Influencer Marketing FAQs

What is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing describes a form of advertising directed at a digital target audience. The advertising is conveyed by a trusted person, who is also referred to as an influencer. Typically, the product advertising is played out on social media. Popular influencer accounts distribute sponsored posts to their followers there. In return, they receive products from the advertised brand and/or financial compensation. The postings can be played out organically or in the form of influencer ads. A product in combination with a suitable message from a person who is perceived as credible and authentic by the followers - that's what influencer marketing is all about.

What are Influencer simply explained?

An influencer, according to WIRED, is "someone (or something) with the power to influence the buying habits or quantifiable actions of others by posting some form of original - often sponsored - content on social media platforms." For this reason, more and more companies are partnering with influencers for promotional purposes. Influencers are close to their followers and appear authentic to them. The goal is to increase the value and credibility of the company's own brand message based on the trust of the respective target group in the influencer.

How big is the influencer marketing industry?

Influencer marketing is forecast to surpass $15 billion in 2022. Instagram has more than 1,000 million monthly active users. Brands are also continuously distributing advertising in cooperation with influencers via newer platforms such as TikTok. A BVDW survey shows how important influencer marketing has been as part of the marketing mix in Germany since as early as 2018: 61% of the companies surveyed had estimated increasing budgets for the following year. 26% were prepared to spend between €10,000 and €50,000 on influencer marketing, and for another 19% the budget was €50,000 to €100,000.

Why do companies use influencers? When does it make sense to use influencers or influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing makes sense for almost every company. Whether B2B or B2C - for almost every topic there are influencers and a target group on the social web. The only important thing is that companies define exactly which target group they want to reach and what the goals of the campaign are. The posts of the influencers from the couch at home or while walking the dog seem close and create a connection, because followers are allowed to participate in the life of the influencers - even if only in part. Influencers are close to their followers and appear authentic and trustworthy to them - precisely because they are so similar to them in their actions. It's not for nothing that influencers and followers often belong to the same generation. They have the same interests and a similar way of expressing themselves. Brands, by their very nature, can't offer that. Especially since the decision-makers in the companies are often too far away from the desired target group. Influencer marketing closes the distance between companies and end customers.

Does influencer marketing have a place in my marketing plan?

In the fashion, food, entertainment, beauty and lifestyle industries, influencer marketing makes up a large part of the marketing mix. There are also best practices and cases in the arts, travel, vacation, animals, fitness, sports, automotive, decor, technology, and even health and gaming. Basically, influencer marketing has a place in any marketing plan. The prerequisite is to plan influencer marketing well and implement it conscientiously. Beauty company Estée Lauder is known to spend 75% of its marketing on influencers, but even for startups, influencer marketing shows great results with small budgets.

What do Influencer Marketing Managers do?

As an Influencer Marketing Manager, you are responsible for the acquisition of suitable cooperation partners (influencers and bloggers). You organize the social media presence of customers or your own company and coordinate influencer activities. For this purpose, concepts and unusual campaigns are developed that fit the brand and are precisely geared to the target group. They are also responsible for monitoring, strategic development and adapting campaigns to corporate goals.

How can I find the right influencers?

There are many ways to select potential influencers for influencer campaigns. Influencer marketing software solutions, search engines, lists and social listening tools can be helpful in identifying suitable influencers. However, due to the many different social media channels on which a large number of influencers and their followers are active, this cannot be done without analyzing the influencer data. Data-driven information on influencers helps to exploit the potential of campaigns and to achieve promising results. You can learn more about the right influencer selection here.

What is engagement and how does a good engagement rate manifest itself?

Engagement is a measured consumer:in response to digital content such as influencer posts. In influencer marketing, engagement usually includes likes, shares, or comments. The engagement rate measures these metrics in relation to the total number of followers. The principle here is that the higher the engagement rate, the better, because followers interact with and perceive the influencer's content. However, a good engagement rate varies depending on the industry and the size of the influencers. Therefore, this value alone should not determine the suitability of the influencer.

What is influencer fraud? How much does influencer fraud cost?

The so-called fraud analysis is part of every professional influencer and success analysis in order to be able to make correct decisions. Not least because influencers have also learned and "consciously make their figures look better". Fake followers and engagements through "bots" are no longer a rarity. A July 2019 study suggests that advertisers have spent more than $1.3 billion on fake followers:ins. This wasted ad spend primarily affects agencies and companies that did not use supporting influencer marketing software when selecting and analyzing influencers.

How can I make sure that influencers I add to my community are not deliberately falsifying their numbers?

There are various approaches in the fraud analysis of Influencer, which come into question for cooperation. In general, for example, the comments of the posts can be examined. Unrelated or incomprehensible comments often indicate that bots are being used. For in-depth analyses based on data, the use of influencer marketing software is necessary. Data, such as a follower growth curve, can identify influencers fairly consistently with fake statistics. Irregular jumps in the curve often indicate that bots have been bought in and are glossing over engagement. Another way is to test influencer collaborations and build trust over time. "Test campaigns" combined with data-driven analytics that make success measurable can help you build long-term business relationships with potential Influencer. You can read about how to build a long-term community here.

