Influencer marketing has become one of the most powerful tools in modern marketing. Whether you’re running a simple gifting campaign or investing in large-scale paid collaborations, the impact of influencers on consumer behavior is undeniable. Almost half of all consumers (49%) make purchases because of influencer posts at least once a month, and 86% have made a purchase inspired by an influencer in the past year (Sprout Social).
With numbers like these, it’s clear that influencer marketing isn’t just a trend—it’s a critical component of any successful digital marketing strategy. The key, however, is knowing how to navigate this space effectively. From selecting the right influencers to tracking meaningful metrics, this guide will break down the steps to ensure your campaigns deliver real results. Let’s get started!
How To Build an Influencer Marketing Strategy?
If you’re wondering where to start, here’s a step-by-step guide to structuring your influencer marketing campaigns, whether you’re working with a small budget or going big.
1. Set Your Goals and KPIs
Success starts with knowing what you’re aiming for. Whether your focus is brand awareness or driving conversions, it’s essential to set clear goals and key performance indicators (KPIs). This will help shape the entire campaign and give you benchmarks to measure success against. We’ll cover influencer marketing KPIs below, keep reading!
2. Determine Your Budget
Budgets for influencer marketing can vary significantly. From small-scale gifting campaigns to high-budget paid partnerships, determining what you can spend is crucial to finding the right influencers and structuring your campaign. More details on this below.
3. Define Your Audience and Messaging
Your message needs to align with the right influencers to reach your target audience. Think of it as a matchmaking process—ensure the influencer’s tone, style, and audience match your brand’s personality and values.
4. Research and Reach Out to Influencers
Finding the right influencers takes time and research. Not every influencer will be the right fit, and some may not even be interested in collaborating. Make sure to do thorough research and be prepared to approach multiple candidates.
5. Set a Timeline and Workflow
Influencers often juggle multiple projects, so a clear workflow and timeline are essential. Respect their schedules but ensure they understand and meet your deadlines. A smooth workflow makes the process more manageable for everyone.
6. Analyze the Results
Once the campaign is live, track the data to measure success. Look beyond vanity metrics like likes and comments, and dig into deeper KPIs like website traffic, conversions, and revenue generated from the campaign. This data will help you understand what’s working and how to optimize future campaigns.
How to Choose the Right Influencers for Your Campaign?
We usually classify influencers by their follower count.
But, choosing an influencer based solely on follower count is a common mistake. Other factors are far more important in determining if they’re a good fit for your campaign:
Engagement Rate
Meaningful interactions like comments and shares tell you a lot more than the number of followers. Is the influencer’s audience truly engaged with their content?
Engagement benchmarks for influencer marketing vary based on platform and follower count.
For nano-influencers, an engagement rate of 3% to 5% is typically expected, while at least 1% engagement is considered reasonable for Instagram, though higher is ideal. TikTok tends to have higher engagement rates than Instagram, but engagement generally decreases as follower count increases, meaning macro and mega-influencers often have lower engagement compared to nano-influencers.
Ultimately, the ideal engagement rate depends on the platform, niche, and the influencer’s follower base.
Audience Demographics
When considering audience demographics, it’s essential to ensure the influencer’s followers match your brand’s target market. You can request insights like age, location, and interests to confirm this alignment. There are two ways to approach audience demographics: you can either choose influencers whose audience directly aligns with your product, or you can take a more creative route by partnering with influencers outside your immediate niche. The latter can help you tap into new or unexpected audiences, offering fresh exposure and potentially expanding your brand’s reach beyond the typical target market.
Brand fit
An influencer’s voice, content style, and values must align with your brand to maintain authenticity. When there’s harmony, the content feels genuine, fostering trust with the audience. A mismatch, however, makes the collaboration feel forced and disjointed, which can lead to skepticism and undermine the campaign. Authenticity is key in influencer marketing, and without it, the partnership risks feeling purely transactional.
What Are The Main Influencer Marketing KPIs?
Tracking success in influencer marketing goes beyond simple likes and follows. You need to look at more meaningful data points:
- Users and Sessions: How many new users visited your website from the influencer’s content?
- Engagement: When tracking KPIs, focus on both social media engagement (likes, comments, shares) and website engagement (clicks, time on page, conversions). This combination offers a clearer view of how well the influencer campaign drives meaningful actions.
- Average Order Value (AOV): Do customers brought in through influencers spend more or less than those from other channels?
- Revenue and ROI: Ultimately, what revenue did the campaign generate, and how does the return on investment compare to other marketing efforts?
How to Measure and Track Influencer Marketing?
To effectively track the performance of your influencer marketing campaigns, it’s essential to use specific links with UTM parameters. These unique URLs help you monitor exactly where traffic is coming from and how well each influencer is driving engagement and conversions. By incorporating UTM links in influencer posts—whether in their bio, stories, or swipe-ups—you can track important data such as website visits, conversions, and revenue generated.
How Much Does Influencer Marketing Costs?
One of the most common questions we get at the agency is: how much will it cost? Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Influencer rates can range from a few hundred dollars to thousands per post, depending on their reach and engagement.
It’s a bit like the chicken and the egg: either you set your budget and find influencers who fit within it, or you identify influencers and adjust your budget accordingly.
