Influencer Marketing Strategies to Drive Sales
If sales is your KPI, here are some strategies that will help
So we’ve spoken about the importance of defining your influencer marketing goals and shaping your strategy around them, but we haven’t touched on what strategies to put into action to achieve a specific goal.
One common influencer marketing campaign goal is to drive sales, however, few campaigns are actually set up to achieve this goal. Not every campaign strategy will work towards this goal - you need to stop and think about what you want to
achieve, and ensure the campaign is set up to achieve that. For example, if your goal is to drive sales but influencers share Instagram posts, it is really hard for consumers to immediately purchase on impulse. However if the content was an Instagram Story with a swipe up link included, that’s a much better influencer and content strategy to drive sales.
Here are some strategies you can use in your influencer marketing campaign if your focus is on driving sales.
Note: it is best to keep your strategy clear and consistent, don’t try to do too many things at once! First use the strategies that make the most sense to you and your business.
Affiliate programs
What is an affiliate program? In short, affiliate marketing is a mutually beneficial arrangement where an influencer earns a commission for their influence. Typically, an influencer will receive a percentage of each sale made when the sale is attributed directly to them and is used instead of, or in addition to, an upfront payment. You can read more about affiliate programs in influencer campaigns here. Because an affiliate program benefits the influencer financially, they’ll be more driven to encourage their followers to visit your site and purchase your products and it works best if the product and influencer genuinely align well.
Discount Codes
Providing a discount code to the influencer/s to share with their audience is a great strategy to generate sales. Let’s face it, everyone loves a bargain and it is easier to make an impulse purchase when you’re saving money, right?
You can keep the code personal to the influencer and easy to remember, such as their name, or you can set up a generic discount code that is shared by a group of influencers. Discount codes not only incentivise the audience to make a purchase, but they also make it super easy to track and measure your campaign and understand what influencer or group of influencers drove the best ROI.
Boost influencer posts
If an influencer has created great content featuring your brand as part of a collaboration, why not get permission to create a paid social media ad featuring that content? Here, you can boost the content to your audience, or to a wider targeted audience! You’re amplifying the content beyond the influencer’s audience while getting your brand in front of more people at the same time. You can also add a call-to-action button such as “Shop Now” on your paid social media ads to make it really easy for consumers to find and purchase the product/s.
Make sure you get permission from influencers to do this or make it a requirement of the campaign, as it is considered to be commercial use of their content and may incur an additional fee for extended use of the content.
Utilise a variety of different social media channels and content styles
Never be afraid to test different social media channels and content styles when working with influencers. If an influencer has a blog, Facebook page and an Instagram account, why not utilise them all - they have them for a reason and while there may be some cross over with the audience across channels, you may also reach new people who prefer different styles of content.
If the influencer only has Instagram, for example, experiment with the different forms of content that can be shared on Instagram. They could do a post with a gallery of images, an Instagram Story or series of Stories or use the new IGTV feature.
Social media users consume content differently, so it’s important to test different social media channels and content styles to ensure you reach more of the influencer’s audience.
Blog posts
On this note, don’t be afraid of blog posts and adding them to your influencer requirements and campaigns. Blog posts are a great way to create long-form content and to share a lot of information, also include links to different products and landing pages which makes it easy for consumers to purchase the product.
We love the way that Kyree Harvey from @misskyreeloves uses Instagram and her blog to share information about her favourite products. Kyree has a tab on her blog called Shop the Look and updates it everytime she does a collaboration with a clothing brand on Instagram, so her audience know that they can always find the link to the item and shop directly from her blog.
Regram influencer content and do shoppable links
Repost and regram influencer content in a timely manner after it goes live on the influencer’s account, and don’t forget to include shoppable links. Influencer’s direct their followers straight to your social media pages, so this will make it really easy for them to continue through the purchase flow once they land on your Instagram.
Shoppable links on Instagram are a gamechanger, so use them to take your influencer campaigns to the next level and ensure your strategy actually achieves your goal.
This will also increase the lifespan of the content and help it reach a wider audience.
Keep in mind industry best practices when regramming influencer content and be sure to always credit them in the caption and with an @tag.
Exclusive offers
Couple your influencer collaboration with a special offer that is only available for a limited time. This creates a sense of urgency and an incentive to make a purchase after they see the influencer post.
How does this work in action? The influencer/s would include information about the special offer in their content, for example, a free cardigan with every purchase over $150 this week only. They could also highlight features of the free cardigan and how they like to wear it to encourage their audience to make a purchase and receive the exclusive offer as a bonus.
Product collaborations
Best used in your strategy with macro or power influencers, doing a product collaboration can be massively beneficial for your brand. Consumers really trust influencers and their opinions, so if their name is on a product or attached to a product, they are going to trust it even more. This also creates hype and demand.
Some recent examples of this strategy in action include Chloe Morello x Ciate eyeshadow pallet or the Kylie Jenner x Quay Sunglasses line. Influencers have an established personal brand and 'cult' following, so leverage that to create products in collaboration with influencers and work with them to spread the word to their audience, and yours too.
Align with the right influencers
Finding the right influencers to promote your brand is probably THE most important thing when your goal is to drive sales. If you are a skincare brand, it wouldn’t make sense to partner with a food influencer because the audience wants to see food related content and is unlikely to make a skincare purchase.
The Scrunch platform is designed to help you find the perfect influencers for your brand and campaign using powerful audience analysis insights to ensure the influencers you work with, reach your target market. You can filter through influencers that post about certain topics, that live in a certain location, that have a target audience in a certain age range and so much more! You can sign up to Scrunch and get started here!
Use influencers that have a cult following
We’re all guilty of buying something because an influencer has posted about it - whether it is a celebrity, an actress, sportsman, social media influencer or vlogger, we’ve all been victim to influencer marketing in action, even if you don’t know it.
When selecting an influencer for your campaign, see how their followers react to their content, and in particular their social content. Do they have a 'cult' following, and do their followers genuinely trust their recommendations? Work with influencers who have an engaged community that hangs off their every word and you’ll discover the recipe for success in influencer marketing.
Influencer marketing is a successful marketing strategy to drive sales of your product or service, however there must be a strategic and data-driven approach to get results. Sales won’t just fall into your lap as soon as you start an influencer marketing campaign, you need to ensure that the strategy is set up to achieve this goal, and that the key message and call to action align well. Good luck!
Put these strategies into place in your next influencer marketing campaign if your goal is to drive sales
