Social media influencers use a number of strategies to promote the brands that they endorse. Some rely on simple posts with images of them using a product, others promote dedicated videos, and others share brand-generated content. However, just because a certain strategy works well for one brand, doesn’t necessarily mean it will be as effective for another. It’s all about understanding how to get an influencer to promote your product in a way that resonates with your target audience. You also need to make sure you find the right fit for your brand and keep up to date with influencer marketing trends. That way, you can stay relevant, engage your audience, and build brand trust and credibility.
When it comes to social media influencing, the secret ingredient is keeping things simple. That way, your message will be clear, and you will attract more followers to your brand.
Here are three easy ways to ask an influencer to promote your product.
Product Gifting
Product gifting can be a great way to promote your merchandise. Essentially, it is where you send a sample of your products to an influencer in the hope that they will share a positive review about it on social media. The aim is to provide the influencer with an opportunity to try your products for themselves, learn more about your brand through first-hand experience, and hopefully become a fan. That way, the testimonials they share will be based on their own personal opinions rather than a pre-scripted brief.
Product gifting is one of the cheapest ways to get an influencer to promote your product. What’s more, a positive review can work wonders for boosting awareness of your brand and driving sales, provided your product is something that their followers are likely to be interested in. However, this strategy is not without its risks.
For one thing, just because you send a product to an influencer, there is no guarantee that they will share your product through their profile. There’s also no guarantee that they will even like it, so there is a chance that if they do share a post, it might not be as favorable as you’d hoped.
If you opt for this strategy, make sure you do your research first, don’t just send your products out to a list of random influencers. It’s also important to make contact with an influencer in the right way and establish an agreement. That way, they will understand who you are as a brand before they tell their audience about what you have to offer.
Shoutouts
Shoutouts can be a quick and effective way to get your name out there and attract attention to your brand. Put simply, a shoutout is a public endorsement of your brand or product, where an influencer asks their audience to support you by following your page or liking your posts, for example.
Shoutouts are particularly effective on Instagram (often referred to as an Insta shoutout or IG shoutout). The right influencer can serve as a platform to launch your own Instagram profile and build a loyal following.
One way to do this is with an S4S (shoutout for shoutout), where you trade shoutouts, but this method works better once you have your own established following. You could also approach an influencer to see if they would be interested in doing a voluntary shoutout. However, this will only work if an influencer is already familiar with your product, and they genuinely love and endorse it.
The best way to launch a shoutout, especially if you are a new brand, is through a paid brand promotion. This is where an influencer mentions your brand or products on their social media page and includes images or videos together with a clear call to action. You can then benefit from their own established sense of social proof and build brand credibility.
Contests and Giveaways
Contests and giveaways are a great influencer marketing strategy for getting your brand out there and promoting your products. Providing you create the right content, that is. Make sure your contests and giveaways are creative enough to attract attention and create a buzz, but simple enough for users to be encouraged to participate.
For example, effective contests and giveaways might involve getting an influencer’s audience to perform specific actions like sharing a post, tagging a friend, or signing up to a mailing list in order to enter a contest and have a chance of winning a prize. Or you could partner with an influencer and get them to lead a video challenge related to your product or brand.
Whatever content type you choose, make sure you understand how to get an influencer to promote your product in the most effective way possible. That means that you need to partner with the right influencer who understands the purpose of your campaign. You also need to make sure the post they promote includes as much useful information about the contest as possible. This includes a clear CTA, the prize that followers could win, and when the winner will be announced. The clearer the message, the more likely they are to want to participate.