I’d venture to guess that the majority of e-commerce sites rely almost exclusively on strategies for digital marketing. Influencer marketing falls under this category and can be an efficient and effective tool for e-commerces due to a variety of reasons.
Social media influencers can introduce your brand to their fans in specific markets. Collaboration with them expands the range of content creators and allows you to gain not only greater content but various perspectives on your brand. In addition, influencer content generally comes to be more authentic. In fact, research shows that consumers are more trusting of influencers than brands who use social media.
In order to gain influencer marketing, e-commerces have to be aware of how to handle these campaigns. I’ve collected some suggestions that I learned from my time working at Heepsy on what e-commerces can do to maximize the advantage of this method.
Make sure that your own social profile is on top of the line
Without physical premises, e-commerces are forced to rely only on their online presence to interact with their customers. This includes the social channels you use. It’s not necessary to join every single network However, you should be on the one that your intended audience spends the majority of their time.
Complete your profile by adding your contact information, a description as well as a hyperlink to your website. Create a calendar of content to ensure that you post frequently and be prepared to respond to comments as well as DMs. Make sure you have business privileges or verification and if you’re on Instagram create shopping. Make sure that your followers are happy; your social profile is a way to connect to your brand, so ensure it’s one that is welcoming.
Furthermore, we typically place a lot of focus on finding the best influencer; however, the same is true for companies. Influencers aren’t required to collaborate with you, and are less likely to do so if your online page isn’t as good as it could be.
Utilize discount codes for influencers that are specific to them.
You’ve likely seen discount codes on social media. Most often an influencer showcases a product and then gives their followers discounts on the online store of the brand through the use of a specific coupon.
These coupons are fantastic on two levels. The first is that people are in love with discounts particularly now. Based on RetailMeNot, 70% of Americans believe that finding bargains is more important than it was just a year ago. When you offer a lower price it is a way to encourage sales or at the very least encourage people to browse, which aids in to build brand awareness. You could attract curious shoppers on your website who want to browse your items and find out how discount prices will work.
The second reason is that discount codes aid in tracking the effectiveness of your marketing campaign, however, for this to happen, they must be unique to every influencer that is involved in the campaign. Within your analytics program you will be able to see the number of times each coupon was utilized. This allows you to examine the performance of influencers and regions as well as social networks to determine which areas of your campaign performed the most effectively.
When you create codes, bear in mind these guidelines in your head:
- Create them in a short and simple way. Avoid complex combinations of words.
- Locate the influencer to determine who’s code belongs to whom.
- Make use of block capitals to make your code more distinct, and to prevent confusion with lowercase characters such as w or vv.
Maximize the use of influencer content
As I stated earlier, influencers can create content that is more genuine, speaks to a specific niche and draws upon their personal experience and viewpoint. In my opinion, it is best to make sure you take advantage of the content produced to enhance your brand collaborations . When you negotiate, be honest about this, and ask the permission of the influencer to use their content.
How do you publish influencer content? The most obvious option is your personal profile. You could also post influencer content on relevant pages of your online store.
This is an example of social proof as The Nielsen Group describes as “a psychological phenomenon that causes people to look up the actions of others to determine their own behaviour.” In the case of e-commerces people who are unsure about something may choose to purchase something when they discover that other customers have purchased it. Consider Amazon when they present you with review results, “users also viewed” and “frequently purchased using.”
For instance, suppose you’re a designer of home decor and a lifestyle influencer uploads pictures that showcase the textiles you sell on your website. Then, you can add those images on the pages of your shop for the fabrics. So, when customers look at the items they will find that someone else has these items, and they can also get styling ideas which come from someone who is not part of your organization.
Conclusion
Consider the points I mentioned above to heart, but keep in mind the fact that running a winning campaign requires carefully planned planning and an analytical method of influencer discovery.