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With new social media platforms growing in popularity and new creator tools emerging every day, there has never been a better time to start collaborating with influencers. Finding content creators who are an authentic fit for your brand is essential to your campaign’s success, but it can be challenging to sift through the sheer volume of creators that exist across the various social media platforms. Additionally, it can be hard to know which social platforms are best for your goals. So, how can you determine which social media platforms will make your influencer marketing campaign a success?
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Here are a few things you should take into consideration before deciding where to focus your influencer campaign.
Goals and Objectives
A crucial first step to any influencer marketing campaign is setting your goals and objectives. These goals will ultimately determine how the success of the campaign is measured. Is your goal to increase overall brand awareness and credibility, drive traffic to your site, or increase conversions? Influencer marketing can contribute to each of these goals, but some social media platforms do favor certain goals more than others.
Increasing brand awareness not only involves building up the general knowledge of your brand, but it involves building excitement as well. The key metrics for measuring brand awareness of an influencer marketing campaign are reach, impressions, and engagement rate.
- Reach: The total number of “unique” users who view your content
- Impressions: The total number of times your content is displayed
- Engagement Rate: The number of total engagements divided by the number of total impressions
Instagram and YouTube are the top influencer marketing platforms due to the high levels of engagement with influencers on each app. Comparing an influencer’s mid-tier following vs. macro following becomes less important when they have extremely loyal audiences who are significantly engaged in their content. The higher the audience engagement, the higher the brand awareness. But there is another app surging in popularity for influencer marketing, specifically when it comes to increasing brand awareness: TikTok. With over 100 million monthly active users in the U.S. alone, we can expect to see a huge increase in influencer engagement on the platform this year.
Increasing website traffic and sales involves consumers taking direct action. This is typically measured by UTM links, specialized codes, and the number of sales. The best platform for increasing website traffic is YouTube because of the long lifespan of the content. Instagram does have the option to include swipe-up links in stories, but they disappear after 24 hours. YouTube videos with custom links in the description can last forever, so it is possible you may even see results after the campaign has ended.
Product
Some social media platforms are better suited for certain products. Keep in mind that this could be the first time someone is exposed to your brand, so aligning the platform with the product is key. YouTube is the perfect platform for products that tell a story. Through product reviews, vlogs, and integrations, influencers are able to go into much more detail about a product than they can with just a photo and caption on Instagram. TikTok is also a platform that works well for visually appealing products that might require more detail. The platform involves shorter-form videos than YouTube, but it is similar in ways because the content is focused on storytelling.
Instagram is still the most popular influencer marketing app and is a great way to showcase products and services in a quick and authentic way. With new creator tools like Reels and Guides, the app offers several ways for influencers to create content and showcase products.
Audience
Audience demographics are always necessary to consider, especially when it comes to selecting an influencer marketing platform. If your audience happens to consist of Gen Z, you should definitely consider TikTok. YouTube and Instagram users typically fall between the Gen Z and Millennial age demographics. If your audience skews towards older generations, however, don’t fret. Through a targeted search on each platform or by looking into other platforms like Facebook, you will be able to find influencers who reach your ideal demographic.
Another thing to consider is what your audience enjoys doing because there are certain platforms that are geared towards particular hobbies and activities. Do you have a product relating to gaming or lifestyle? Maybe look at platforms like Twitch and Pinterest. Pinterest has some influencers who have millions of users that engage with their page in a single month. On Twitch, users tend to be highly engaged for lengthy time periods as they watch their favorite gamers stream live. While these platforms may seem more targeted than other influencer platforms, the more authentic and engaged an influencer is with their audience, the more likely they are to be successful.
Conclusion
By considering these factors when selecting social media platforms for your influencer marketing campaign, you will be more likely to achieve your marketing goals. Social media is constantly changing and evolving, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the power of influencers. With influencer marketing, you can leverage that power to enhance your brand.
Ready to get started? Check out our influencer marketing services. Our Go Fish social media team is ready to help.
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