Let’s face it – content marketing is one of the most important tools in a marketer’s arsenal. Along with the classic articles, videos, web pages, blogs and more, there is also the prodigious effects of influencer marketing. Though you might not be able to connect the dots right now, I’ll help you out.
What Content Does an Influencer Create First?
According to Connor O’Brien, AussieWritings.com’s Marketing Manager, the answers depends on many factors, as there is both the content and the medium in which it’s presented. “An influencer has the ability to create very diverse types of content. It all depends on the niche and industry he or she activates in. Cristiano Ronaldo works best for the sports industry, which is why his partnership with Herbalife is so fruitful.”
Influencers, From a Marketing Point of View
Now for the first key question. How does a marketer choose an influencer?
First, you need to define your marketing campaign’s goals:
- Target Audience
- Length
- Budget
- Key Performance Indicators
Second, you need to focus on is to find the suitable influencer for your marketing campaign. For this research, you 
need to focus on five crucial aspects:
- Relevance: You can’t use Kim Kardashian to promote your company’s new Android Game. Actually, you can but, this won’t be very effective
- Engagement: How active is his audience,? Do they Like, Comment, and Share his posts regularly?
- Reach: This aspect is quite relevant. Having an influencer with a low reach will fail to achieve your planning and goals.
- Frequency: Reach and engagement are the effects of frequency. The more influencers post, the more content they have, which increases their chances of improving those key indicators of reach and engagement.
- Authenticity: No copycats or phonies allowed! You should look for an influencer who is funny, informative, and authentic, at the same time. Other than that, focus your attention on your influencer’s personality and his or her main activities. In the Kim K. case, this mismatch caused your numbers to not add up and your app was not designated as featured as you hoped.
Let’s turn this campaign into a powerhouse. Considering the given KPIs, think about an influencer you’d choose for your campaign. I already have someone in mind: PewDiePie. Is he relevant? Yes, he got famous by playing games. Active audience? He got 300.000 Likes and 50,000 Comments for this Deadpool Gameplay video. Beat that, Kim! In terms of reach, this video hit the 20 million mark recently. He posts regularly, once a day or once every two days, and his content is always authentic and creative. Apart from having the most suitable audience for your product, gamers, he also has a very energetic personality. His personality and his way of highlighting the strong points of a game will give your marketing campaign the edge.
The Golden Rule of Influencer Advertising
Influencers know how to create the content but not the science behind it: how to launch it to be most effective, where to advertise the content, and how to assess its effectiveness. It’s up to you to choose the most suitable method of promoting your product (in our case the app). How can you determine which type of content to choose for the campaign to be most effective? During your previous marketing campaigns, you’ve created multiple types of content, videos, articles, GIFs and more. Now you need to identify which type of content your audience likes best. Once you’ve done this using your analytics, you can decide on how to best advertise it.
I’d recommend you focus your attention on native advertising, which is often the most suitable method of achieving your influencer campaign goals. If you need to advertise a company’s app, your influencer shouldn’t be very promotional about it, e.g. “This is the best Android Game out there. You should all download it!” It should be promoted in a very natural way; tell him or her to make a video of the gameplay and highlight the app’s strong points. Emphasize not being overly ostentatious about it.
Conclusion
Influencers are complementary with content marketing; it’s a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” situation. Define your campaign’s KPIs and goals, then do some digging and find the suitable influencer for it. Remember, apart from his or her personality, you must also focus on the target audience. Last, but not least, try to choose the advertising method that suits you best and use the given example as a starting point for your advertising campaigns.
