“I need influencers to post about my product.” I hear this statement more than a dozen times a week. With thousands of brands engaging with millions of social media influencers, the strategy of working with influencers needs to be much more refined and targeted. Brands likely have very specific goals behind why they want to work with influencers, whether it’s to drive sales on Amazon or generate downloads of an application. Just as each of these goals are very different, so is the approach to using influencers. Brands needs to align their engagement with influencers with the goals of their campaign. Fortunately for marketers, there are many ways to engage influencers that can maximize your budget and allow you to reach your goals. Here’s 7 overlooked ways to work with influencers and the most effective ways to use them.
1. Pinterest
Millennial moms use Pinterest to find solutions. Most influencers promote their Instagram content on Pinterest but few brands ask them do it for paid posts. Pinterest is a great place to promote toys, party supplies, food products and anything else that serves as a solution to an everyday mom challenge. BSM Media engaged influencers to PIN party ideas to Pinterest for a client. To date, those PINS and the links to the client’s product have received over 5 million impressions.
2. Live Events
Use influencers to host Instagram Lives from your social channels or theirs. It’s a great way to give a voice to your brand and demonstrate how to use your product in everyday life.
3. Amazon Lives
Using influencers to host Amazon Lives is a great way to send her followers right to your product pages. It allows your brand to benefit from the influencer bringing her followers into your store. Find influencers with a strong Amazon Affilliate business model and ask for past sales data to ensure it’s the right partnership.
4. Digital Gift Guides
Engage with Influencers who have publish digital gift guides especially if you are a holiday gift or toy brand. Placement is very affordable and the content stays relevant and live on the influencers feed throughout the holiday season.
5. Offline Sampling
Influence transcends the online world if you select the right influencer. If they love your product online, they likely are willing to share it with friends and followers offline. When engaging with influencers, ask them about offline involvement in the community such as PTOs, community clubs or local athletics.
6. Content or Photo Creation
Covid shut down many brand photo shoots but helped those brands realize that content creators produce great stock photos. Use influencers to produce photos, videos or articles that can be used on your website, emails or social channels. In many cases, the quality is good as professional photo shoots, less time consuming and less expensive.
7. Offline Media
Many influencers have side gigs on local television, radio or produce a podcast. Don’t overlook having those influencers carry your message offline and deliver it to larger communities on different platforms.
Engaging influencers is so much more than a single Instagram post. Getting to know the depth of the influencer’s community and how to maximize your partnership should always be the first step in your influencer marketing strategy.
To find out how you can leverage Mom Influencers in a more effective way, email Maria@bsmmedia.com
BSM Media, Inc. is an award-winning and internationally recognized Marketing to Moms agency specializing in strategic outreach, influencer engagement, and content creation. BSM Media also owns and operates MomSelect Influencer Network, MillennialInfluencers.com, GenZInfluencers.com, and Mommyparties.com.
Maria Bailey is the CEO of BSM Media and the author of “Marketing to Moms: Getting Your Share of the Trillion Dollar Market,” “Power Moms,” “Millennial Moms: 202 Facts Marketers Need to Know to Build Brands and Drive Sales,” and the soon to be released “Marketing to Gen Z Moms.” She is a frequent keynote speaker and media expert. She can be reached at Maria@bsmmedia.com. Learn more about Maria Bailey at www.MariaBailey.com.