We suggest reaching out to a few influencers on your list to get an idea of their rates and see how many you can collaborate with.
Also, remember that there are different approaches to influencer marketing, each requiring a different budget level:
1. Seeding (or Gifting) Campaigns
This is the most cost-effective method where you send products to influencers, hoping they’ll share their experience with their audience. It’s an excellent way to generate authentic user-generated content (UGC), but there’s no guarantee the influencer will post anything. This method works best for brands that have unique or high-demand products that influencers will be excited to share organically.
2. Paid Campaigns
With paid campaigns, you have more control over the content since you’re compensating influencers for their work. This guarantees content creation and gives you input on messaging, though it comes with higher costs.
3. Hybrid Campaigns (Seeding + Paid)
A mix of gifting and paid campaigns gives you a balance between authenticity and guaranteed content. You’re leveraging both the appeal of your product and financial compensation, but it requires careful management to ensure expectations are clear on both sides.
Additional Budgeting Insights
- Influencer Tiers: The size and influence of an influencer will significantly impact costs. Nano-influencers (1,000-10,000 followers) may accept gifting or a modest fee, while macro-influencers (100,000+ followers) and mega-influencers (1M+ followers) will command higher fees due to their reach and engagement.
- Long-Term Collaborations: Building long-term relationships with influencers can sometimes allow for more flexible pricing and better results. Instead of a one-off post, consider partnering with influencers over several months to build a more authentic connection with their audience.
- Negotiating Rates: Always ask influencers for their rates upfront, but don’t be afraid to negotiate. You may be able to offer a mix of cash, product, and content usage rights to meet both your budget and the influencer’s expectations.
- Hidden Costs: Don’t forget to factor in costs like agency fees (if you’re using one), content production (especially if you’re requiring high-quality videos), and additional expenses like travel or event participation, depending on the campaign.
Insider Tips for a Successful Brand-Influencer Partnership
We asked some of the influencers we work with on brand collaborations to share a few tips on how to make the brand-influencer partnership as smooth and successful as possible. Their insights offer a great perspective on what really works when collaborating with influencers:
Simplify the Approval Process
Too many layers of approval can slow down timelines and make content feel less authentic. Influencers appreciate streamlined processes where they maintain creative freedom while still meeting brand expectations. A more efficient review process not only speeds things up but also ensures the content resonates with the audience.
Personalize Your Approach
Influencers can instantly tell when they’re receiving a generic, copy-paste pitch. Personalized outreach—whether it’s mentioning a recent post, connecting with something they’ve shared, or addressing their personal style—goes a long way in building a positive relationship. Influencers want to feel like a true partner in your campaign, not just another transaction.
Maintain Clear Communication
From the start, set clear expectations on deliverables, deadlines, and compensation. Transparency in what’s required ensures that both parties are on the same page, avoiding misunderstandings later on. Consistent and respectful communication throughout the campaign also fosters trust and helps nurture long-term partnerships, which can be more valuable than one-off deals.
By incorporating these tips from influencers themselves, you can create stronger, more authentic, and effective collaborations that benefit both the brand and the influencer.
Creative Influencer Marketing Campaign Examples
There’s nothing better than an influencer campaign that not only hits the mark but goes above and beyond expectations. The best campaigns are the ones that think outside the box, take creative risks, and truly leverage the strengths of the influencers they partner with. Here are a few standout campaigns that have really impressed me and showcase how brands can make the most of their influencer marketing efforts:
Caudalie Skincare
Caudalie cleverly worked with nano-influencers to create content that didn’t even appear on the influencers’ own channels but was used directly on Caudalie’s social media and paid ads. This strategy allowed them to produce a large volume of authentic content on a small budget while still capitalizing on the influencers’ creativity. It’s a great example of how brands can stretch their marketing dollars while still producing quality content.
Benefit Canada
Benefit took a bold approach by stepping away from the usual beauty influencers and instead partnering with comedic influencers for their holiday campaign. These influencers, with large, engaged followings, brought a fresh, humorous twist to Benefit’s marketing, attracting new audiences that might not have been reached through traditional beauty influencers. Sometimes, going outside your expected niche is exactly what a brand needs to create buzz and stand out.
Aritzia’s Holiday Gifting Campaign
Aritzia hit it out of the park with its holiday gifting strategy. They sent luxury items, like their sought-after Super Puff jacket, to a range of influencers, from mega to micro. Some content was produced in a studio with mega influencers, while the micro influencers’ content was more authentic and laid-back.
The result? A flood of high-quality, visually stunning content that was shared across social channels, generating tons of engagement and excitement around their holiday collection. It’s a masterclass in leveraging influencer reach and creativity during a key shopping season.
Why Work With an Influencer Marketing Agency?
Running an influencer campaign is no small feat. That’s why partnering with an agency like Bloom can provide you with the strategic support, network, and agility needed to execute flawless campaigns. Bloom has an established influencer community, Aurora, offering brands access to a diverse pool of creators across different niches.
Ready to step up your influencer marketing game? Whether you’re looking to seed products to nano-influencers or run high-budget campaigns, Bloom’s experts are here to help!