What methods do influencers use to improve their metrics?

Common methods used by influencers to improve their stats include buying fake followers, fake likes, comments and story views. It's difficult to spot these scam tactics without influencer marketing software. A few other tactics to improve metrics in the short term are follow-for-follow, engagement groups, and loop giveaways.

How much does influencer cost? How much does influencer marketing cost?

Both the price of Influencer:in and the price of Influencer Marketing cannot be stated as a lump sum. Ultimately, influencer marketing is based on an exchange of values. The price varies with different parameters:

• Number of follower
• Awareness status
• Timing of collaborations (Is the Influencer:in currently busy?).
• Effort for the Influencer
• Authenticity of the partnership
• Testimonial value

Many influencers provide price lists upon request.

How do you implement influencer campaigns?

An influencer campaign starts with planning. To implement successful influencer campaigns, it is important to define the goals, develop a strategy and determine a target group as early as possible. Based on the strategy development and goal definition, influencers are selected and collected in a suggestion list. A number of suitable influencers are then selected from this list. The selected influencers are then contacted and cooperation is initiated. It is advisable to conclude an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) and a cooperation agreement with the influencers before moving on to the next phase of campaign implementation. Once the cooperation with the desired influencers has been established, it is important to brief them on the objectives of the campaign.

The next step is campaign implementation. After the briefing, the operational implementation of the campaign begins. The influencers develop their own text and image creations for the influencer campaigns on the basis of the briefing. Once the content has been completed by the influencer, it is first checked. Correction loops should be considered before the final approval. After approval, the content is published via the channels of the influencers.

In the last step, when the campaign is completed after its runtime, the evaluation of the KPI's takes place in order to measure the success. The evaluation is prepared in a detailed reporting.

How can an influencer marketing campaign be measured?

While the goals of influencer marketing range from brand awareness to increased sales, influencer managers should know about a few key metrics to measure their influencer campaigns. Essentially, it's about finding out if the collaboration with the influencer:in was successful and is a candidate for further collaborations. The following data is relevant for the internal measurement of influencer campaigns:

• Impressions
• Range
• Engagement Rate
• Traffic
• Conversions
• CPM, CPC, CPO

The data on which the focus is placed depends on the goal of the campaign. Influencer marketing software supports the evaluation of influencer campaigns.

How do I measure ROI in influencer marketing?

How to measure ROI in influencer marketing depends on the scope of influencer marketing activities and the goals set. Transactional campaigns, for example, provide a clear idea of results based on common influencer metrics and any internal sales and traffic measurements. However, influencer marketing organizations or agencies running influencer marketing on a large scale need to quickly create consistent reporting on the respective influencer marketing campaigns for a variety of key stakeholders across the organization. These in particular benefit significantly from influencer marketing software to streamline internal marketing communications and prove marketing ROI. You can read about which KPIs are important for measuring success here.

What do influencer marketing agencies do?

Influencer marketing agencies are typically employed by marketing departments. Outsourcing the collaboration with influencers makes sense especially for brands that do not have enough experienced influencer marketing staff. Agencies usually have a lot of experience in influencer marketing and access to strategic influencer marketing software solutions, which they use to run professional influencer campaigns for their clients. They also provide their clients with key insights and lessons learned to optimize influencer marketing along with industry best practices.

How to become an Influencer:in?

The best way to become an influencer is to post regularly about a specific topic and gain an engaged following. Marketers who want to work with professional influencers can expect them to have a deep understanding of business KPIs and effective communication skills. Influencers who can demonstrate an analytical understanding of influencer marketing know how to communicate with their audience to achieve promising results.

What are other terms that describe influencers?

The word Influencer:in refers to all digital creators. An Influencer:in can be anyone. Influencer Marketing Managers looking for alternatives to Influencer:in can search for Creators, Experts, Key Opinion Leaders and Content Creators instead.

What is the difference between bloggers and influencers?

Influencers are "at home" on Instagram. While bloggers often have a "second home" there. Bloggers often have a website or blog and post personal or informative content on selected topics there. Influencers, on the other hand, tend to be digital opinion leaders and work on social media platforms - regardless of whether they also run a blog on the side.

What is a Brand Ambassador?

Brand Ambassadors have already had positive experiences with a brand or product. They share these experiences with their followers and give product reviews, often without expecting much or anything in return from the brand. Brand Ambassadors can sell themselves well, are self-confident and specialize in a particular scene, industry or product group or in a narrowly defined topic. In this field, they are considered a luminary or an important opinion leader in the social networks and ideally have an interesting following for advertising companies. If the collaboration between the influencer and the company turns out to be particularly fruitful, a short-term cooperation can develop into an official position as a brand ambassador. Marketing managers who move beyond transactional influencer advertising into a holistic influencer relations strategy must make important strategic decisions to ensure positive long-term effects of an effective brand ambassador program. Building these types of relationships takes time and energy, but delivers excellent long-term results.

What are influencer relations?

