If you think it’s too early to plan influencer marketing strategies for 2021, then you’re wrong. The marketing and PR industry has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few months and influencers have played a huge role in it for businesses. With powerful tools like Instagram Reels, Shop, IGTV, Facebook pay and Instagram Live badges, social media has become a rich and engaging alternative tool to counter the traditional form of media; to target consumers in a new manner.

Influencer marketing has helped brands map out their strategies and get ahead of the curve. Since companies plan marketing campaigns months in advance, now is the right time to prepare a strategic and advanced influencer marketing approach for 2021.

How does influencer marketing work?

In the past, brands would approach an influencer and pay them to create content promoting their products – new launches or talk about the service. The fees would vary as per the following range and engagement rate of the influencer. The influencer would then post the content and share it with their social media following – usually on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. The best part about influencer marketing is that it can work for businesses of all shapes and sizes, whether you’re a start-up looking to grow your awareness and following, or a big brand wanting to launch a new range or drive sales of a specific product.

Considering the above, here’s how one can prepare for influencer marketing in 2021.

Know your ultimate goal

Well, how will you aim if you have no goal to achieve? Your goal will be the driving force of your influencer marketing strategy. You need to know the five Whys behind your actions to begin with. There are certain crucial points one needs to keep in mind before setting your goals:

●      Be specific

●      Set attainable goals

●      Make sure that your goals are measurable

Create a breakthrough influencer marketing plan

The success of an Influencer Marketing plan relies on how well strategies are planned and executed.  The strategies can rapidly build brand awareness by generating premium content to the customers it’s designed to engage. Executing a complete influencer marketing strategy that boosts your brand exposure and connects with your target audience sets the base of a successful plan.

Choose the right influencers

When there are too many creative influencers out there, it becomes difficult to choose the best one for your campaign. There could be various ways to choose influencers on the basis of their genre, engagement, content and lots more. The ideal way is to determine which influencer is the best in their own niche and whether or not that fits well with your brand.

Select the right social media platform

Being on every social media platform is not necessary. What matters is to create an impact on the ones you are present on. Putting out substandard content will only make things worse for you. Instead, research and plan your social media presence that aligns with your goals and appeals to your target audience. Focus on the platforms that are preferred by your targeted demographic.

Use the art of storytelling

It is the story that sells, not the product! Consumers are always driven by good and impactful stories. It is the emotional attachment that the brand builds with its audience that counts. They inspire ideas and create attachments.

Influencer/ celebrity gifting is the new thing

Influencer/ celebrity gifting can be one of the most effective ways to gain exposure for a client, particularly when they need to make an immediate impact. Although it’s not an easy service that can be accomplished effortlessly. Researching the right bloggers can take hours, and often your top choices don’t respond right away. You can go back-and-forth a dozen times just to finalise delivery details, and follow up for weeks after to ensure the post is published. Despite this, the good part is that influencer/ celebrity gifting is a super cool and effective way to reach out to your audience through top-notch celebrities and influencers.

Engagement, reach, word of mouth and analytics

Analytics help you understand your audience and learn what generates more traffic. Without them, you can’t make accurate sales forecasts and perfect your products. You can effectively use social media data to drive performance and analytics must be focused on. Review the analytics, give attention to the stats like follower growth, page views, number of posts, likes, shares, impressions, clicks, etc.

(The author is the founder of Glad U Came influencer marketing agency. Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to his views.)