Marketing can be really frustrating for most entrepreneurs. From knowing how to speak your audience’s language to trying to figure out what marketing strategies will work, the responsibilities are endless. However, you don’t have to be frustrated. Influencer marketing is one of the best new ways to boost your return on investment (ROI) and brand awareness. With this ultimate guide, you’ll be able to understand influencer marketing fully.

● What is influencer marketing?

It’s a strategy used by entrepreneurs to promote their businesses’ products and services by partnering with popular social media influencers. The audience that influencers have can help build your brand’s credibility and increase sales. Some of the benefits of influencer marketing include: getting through to a bigger audience, boosting sales and site traffic, acquiring more leads, and increasing social following. It’s normal for people to want to try a product or service when they see a celebrity using it.

● How to know which influencers to recruit

The main thing you should look at when finding influencers to work with is not the number of followers, that’s still important, but follower loyalty matters more. For example, you’d discover accounts on Instagram where a person has a million followers, but they only get very few likes on their posts. That shows there isn’t follower loyalty. If you work with such a person because of their following, no one will buy your product. A significant influencer is someone who gets enough likes, comments, and full engagement on their posts. Engagement is the main thing you should look at before choosing an influencer. The best way you can also leverage influencer marketing by paying influencers directly per post.

● How you can attain maximum ROI with influencers

As we mentioned earlier, when looking for an influencer, you look at the likes and comments they get rather than the number of followers they have. This is because you should ensure that for smaller audiences of between 10,000-20,000 followers, the ratio should be above 5%. The ratio should be at least 3% for audiences with more than 20,000 followers. When you have such engagement, you can be confident that you’re dealing with the right crowd. The next thing is to negotiate and buy as many posts as possible in bulk packages. Do this consistently over time and not just one-offs. If you pay one influencer to market your product, it might not do so well. However, if you pay different influencers consistently for six months to a year, a movement is created, and your products and services have more impact.

● How influencer marketing will grow your business

One of the most effective marketing strategies is referrals. If someone you trust or know suggests a particular service or product offers practical solutions, you’ll most likely purchase it. That’s the same case with influencer marketing. If an influencer tells their followers that your product works, they’ll buy it because they trust the influencer and need your product. The marketer provides a discount code, particularly for the influencer’s followers, to track the campaign’s effectiveness. The following statistics show the effectiveness of influencer marketing:

a) 70% of YouTube subscribers who are teenagers trust influencers more than traditional celebrities.
b) 49% of consumers in the market depend on the opinions and recommendations from influencers.
c) For every $1 a business invests in influencer marketing generates $5.20.
d) 89% of marketers say that the ROI they get from influencer marketing is better than other marketing strategies.

● Where to find influencers

Whatever industry you’re in, there are platforms you can find influencers on. Famebit is an influencer marketing platform to find any influencer you need.