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In recent years, bloggers have become real icons of modern media culture. Their influence on the public is impressive, and many companies use this popularity to promote their products and services. In this article, we’ll look at how to use bloggers in your marketing campaigns and how to get the most out of working with them.
What do we know about influencers?
Influencer marketing is developing rapidly. According to an industry report by Influencer Marketing Hub and Creator IQ, back in 2016, the industry was estimated at $1.7 billion. And in 2019, it reached about $6.6 billion. You can notice the influence of bloggers even without financial analytics, as they already surpass most media outlets in terms of reach and engage their audience better.
Advertising pays off more than five times if you use the right formats and focus on relevant metrics. According to a study by Defy media, people perceive a recommendation from a blogger 63% more effectively than classic advertising.
This does not mean that you need to transfer your entire budget to influencers. Such marketing will work more effectively as part of a comprehensive marketing strategy. Companies often allocate up to 20% of their total budget to influencers, but a quarter of them plan to increase this to 30% in the future.
Trends in the Ukrainian market as of 02/24/22:
The market has undergone significant transformations, and its main participants have changed along with it. The number of new Ukrainian-language bloggers has increased among influencers. At the same time, small and medium-sized enterprises were the most active among advertisers. This was made possible by the Ukrainianization of social media users such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. According to statistics as of June 2022, posts written in Ukrainian accounted for 67% to 70% of the total.
In our agency, we observe the following trend changes: Russian content is gradually fading into the background.
In the current realities, small and medium-sized businesses have become the main players in the market, and they have become more flexible in their actions. They are already actively cooperating with a new generation of Ukrainian-language microbloggers with between 1,000 and 30,000 followers. This gives them a significant advantage, as these entrepreneurs are able to set up communication campaigns together with new bloggers who became popular during the war. The cost of their services remains within the budget of a small business, providing entrepreneurs with opportunities to increase conversions and sales.
How do you find bloggers that fit your business?
Finding bloggers to collaborate with is a task that requires research and strategy. Here are some steps to help you find the right bloggers for your collaboration.
- Identify your target audience: understanding your target audience is an important step. You should know who your customers are and what kind of blogger audience you are interested in.
- Social networks: searching for bloggers on social media sites like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, or Twitter can be very effective. You can use hashtags and keywords to find relevant bloggers in your industry.
- Blogging platforms: many bloggers have their own websites or profiles on specialized platforms. You can search for their contacts on such resources.
- Pay attention to the audience: not only the number of followers is important. Remember, you also need to investigate whether there was any fraud in the number of followers and likes. It is best to ask the influencer for statistics. Make sure that the blogger’s audience matches your target audience in terms of interests, age groups, and other factors.
- Analyze the content: review the influencer’s posts and highlights to make sure that their style of communication with followers and ability to share recommendations meet your needs.
What services to use for searching?
There are several online platforms that help you find bloggers to collaborate with. They help you search for bloggers using various filters. For example, trendHERO.
The site offers the opportunity to use its influencer search services for free within 14 days. For your convenience, you can also check for cheating in your account.
How to communicate with bloggers?
Communication is very important, because not only you choose an influencer, but they choose you. It is this person who finally decides whether they want to cooperate with you in the future and advertise your product or service.
At the first stage of cooperation, the main task is to introduce the influencer to the context of your brand and provide them with detailed information. Without a proper explanation, the blogger will not be able to convey it to their audience.
We recommend creating a clear brief in which you:
- tell us about your company;
- highlight its features;
- provide examples of similar integrations.
An important step is to involve the influencer or their team in the process of using your product. This will provide an opportunity to gain real-world experience, which will make the integration more authentic and close to the audience. Only after using the product or service you provide the blogger will be fully familiarized.
It is also important to collect feedback about your product from the influencer. The individual experience of the blogger or his team can be a valuable addition to the integration. It’s not uncommon for influencers to have questions or doubts about further cooperation after a detailed review of the product. It’s important to answer their queries and share your own usage history. If the influencer is satisfied with the results and quality of the product, you can proceed to formalize cooperation.
Formalizing cooperation and defining terms and conditions
The terms of cooperation between bloggers and businesses can be very diverse and depend on many factors including industry, budget, scope of work, and other circumstances.
Key aspects to consider when determining the terms of cooperation:
- Goals and expectations
Cooperation should have clear goals and expectations from both parties. The business should determine what results it expects from cooperation with a blogger, such as increasing popularity and sales or attracting new customers. Influencers should also be clear about the tasks and requirements they need to fulfill.
- Budget and reward
The budget for cooperation should be determined before the start of the project. Influencers should understand the fee they will receive for their services and how the payment will be made (partial or full prepayment, post-payment, or barter terms).
- Timing and schedule
Agree on a timeline and schedule. This includes dates and times of content release, deadlines for approving materials, completing work, and other key dates.
- Content rights and terms of use
Discuss the ownership and terms of use of the created content. If you plan to use this content in the future, you need to agree on the rights to it.
- Terms of success measurement
Determine how the success of the collaboration will be measured. This can include the number of views, likes, comments, purchases, clicks on links, and more.
- Procedure for terminating the collaboration
Discuss the conditions for termination of cooperation and possible sanctions in case of late fulfillment of the agreement.
- Protecting the rights of both parties
Define the rights and obligations of each party and ensure their protection in the contract.
How to teach a technical class?
Terms of reference (ToR) is a document that defines the purpose and structure of cooperation.
We have prepared a checklist for you that will help you provide information to a blogger in a high-quality and structured way.
Collaboration with bloggers is just one of the tools in marketing to grow your business. Don’t be afraid to experiment and look for new opportunities to collaborate with influencers.
