborate with that influencer.

• Gender in percentages. Always consider your target consumer profile when evaluating influencers. For instance, if a female influencer has a significant male following but you're targeting a female audience, it makes no sense to work with her. The influencer’s gender should align with your target gender, and ideally, at least 60% of their audience should match your target gender. 

If you're targeting women, the majority of the influencer's audience should be female.

• Reach for the last 30 days. Reach is a key metric for measuring brand awareness and the popularity of your content. It is a more accurate indicator of impact than followers or impressions, as it reflects the actual number of people who have been exposed to your content. When negotiating with influencers, you can calculate the total reach for the campaign based on the number of posts and stories planned. Total reach will also affect other metrics such as CPC and CPV.

Key metrics to calculate and include in the spreadsheet before sending the product*:

• CPC (Cost Per Click)
• CPV (Cost Per View)
• CPV for Video
• CPM (Cost Per 1000 Impressions)
• Engagement Rate
• Potential Reach (based on the number of followers and planned posts)
• Clicks
• Price (COGS - Cost of Goods Sold)
• Shipping Cost
• Total Cost
• Coupon Code/Link

*Find out all the explanations and calculations here.

These are just a few steps you need to know to start your influencer marketing campaign. It’s a complex marketing activity that can take time to master and often comes along with making mistakes. If you’re not prepared to invest time and money, you’d better find a professional agency that can guide you through this process and help you to get started effectively.