A new report from Forrester Research shows how important it is for marketers to work with experienced partners when building an influencer marketing program. “Partner Up For Influencer Marketing – Work With Key Collaborators To Identify And Engage Influencers” helps marketers find the expertise needed to move influencer marketing beyond a one-off effort and into a structured marketing practice.
Forrester found two common problems shared by most marketers trying to grow an influencer marketing program – it’s hard to find and identify influential people and execution is very complicated. Marketers can’t overcome these obstacles themselves. They need the help of partners with expertise in these areas.
The partners needed can come from both within your company and from specialty providers. Partners for customer intelligence, IT, marketing communications and employee support can come from within the organization. For the rest of the program, partners with expertise in these areas are needed to fill the gaps:
- Influencer networks like BzzAgent that provide access to highly targeted consumers
- Social analytics tools for monitoring discussions
- Agencies for developing program components like microsites, events, PR, etc.
- Paid media to complement the program and generate scale
If you are considering how to develop an influencer strategy in your organization, read this report. Grab it here if you are a Forrester subscriber, or you can purchase it from them.
But before you jump in, there are a several components of a successful influencer program that this report doesn’t include. These can only be provided by a partner with extensive experience delivering results for brands in your industry.
Delivering a great product experience. Influencer marketing is a perfect fit for new products, relaunches and line extensions. The best way to get people excited about new products is to give them a personal experience with the product. But is takes a lot more that stuffing a sample in an envelope. You have to deliver a brand experience. This involves packaging, shipping, and product messaging appropriate for the audience.
Guided activities. It takes more than a product sample to get consumers motivated to share their opinions. Provide them with interesting “insider” facts about the product, pass-along samples, coupons and online activities to follow and they’ll be spreading your word to everyone they know.
Compliance monitoring. If you are distributing free samples to consumers in an advocacy program, participants must disclose that in their posts and reviews. Some in the space are getting a lot of heat right now for not having proper disclosure education and monitoring practices in place. Don’t fall into this trap. Your reputation is at stake. If things go wrong, the FTC will be knocking on your door, not the vendor’s.
Measure sales. There are many ways to measure the success of an influencer program. Factors like the number of people reached, trends in the competitive share of voice and increases in positive sentiment are important indicators of a successful effort, but the most valuable metrics are sales results. We have a lot of success with Market Mix Modeling, Match Panel Analysis and loyalty card match panel tests. For more on these practices, download our ebook “From Loyalty to Advocacy: Driving Sales with Social Shoppers”
