Influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing that leverages trusted, credible individuals, known as influencers, to advertise products and services for brands.
Influencers build loyal audiences and communities by sharing their lives and interests with followers. As influencers grow, they can endorse products, make recommendations, and partner with brands and companies to promote those goods to their followers.
At the root of influencer marketing is the idea of social proof. Consumers trust the people they follow and interact with and are more likely to make purchases based on recommendations from these individuals.
This post explores influencer marketing and its value in ecommerce, social media, and how we consume content.
Influencer Marketing Statistics Worth Noting
Influencer marketing is here to stay, and the industry is experiencing massive annual growth. The proof is in the numbers; here’s how we know.
- 61% of consumers trust influencers’ recommendations more than branded social media content.
- In 2023, the influencer marketing industry is worth an estimated $21.1 billion dollars.
- 90% of brands believe influencer marketing to be highly effective and profitable for their campaigns
The Value of Influencer Marketing for Ecommerce
For ecommerce companies, influencers can offer something unique — an engaged audience. One that is interested in your niche, possibly even shopping in this realm, and ready to buy.
For small ecommerce shops, one influencer campaign can make a massive impact on brand awareness and sales in the short and long term. Here’s why influencer marketing is a valuable tactic to use in the ecommerce landscape.
Cost-effective spend
Working with a
Targeted campaigns
If you’ve run paid ads on social media, you likely know the struggle of drilling down on targeting to serve ads to the right audience. Influencers are like walking targeted advertisements, serving new customers on a silver platter.
You know their niche is relevant because you chose to work with them based on their audience. It’s pretty foolproof!
Creating an Influencer Marketing Strategy
Creating an influencer marketing strategy for brands and online stores is the first step in working with influencers.
You need to determine your goals when working with an influencer, your budget for the campaign, your audience, and much more. Let’s break down how to create an influencer marketing strategy here.
1. Campaign goals and KPIs
Before you find influencers, determine the goals of your campaign and how you’ll track them.
Key performance indicators (KPIs) for a brand campaign may include units sold, new followers on your social media profiles, views or comments on a TikTok video or Instagram Reel, referral and website traffic, or social reach/engagement.
Determining your campaign’s valuable metrics and goals is essential because it makes it much easier to track success. If you set goals before the campaign, you can prove your campaign’s success and justify working with influencers to drive sales.
2. Research your ideal customer
You should already know a fair amount about your ideal customer because you’re selling products or merchandise online. Perhaps this campaign is tailored to a specific demographic within your customer base, like new moms or dog owners.
Knowing the customer you’d like to reach within an influencer marketing campaign will make it easier to find an influencer whose audience checks those boxes.
3. Determine the campaign budget
Whether you’re a
Be upfront and transparent about the campaign budget so you don’t waste anyone’s time. Some ecommerce brands offer free merchandise or products to be featured on an influencer’s Stories. If this is your approach, be sure to state that clearly so they know there won’t be any financial compensation besides receiving free items.
4. Find the ideal influencer
Finding the right influencers for a campaign can take serious time and effort. This is one of the drawbacks of such an oversaturated market; it makes finding what you’re looking for a little more challenging.
Some more prominent companies use influencer marketing tools and platforms to help them find the type of influencer they are looking for in the appropriate price range. This type of tool includes platforms like Grin, CreatorIQ, and Upfluence.
If you don’t have the budget for marketing tools, you can do your research the
5. Create a contract
Once you’ve chosen the perfect influencer for your ecommerce promotion, creating a contract is next. This step is critical to protect your business and ensure you get what you pay for from the influencer. This contract should include important details, including:
- Deadlines and expectations
- Compensation structure
- What types of content will be delivered
- The content approval process
- Ownership of content
Creating a contract protects both you and the influencer throughout the process. After you’ve both signed, the influencer can get to work!
6. Launch the campaign
Throughout the campaign, check in periodically with the influencer to ensure they are posting approved content on the dates you agreed on. Ensure your social media profiles are adequately manned to interact with new followers, answer questions about products, and create a solid presence for your ecommerce shop.
You should also
7. Accurately track your results
You’ll never know the success of your campaign without accurately tracking results. This is why we highly recommend creating goals before hiring an influencer so you can keep tabs on what you want to achieve.
Your end goal may be to increase sales, grow your social media profiles, improve engagement, or increase website traffic. Whatever it is, use the tools within your ecommerce platform to measure site performance and units sold.
Types of Influencers
Not all influencers are created equal. Some celebrities are considered influencers with millions of followers and can charge astronomical fees to partner with brands and promote their products.
Aside from celebrities, here are the types of influencers that you most likely interact with when using social media platforms.
Nano-influencers . Nano influencers have less than 1,000 followers.Micro-influencers .Micro-influencers typically have anywhere from 1,000 to 100,000 followers.Macro-influencers . Macro influencers have between 100,000 to 1 million followers.Mega-influencers . Mega influencers have over 1 million followers.
Influencer Marketing Software
Many brands and businesses use influencer marketing software to help streamline and manage their campaign and find new influencers to work with.
This type of software can also help connect brands to influencers in their niche, where they can discuss:
- Potential influencer marketing campaigns
- Budgets and fees
- Campaign goals
- Collaborations with other influencers
Small and large businesses can use an influencer marketing platform to find relevant influencers to promote products.
Influencer Marketing Examples in 2023
Influencer marketing has been a part of social media since the dawn of time, even if we didn’t know what we were witnessing at the time. Here are some of the best social media influencer marketing examples to use as inspiration for your brand.
Sugar Cosmetics’ Be Your Own Muse campaign to celebrate International Women’s Day. In March 2023, the campaign generated over 1 million engagements via social media by highlighting women worldwide and the things that make them diverse, unique, and worth celebrating.
Highlights for Children launched the Do Great Things product line on Amazon. Highlights partnered with various parent influencers who promoted the products (backpacks, lunch boxes, water bottles, etc) across their social profiles during
Is Influencer Marketing Effective for Ecommerce?
Influencer marketing is an incredibly effective tool whether you’re a
Influencers in your niche can promote your products to their audience, drive sales, and even create
Final Thoughts on Influencer Marketing
Building a successful ecommerce store takes hard work, dedication, and creativity. Influencers are a fantastic resource to help give your brand the boost it needs during certain seasons, product launches, and more.
As more and more consumers commit to shopping small, ecommerce stores can leverage influencers even with smaller budgets.
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