In the realm of marketing, influencers are a potent force. They generate evergreen sales chances that can reach millions of internet consumers in addition to raising brand recognition.
Statistics emphasize the effectiveness of influencer marketing even more. 90% of marketers think its ROI outperforms other marketing channels, and almost half of all customers rely on at least one influencer when making purchases.
If your company hasn't looked into influencer marketing, you can be losing out on a significant source of income.
7 ways to drive sales using influencers
1. Get influencers to review your products
Audiences nowadays are dubious of the claims made in branded marketing materials. They would prefer suggestions for products from actual people, especially influencers.
Nearly twice as many customers (more than 60%) believe the veracity of influencer evaluations as they do commercial material. Additionally, a lot of customers strongly depend on influencers to research possible businesses or new goods.
So getting them to evaluate your items is one of the finest methods to use influencers to boost sales.
Influencers have a variety of approaches to evaluating things. Probably the most popular format on websites like YouTube or Instagram is video. But other content producers include your goods in media like podcasts, blog articles, or even interviews.
Encourage influencers to offer honest assessments of your product—rather than simply general endorsements—to raise potential sales for your business and foster trust and confidence.
2. Give exclusive discount codes to influencers
Offering discount coupons is one of the simplest methods to begin using influencer marketing.
Discounts on your products entice customers to check out your website and consider your selection. Additionally, they provide cost savings because 97% of consumers hunt for discounts when purchasing new goods.
Using influencers to give a discount is a straightforward approach. Once you've identified an influencer in your market, give them a promotional code they may use to share with their followers. The time constraint will make your items seem more scarce and encourage customers to buy right away.
To persuade viewers to act, you need to concentrate on a certain kind of discount.
Some of the most common options include:
- Discounts of a certain percentage to boost sales
- Shipping reductions for first-time purchases
- Discounts for price reductions on large-volume purchases
You may invite influencers to join your community through the Shopify Collabs app to generate discount vouchers for them. The Shopify Collabs app rapidly offers a discount coupon for influencers to share with their friends and followers when a creative is added to an affiliate tier.
Here are the steps:
- Choose Tiers
- Click the Tier name
- Click the Affiliate tab
- Click on “Add Affiliate”
The influencer will be notified of the new offer as soon as it is made. To be sure, you should also get in touch with them by email or DM.
3. Run a contest or giveaway with influencers
A tried-and-true tactic that helps influencers increase engagement with their audience is running contests and giveaway programs. In the meanwhile, companies have the chance to increase brand recognition and get their products into the hands of interested consumers.
You may start a promotion campaign with influencers or co-host a giveaway where the influencer and your company choose the giveaway's rules and rewards.
Participants in the majority of influencer giveaways are required to tag a friend and share the post with their followers. These activities not only allow partner brands' user-generated material to distribute on their branded channels, but also assist partner businesses to draw more attention to their products.
4. Ask influencers to use your branded hashtag
Branded hashtags are a straightforward approach to guarantee that your brand is seen by your target demographic on social media.
While you are free to use a generic hashtag for your brand, we advise using a hashtag tailored to your campaign for any social media activations.
The hashtag #thisiskitandace is highly engaging for the Canadian apparel company Kit and Ace. This is only one success story with a campaign-specific hashtag.
5. Run a social media takeover with an influencer
Want to change up your content and attract more viewers? A social media takeover is often a smart move. The influencer posts on your behalf for a predetermined amount of time during a takeover. Takeovers typically run from an hour to a whole day, although can may extend up to a week.
During a takeover, your audience will have the chance to learn more about the influencer's relationship with your company.
You may either adopt a more internally managed strategy and have them feed you stuff to publish personally, or you can give them access to your social media account credentials and let them go for the gold.
6. Have influencers curate gift guides during the holidays
Gift suggestions, particularly those from influencer accounts, might come in handy for folks who put off their Christmas shopping but still want to buy dependable, high-quality presents. Gift guides are collections of choices, typically categorized by category, that provide buyers with alternatives for everyone on their list.
For every special event, from yearly celebrations like Mother's Day or Valentine's Day to customary holidays like Christmas, Chanukah, and Kwanzaa, you may team up with an influencer.
You may collaborate with influencers on gift recommendations in a few different ways.
- Influencers create a gift guide that only features gifts by way of your store: This works well for businesses that provide a variety of goods and can effectively act as a one-stop shop for Christmas customers.
- Influencers create a gift guide that features multiple brands: If you want to work with several influencers or have a smaller campaign budget, this might be a perfect alternative. Additionally, you may direct particular items to influencers who might be a good fit.
7. Make unboxing videos with influencers
Content unboxing is much more than just a trend. With Instagram now hosting the majority of that material, these films, which first appeared on YouTube in the early 2000s, are now more popular than ever. Because uncertain customers are more likely to act on suggestions from influencers, utilize unboxing footage to show off your items from various perspectives.
Make sure the makers of the unboxing films you collaborate on with influencers have the resources and expertise to showcase your items to their greatest advantage. Influencers should be provided with information on your product's attributes so they can explain the packaging, design, and other pertinent elements. It also entails making sure the influencer has the tools and lighting setup necessary to present a favorable impression of the brand.
Use these influencer marketing strategies in your business
It's time to use Shopify Collabs to put all of your influencer marketing strategies to work for you to increase sales. You can quickly increase brand awareness and product sales as long as you're inventive and aware of your influencer's audience.
Using influencers to drive sales FAQ
Influencers may boost sales, that much is certain. Many influencers are skilled at using original marketing strategies to engage their audience. Their ideas and audience reach may be used to boost sales for your company.
Look up the influencer's preferred method of communication in their bio, then get in touch with them and make a quick proposal to work together on a product campaign. Rule of thumb: Use direct messaging on the person's preferred platform if there is no other way to reach them. If you have information, share it as soon as you can to generate interest and link people's social media activity to your campaign.
1- Discount codes
2- Product reviews
3- Unboxing videos
4- Holiday gift guides
5- Social media takeovers
6- Contests and giveaways
7- Use of campaign-specific hashtags