In contrast to influencer advertising, which refers to transactional relationships, influencer relations means building long-term relationships with influencers as brand partners and brand ambassadors. Marketing managers pursuing a long-term influencer strategy should focus on building influencer relations. You can read more about how to build a long-term community here.

What types of influencers are there?

There are nano-influencers, micro-influencers, macro-influencers, mega-influencers and celebrity influencers.

What are nano or micro-influencers?

Nano- and micro-influencers are closely networked with their followers and have a strong connection to their community. Working with them can be beneficial for brands, as they usually have higher engagement rates than large influencers and appear very authentic. While nano-influencers:in can have a 1,000 to 10,000 followers, micro-influencers range from 10,000 to 50,000 followers. In contrast to influencers with a larger reach, they reach a specific audience.

What are macro-influencers?

Macro-influencers have a high reach of 500,000 to 1 million followers and are considered role models of the scene. They set the trends and are therefore often imitated by other colleagues.

What are mega-influencers?

Mega-influencers have a follower count of 1 million or more and therefore generate a high level of attention. They are the stars of the scene and get paid accordingly.

What are celebrity influencers?

Due to their celebrity alone, they have a huge fan community that far exceeds 1 million followers. They include athletes, movie stars, and pop stars. Cooperation is rather difficult due to their celebrity status.

Which influencers have the most followers on Instagram in Germany?

These are currently (as of January 2020) the Instagram accounts with the most followers in Germany:

• @toni.kr8s: Toni Kroos (22.7 Mio.)
• @m10_official: Mesut Özil (21.6 Mio)
• @lisaandlena: Lisa and Lena (15.2 Mio)
• @manuelneuer: Manuel Neuer (10.1 Mio)
• @bastianschweinsteiger: Bastian Schweinsteiger (9.7 Mio)

What are the main influencer business categories?

The IROIN® influencer marketing software allows users to filter influencers by the following industries:

• Beauty & Fashion
• Businesses & Careers
• Cars & Motorbikes
• Children & Family
• Clothes
• Sports Clothes
• Shoes
• Handbags & Accessories
• Travel & Tourism
• Video games
• Movies & TV
• Music
• Pets
• Photography
• Restaurants
• Food & Grocery
• Education
• Entertainment
• Fitness & Yoga
• Home & Garden
• How-to & Style

How do I approach influencers?

There are various ways to contact influencers. Usually, the first contact is via email or at events. Keep in mind that time is a limited resource for influencers and most of them receive several cooperation requests every day. A personal, well thought-out approach is therefore enormously important.

How can you convince influencers of the product?

A cooperation request to influencers should be well prepared. It should be explained to the influencer(s) why a brand would like to cooperate with the influencer(s) and why it believes that the product is well placed here. As a company, it is crucial to have dealt with the content of the influencers and to appreciate their expertise. In the course of this, companies should say as specifically as possible why the content from the person seems so appropriate. Last but not least, the offer made for the cooperation is of interest to the influencers. After all, the aim is to create a genuine win-win situation for both sides.

What is social media simply explained?

The term social media describes websites and apps through which users can create, share and network content. The central feature of social media is the interactivity between companies and users or between users themselves. Social media can also be regarded as a term for a media genre: This means that social media as a category is associated with more than the sum of media channels, e.g., an expectation of the form of communication.

What are the most used social media platforms?

As of October 2020, the following social networks and messenger services were ranked by number of users:

• Facebook (2.7 trillion users)
• YouTube (2 trillion users)
• Messenger services: Whatsapp (2 trillion users), Facebook Messenger (1.3 trillion users) , WeChat (1.2 trillion users)
• Instagram (1.1 trillion users)
• TikTok (689 million users)

How must a product placement be labeled?

A guideline on the labeling of product placements can be found at the State Media Authorities.

Are influencer posts paid media?

Not all Instagram posts are automatically paid media. A distinction is made between organic posts and influencer ads. Organic posts are shared in the feed of the influencer and displayed to their community. Influencer ads are "sponsored" advertising media that are played out in the name of the influencer. They reach the target group far beyond the followers and reduce negative associations of your brand through excessive advertising.

What are Influencer Ads?

Influencer ads combine the best of influencer marketing and paid media. They are also called dark posts and open up new opportunities for advertisers to professionalize their influencer marketing. They are used specifically on various social media platforms - currently, Facebook and Instagram are the most suitable platforms. These are posts that are displayed as advertisements in the name of the influencer. At first glance, they are not directly distinguishable from the influencer's organic content. They reach far beyond the influencer's circle of followers and overcome organic reach.

How much do Influencer Ads cost?

The costs depend on various factors. In principle, the highest bidders for ads get the best ad placements on social media (so-called auction process). The price depends on how many are bidding at the time of the campaign. Furthermore, the costs are determined by the campaign objective. These vary depending on whether the campaign is an impression, traffic, or conversion campaign. An impression campaign is the cheapest, followed by the traffic and finally the conversion campaign. The duration of the influencer campaign and the targeting of the target group (narrow or wide) also influence the price.