5 Steps to Increase Brand Awareness and Sales with Influencer Collaboration

Brands have various methods to express themselves and motivate their audience. This can sometimes be achieved through creative advertising campaigns or the dedicated efforts of sales teams. In today’s digital world, influencer collaborations offer significant potential for brands to convey their stories to a wider audience and increase engagement. However, the lack of sufficient data and knowledge in this area can prevent companies from fully benefiting from this opportunity. For brands aiming to enhance engagement and brand awareness, influencer collaborations can be a valuable strategy. Here are five steps that will simplify this process and help you execute it effectively:

Define Your Communication Objectives

The first step is to determine your communication objectives by deciding on the tone, channels, and messages that suit your product or service. Once you have these defined, it will be easier to decide on the type of promotion you want to conduct and the influencers you can collaborate with. To avoid disappointment, it’s crucial to set attainable and realistic goals, and this involves reviewing the profiles and engagement data of potential influencers in advance. You can ask them to send you their “Media Kit” via DeepDeets. This way, you can analyze their target audiences and make an informed decision by looking at metrics such as engagement and reach rates before finalizing the influencers you will work with.

Set Aside an Influencer Budget

Before diving into an influencer marketing campaign, you need to know your budget. We recommend working with more than one influencer, which would then require a diverse budget. Working with multiple influencers can be also beneficial to expand your reach. The budget allocated for each influencer will vary based on the information provided in their media kits, meaning the stronger the reach and engagement, the higher the cost. Indeed, influencer budgets can be variable and quite high. Consider this: influencer marketing isn’t fundamentally different from other types of advertising; it’s just conducted with people instead of through search engines. Think of it this way, influencer marketing is like paid ads, but with people instead of search engines.

Research Your Influencers

Researching influencers is arguably the most important part of influencer marketing. Without research, you could potentially work with an influencer with fake followers or inactive audiences. Your influencers should also match the niche that your business is in. For example, if you are selling wellness products, aim to work with influencers who are in the health and wellness niche. If you are selling car parts, work with ​automotive​​ ​influencers who have the knowledge.

You’ll also want to ask your influencer for a media kit. A media kit is their portfolio showcasing their engagement and content styles. This will serve as the forefront of your vetting process when deciding how much money you will pay them and if they’re a good fit. If an influencer does not have a media kit, you’ll want to consider working with someone more established.​ Well, with DeepDeets’ influencers you don’t have to worry about it as they all have their media kit ready in seconds. ​

Some businesses also choose to work with micro​ ​influencers, who typically have less than 50,000 followers. The benefit to working with micro​ influencers ​is their relationship with their followers. Those with smaller ​follower accounts​ are typically closer to their audience and have a higher engagement rate.

Establish Influencer Deliverables

Once you’ve picked your influencers and are happy with their media kits, you need to establish their deliverables. Deliverables are what the influencer will be provided in exchange for a free product or payment. Some brands ask for dedicated posts on each platform, and others leave it up to the influencer. To avoid conflict, we recommend having a set list of deliverables and a written contract.

Here are some examples of influencer deliverables:

• Instagram stories

• Instagram reels

• Instagram feed posts

• Tik​Tok video

• Facebook post

• Pinterest post

Again, choose deliverables that make sense for your brand and the influencer’s audience. At the end of the day, their audience are your potential customers.

Monitor Campaign Results

As with most marketing campaigns, measuring and reporting the results of your influencer campaign is essential. Start by examining the engagement on the influencer’s posts and the reactions of their followers. You can track this in real-time via DeepDeets. Simply ask the influencer to provide you with a “Campaign Tracking Link”. This allows you to monitor the performance of your campaign in real-time, and take note of both positive and negative feedback to improve your campaign. If the influencer achieves success and their followers respond positively, consider making the collaboration ongoing.

If you notice that the audience is not responding well to the promotion, it might be time to consider continuing with a different influencer for your brand. There’s no harm in strategically working with multiple influencers.

Influencer marketing is a powerful tool that can make a significant difference in your business when used correctly. Use data from DeepDeets as your compass before, during, and after the campaign, and be patient to achieve the best results.