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Influencer marketing is rising, and it’s not slowing down anytime soon. As social media becomes more relevant in our society, more and more brands are harnessing it to achieve their goals. If you’re a new brand looking to get your name out there and start building a customer base, getting started with influencer marketing for new businesses is a great way to get a jump start on competitors.
In this How-To Guide, we are going to break down all of the reasons why new businesses should use influencer marketing and exactly how they should use it to reach their goals. Let’s jump right into why influencer marketing is a great option for new businesses!
Why Use Influencer Marketing for New Businesses?
As stated above, influencer marketing is a fantastic way for new businesses to raise brand awareness and establish a loyal customer base. But, that’s not all it can be used for. Influencer marketing can also help brands diversify their content and target an audience in their specific niche. This form of marketing also costs significantly less than traditional advertising – and it’s more effective. While traditional advertising is losing relevancy, influencer marketing is quickly growing into a multi-billion dollar industry.
According to Influencer Marketing Hub, the influencer marketing industry is projected to be worth $13.8B by the end of this year. In 2019, it was worth $9.7B. In 2016, $1.7B. We would say that’s pretty impressive. Experts do not expect the industry to slow down. Over the next few years, it is projected to rise even more. Therefore, new businesses should make their mark in the industry as soon as possible and take advantage of this growth. Don’t walk, run!
Running a new business or fresh startup? Check out this blog to see how influencer marketing can help you get funding and long-term customers.
Best Types of Campaigns for New Businesses
The first thing a business should do when starting an influencer marketing campaign is identify its goals. For new businesses, the main goal is typically to promote brand awareness and establish a loyal customer base. But, as mentioned above, there are multiple other purposes influencer marketing campaigns can serve. Keeping this in mind, let’s take a look at the best types of campaigns for new businesses!
1. Sponsored Posts
These are posts on an influencer’s page that promote a brand’s product or service to their followers. Sponsored posts can be in the form of a photo, video, blog post, or story. For new businesses, Instagram story posts with multiple influencers would be the most cost-effective option. Plus, if an influencer has more than 10,000 followers, they can include a swipe-up link on their story to the product they are promoting.
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2. Gifting Influencers a Product or Service
This strategy is more of a no-strings attached approach to influencer marketing. This tactic involves sending influencers a few products for free in order to familiarize them with the brand. This can help new businesses build a relationship with influencers they would be interested in partnering with in the future. Sometimes, businesses even get lucky enough that the influencers post about their brand or product on social media!
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3. Giveaways
Giveaways involve influencers promoting a brand by hosting a giveaway in which one or more of their followers receive their product or service for free! In order to enter the giveaway, participants are typically required to comment, like, share, follow, tag a friend, etc. Giveaways are a great way to attract an even larger audience than the influencer’s follower base. They are definitely great for growing brand awareness and getting your name out there.
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Finding and Hiring Influencers
Once a business has identified its campaign goals and strategy, it will start to search for influencers to hire for the campaign. The most important thing new businesses must consider when finding influencers is what size influencer they are looking for. This ties in directly with how much money you are willing to spend on influencers. Let’s take a look at each of the five influencer levels:
| Influencer Level | Following Range |
|---|---|
| Mega Influencer | 1M+ |
| Macro Influencer | 500K – 1M |
| Mid-Tier Influencer | 50K – 500K |
| Micro Influencer | 10K – 50K |
| Nano Influencer | Under 10K |
As would be expected, mega influencers cost the most while nano influencers cost the least. It is recommended that new businesses start off by hiring either nano or micro influencers. These influencers typically have high engagement rates and a loyal audience. Hiring nano and micro influencers is also usually more cost-efficient than hiring larger influencers. Smaller influencers are great for businesses that are trying to increase brand awareness and build a strong customer base.
So, how do you find influencers to hire? There are a few great tools that can help brands search for influencers and filter through them by their demographics and statistics. These are some of the best influencer search tools that you can use for free:
Want to find the perfect fit influencer for your first campaign? Learn more about each of these tools here.
Businesses can also search for influencers through social media! One of the best ways to find influencers in your niche is by looking through industry-specific hashtags. For example, if your brand is in the food industry, some good hashtags to search could be #foodie, #foodblogger, and #foodinspo. Brands can also search generic hashtags like #contentcreator, #microinfluencer, and #nanoinfluencer to find smaller influencers that are looking for brand partnerships.
Should You Hire an Influencer Marketing Agency?
Influencer marketing agencies know everything there is to know about influencer marketing campaigns. They brainstorm creative strategies every day, have established relationships with influencers, and have resources and software that will ensure the campaign runs smoothly. If you’re getting started in the industry or would appreciate some extra help, hiring an influencer marketing agency is a great option.
These are the different influencer marketing services agencies offer:
- Contracting Influencers
- Managing the Campaign and Budget
- Developing Content Strategy
- Planning Posts
- Tracking the Campaign and Reporting Performance
Especially for new businesses, it is extremely helpful to hire an expert when getting started in influencer marketing. They can help identify everything a brand needs to do to achieve its campaign goals. Even better, agencies can help them do it.
