How about creating brand awareness and increasing the sale of your products?
You might be a start-up business, or perhaps you already have a well-established brand and want to expand it. Having a well-thought-out influencer marketing strategy can be a total game changer!
Product Seeding, or Gifting Campaigns, consists of sending the free product(s) to influencers. These identified influencers should have a large following on social media. This approach will spread brand awareness, get user-generated content (UGC), and increase sales.
This article will teach you strategies for your Influencer Seeding/Gifting Campaign. Such knowledge will give you an edge on your marketing approach.
Choose your influencers well!
The key to getting results is targeting influencers with 10,000 to 100,000 followers. These influencers are also known as micro-influencers.Perhaps you are wondering why you should target the stated number of followers. There are two significant reasons:
1.People with millions of followers usually charge high fees, while those with fewer followers are more likely to appreciate receiving a product and posting about it. Such an approach represents an opportunity for mutual growth between the parties involved.
2. Usually, those in this range have a higher level of engagement in their social media content.
Choose the right product value
The product you send to the influencers has to be exciting for them. And in return, their genuine enthusiasm will be contagious to others. Receiving a 1 dollar candy bar in the mail would not likely excite you, right?A good rule of thumb is to send products worth at least $30. However, some may work fine with cheaper products. If you are in the latter position, you can send a package or an amount that covers the price difference.
Cool products, good sales
Being at the forefront of a social media trend is a dream come true for influencers. Products perceived as trendy create an intrinsic reward for buyers, and a craving for those who haven’t bought them yet. The pull created by this feeling contributes to the increase in sales.Do your homework early
Imagine yourself in the shoes of your potential buyer. Upon hearing about some great products on Instagram, it perks your interest. But upon looking up the page, all you find is a sparse Facebook page with very few posts and almost no comments or likes.Now, imagine another scenario. After hearing about your product, your potential buyers search for it on Google. Their search result leads them to an Instagram page with good engagement and live posts. It creates a perception that the business is popular and credible.
In which situation are you more likely to land a new client?
Establish your website and social media before launching any campaign. Try to have at least 15 public posts about the brand in the last six months.
Help and be helped
Not all influencers are open to suggestions about the content they create, but some are. It is an excellent opportunity for you and the influencer to create thumb-stopping contents and increase engagement.If your suggested posts helped the influencer achieve good engagement, great!! Everyone is happy. When choosing people to work with, consider their ability to teamwork and collaboration.
Benefits of the product
What’s in it for the buyer if they purchase your product? If you are a generic seller, what makes you different from others? Why should they choose you over the rest?Each product is unique, and to sell them requires you to focus on what makes them stand out.
A buyer might just as well toss a coin if your product description and benefits are identical to a million others. Don’t settle for generic; differentiate your product. That is what you share with your influencers. Draw their attention to the most significant features of the product, and ask them to speak or write about them.
Influence the influencers
Building a good relationship with your influencers is too often overlooked. First of all, when you contact them for the first time, do not send generic messages. Ensure to let the influencers know why they stood out.Let your preferred influencers feel like family! Customized gifts and birthday cards work great! Doing this will likely make them want to work more with you, and influencers you're starting to work with will find this motivating.
Build a social network
Do not launch just one campaign and be done with it. Instead, use these results as magnets to attract other influencers.There are three aspects to building your social network:
1. Attract more influencers to your product or brand by leveraging your high engagement posts.
2. Commenting on the related posts of others to generate more likes and comments. And,
3. Using the comment sections to engage with the public. Use the space to answer any questions and to get some feedback.
Choose what works best
If you plan to run an ad campaign for Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, or content on your website, you can reuse posts with higher engagement. Using somebody else's content could raise legal issues. So make sure you discuss it with your influencer and reach an agreement before using their content.Unboxing
Unboxing is a form of video, or sometimes a series of photos, that shows the opening of the box of a received product. These videos feature the content creator sharing his first impression on the product. And we all know first impressions can last a lifetime.Some consumers watch this video whenever they consider buying a product. Seeing the influencer enjoy the experience adds to their craving to have the product. So send a smashing package designed by an awesome designer for an unforgettable unboxing experience. Such genuine reaction will permeate through the screen and imbed itself into your market’s psyche.
Create goals and track them
Chess has an infamous saying, "Any plan at all, even a bad plan, is better than none." It teaches us that we need clear goals and plans to accomplish them, along with ways to measure progress.One example of a goal would be to increase brand awareness. Comparing the average amount of likes and comments before and after can help determine its effectiveness. Doing this will allow you to adjust your strategies as necessary. You can use the website MightyScout.com to track your progress.
Congruent identity
It makes no sense for you to advertise fluffy kitten items to people interested in gym products.Observing the theme of the influencer’s posts will give you insight into what his followers want or need. Therefore, the sent products should be congruent with the identity of the influencer’s page.
Science can help
According to Charles Duhigg, the author of Power of Habits, companies like Pepsodent instilled new habits in their consumers. It is by creating products consistent with their habit loop.The habit loop consists of 3 stages present in all our habits. These are cue, routine, and reward.
For this reason, it is best to come up with posts that relate the use of your product to daily events. So much so that using your product becomes a rewarding experience after an event.
Make sure your contact has contacts
Selecting micro-influencers with connections to big influencers is a great way to go to the next level. Let the influencers you have now be your stepping stones to your higher goal.Websites are your virtual image
The virtual economy today focuses on making information accessible to consumers. A well-structured website with information easy to understand is essential. If it’s hard to find information about you online, your potential customers will likely seek other options.Make sure you take the time to design your website. Ensure it can handle the traffic and quickly download. Keep in mind that your visitors should easily navigate your website and find the information they need.
Visitors stay longer on virtually pleasing and user-friendly websites. These can result in increased credibility and a higher customer base.
Take logistics into account
Remember that sending products take time and money. Make sure to have all your operations up and running before doing any influencer gifting. Doing so keeps you from spending more than you need to.Have someone to manage your social media
The worst thing that can happen to your social media posts is they become dull and forgotten. Sending automated responses to people contacting you does little to improve the situation.Strengthen your online presence by getting someone with strong social media management skills. They will help create thumb-stopping valuable content. The quick and personal responses to queries and comments will increase user engagement.
Feedback, feedback, feedback!
Feedback is still necessary for continuous improvement. You should obtain these from your audience and take action if you are in the business of making people happy.With the influencer's agreement, you can work together to develop some strategies to get feedback on your products. For example, you could discuss the theme of the posts, create pools, or launch challenges to see how the audience responds.
What’s Next?
In the age of Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, marketing departments must get caught up with the competition. They must do so if they want to compete in their respective industries.Product Seeding, or Influencer Gifting Campaigns, is an excellent strategy to use social media for your benefit. All it takes is a good social media profile and a well-thought-of marketing strategy.
Now that you've read these tips, you know what you need to boost your business's reputation and promote your products. As transactions shift online, the competition is getting tougher. Take action now!
- Main photo by George Milton from Pexels
