In 2024, many leading brands have seen an increase in brand loyalty, engagement, and awareness via influencer marketing.
Their secret weapon? A solid influencer marketing strategy that delivers results again (and again).
Whether you’re a seasoned vet or looking to scale, our team is sharing all their strategy-building secrets to help you get the most out of your campaigns.
Table of Contents
What Is an Influencer Marketing Strategy?
Spoiler: Great influencer marketing campaigns don’t just happen overnight.
The best ones use clear messaging, have measurable goals, and connect with their target audience — and they owe it to their influencer marketing strategy.
Why Should You Invest in Influencer Marketing?
From knocking down the barriers of traditional advertising to tapping into highly engaged online audiences, it’s no secret that influencer marketing can be a great tool to add to your business' belt:
88% of Gen Zs and Millennials use social media to research products they’re interested in buying
69% of consumers are more likely to trust a friend, family member, or influencer recommendation over a brand recommendation
The creator economy is estimated to be worth more than $100B
Influencer marketing has a projected value of $24.1B by 2025
The numbers speak for themselves.
FYI: Later's in-house team of experts are trusted by leading brands to manage their influencer marketing campaigns — from strategy to analysis. Schedule a call to learn more.
What Makes a Good Influencer Marketing Strategy?
When it comes to lasting influencer marketing success, Later’s Sr. Enterprise Customer Success Manager Regan M. Powers says it’s all about creating (and refining) a strategy that ladders up to your overall marketing goals.
“If your strategy is to run a few campaigns without any real focus, you’re unlikely to see meaningful results,” says Regan.
Later’s Associate Director of Services, Nicole Kobeda, agrees.
“Hone in on your ‘why’ and think about how influencers can help you reach your goals, rather than jumping into campaigns solely because competitors have found success,” she adds.
The takeaway? A worthwhile influencer marketing strategy is not a “set it and forget it” type of deal.
How To Create an Influencer Marketing Strategy — According to the Pros
Ready to create an influencer marketing strategy that drives real results? Here are all the need-to-knows, straight from Later's team.
#1: Define SMART Goals & KPIs
Before you kick off your influencer marketing campaigns, it’s essential to define your SMART goals and metrics.
Are you looking to build brand awareness? Drive clicks? Generate more leads?
This will help guide the type of campaigns you create, the influencers you work with, and your ideal influencer marketing ROI.
Regan’s advice? Don’t be afraid to think outside of typical KPIs like conversions and engagement.
”Metrics like repurposable assets, media efficiencies in paid efforts, and sentiment goals can also help optimize your efforts and boost future campaigns,” Regan says.
Win-win.
Later's influencer marketing tools let leading businesses discover their estimated ROI, find new creators, and manage their campaigns. Schedule a call today.
#2: Identify Your Target Audience
Knowing your audience is a key component of a successful influencer marketing campaign.
Why? It helps determine which influencers you work with.
It’s simple: “Keep your target audience’s pain points and needs at the forefront of your strategy, and you’re already halfway there,” says Regan.
#3: Set a Budget
How much budget will you allocate towards your influencer marketing strategy? Be prepared to consider costs for:
Paying influencers: Their rates can range depending on how many followers they have, the platforms they'll be posting on, and the type of content they'll create (e.g. static posts versus video).
The influencer marketing platform: Costs can range depending on whether you'd like ongoing monthly support or a one-off massive campaign.
Additional ad spend: Will you want to use paid support to boost content created by influencers?
TIP: “If you’re working at scale, it can be valuable to set a flat rate. However, if you want to be more selective about the creators you work with, collect rates and ‘tetris’ your budget together,” advises Regan.
#4: Identify Relevant Influencers & Reach Out
Once you’ve compiled a shortlist of potential influencer partners, it’s time to make the first move.
“Your initial message to a creator can make or break a potential partnership, so it’s worth putting in some extra effort,” says Nicole.
If in doubt, follow this guide:
Introduce yourself: Be clear with who you are and your role. Talk about why you think they’d be a great fit for the campaign.
Outline your campaign idea: Let them know what you have in mind for the collaboration.
Ask for their media kit: Get insight into their audience demographics, important numbers, and past collaborations.
Detail your budget or ask for their rates: Keep in mind that rates can fluctuate — so be ready to negotiate a fee based on your budget and expected deliverables.
TIP: You can automate influencer discovery and outreach with Later's influencer search tools.
#5: Manage Your Influencer Campaigns
Once you’ve contracted your creators, Nicole advises breaking out your workflow into steps.
“The key management components are content reviews, communication with stakeholders, and processing payments,” says Nicole.
Our top tip? Let Later’s services team handle it all (more on that, below).
#6: Track Your Results & Refine Your Strategy
It’s important to track, monitor, and measure the results of your campaign.
“How did the influencer’s audience receive the content? How efficient was your spend?” asks Nicole.
This way, you can see how the content performed and use it to inform future campaigns — whether it’s working with the same influencers, finding new ones, or refining your goals.
PRO TIP: Measure your earned media value (EMV) and ROI to capitalize on long-term partnerships!
Optimize Your Influencer Marketing Strategy With Later Influence
If you’re looking to set up your influencer marketing campaigns for success, using a platform like Later Influence is the way to go.
With it, you can:
Search our influencer index (with over 10M vetted influencers and counting!)
Access discovery tools that filter by industry, primary platform, and more
Manage outreach and communications — all in one place
Streamline payments, budgets, and reporting
And if you want to take it a step further, you can let our marketing services team manage your influencer marketing campaigns for you.
This means we’ll handle everything from strategy, to sourcing influencers, to execution and tracking results.
And that’s that — with the help of our team’s tips and the best influencer marketing platform, you’re bound to create an influencer marketing strategy that delivers time and time again.
