Influencer marketing in Japan.
Influencers have been a hot topic for the last few years, yet many companies still struggle with how to actually utilize influencer marketing to drive results and get their money’s worth. Social media influencers are a very beneficial tool to boost your digital marketing efforts. Nowadays, people are spending more and more time attached to their screens so they have a higher chance of seeing products and services through influencers on various social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc., versus other advertising channels. Digital is where consumers are.
For marketers and business owners, influencer marketing can be super useful and can be adapted in a variety of ways, depending on the influencer and platform. Yet still, that’s not to say you can just choose any influencer and have a successful campaign. Businesses must thoroughly think out their campaign to create a successful strategy.
Using Influencer Marketing
The aim of influencer marketing must be defined with a clear purpose; it will help you select influencers more easily as there is a wide variety of different kinds. For example, if the focus is mainly on brand awareness, brands are better off choosing influencers who are celebrities or influencers that have a large reach. Creators that make funny or lifestyle content are often a good choice because they typically can reach many people.
But if the focus is more on influencers who actually review the product or service, it’s a good idea to choose several influencers so that the product appears in several search results and different channels. For this type of campaign, it is better to focus on a website blogger or a Youtuber who is a small to medium size influencer. Running a product review campaign before running a big campaign is a great strategy; if someone searches for a review of a product or service after your brand has started a campaign, the searcher will be able to see results from reviews on Google or YouTube.
How to Choose a KOL (Key Opinion Leader) for INFLUENCER MARKETING
Once you have determined your campaign’s objective, your KPI (key performance indicators) will follow. That being said, if you focus on brand awareness, of course, reach is very important. Things such as likes, reach, views, and impressions can all be used as KPIs; however, if your brand wants to focus on conversions, click rate and conversion rate is a more important factor. Read more about how to measure the ROI (return on investment) of influencer marketing here.
Create Your Campaign Image/Guidelines
The next step is preparing information about the products/services that your campaign is promoting. Which platform would you like to promote on? What strengths would you like to highlight? And most importantly, what is your image for the promotion? Is it serious, funny, a review? It’s important to give guidelines, but also give your influencers some creative freedom. Some influencers only want to give genuine reviews, some are willing to be more or less persuaded financially to give positive feedback only. It’s key to decide which path you’d like to take.
Keep Track of Performance with UTM
UTM is an original link extension that shows us where website traffic is originating. By checking with traffic measurement tools such as Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics, you can set the variables. When applying it to influencers, a brand can change the UTM value for each influencer and use it to measure results from various campaigns. Read more about the benefits of UTM here.
Here’s an example of one of our campaigns for SITPACK JAPAN on Instagram:
Influencer marketing has great value and is an important part of digital marketing campaigns. Don’t be surprised that influencers have more influence on content consumers than brands do. Which do you tend to trust more, a brand account or an influencer? You don’t have to start big, make small plays in digital marketing to see what will work for your brand.
Still nervous? Don’t worry, as always, feel free to contact us here at Mondo Marketing for all of your digital marketing needs.