Influencer marketing can be a relatively new concept for traditional marketers. It came into action with the increasing use and access of social media platforms. But what is influencer marketing about, and how can it help in promoting events? What are the common strategies for tapping into the power of prominent influencers?
If you have these questions as an event planner, we can help you determine the potential of influencer event marketing. This read will walk you through the A to Z of influencer marketing in growing your event planning business. Let’s get started!
What Is Influencer Marketing?
According to the statistics published by Sprout Social, the global influencer marketing industry is expected to hit $22.2 billion by 2025. This figure alone speaks about the potential of this unique form of marketing and its impact on business industries.
Influencer marketing is fundamentally a form of social media marketing that relies on endorsements and product promotions from influencers to grow the impact and recognition of a particular personality, brand, or product. Here, influencers are individuals who have a dedicated following on their social media accounts and are recognized as experts within their niches.
Typically, influencer marketing works due to the element of trust that influencers have with their audiences. Their followers actively view their posts (static, video, and stories) to stay ahead of the latest trends and developments within a particular niche. Consider the following types to understand how influencer marketing can impact a brand’s growth and recognition.
Macro-Influencers
These influencers have a large fan following (typically in millions). They specialize in a particular niche or industry that helps them grow their outreach across a particular market.
Micro-Influencers
Micro-influencers usually have smaller but highly impactful audiences (typically in thousands). They also specialize in a particular niche and communicate with a specific group of consumers.
Nano-Influencers
Nano-influencers are often recognized as beginners in the field of influencer marketing. They have a limited number of followers (fewer fans and loyal followers).
Generally, influencer event marketing involves macro- and micro-influencers, depending on a brand’s marketing objective, budget, and outreach goals.
Why Is Influencer Marketing Critical for Event Planners?
The event planning industry has the potential to generate massive profits through private and corporate events. However, many event planners struggle to achieve the status they deserve in the competitive market despite having the expertise. If you are one of them, understanding the crucial importance of influencer marketing in growing your business can benefit you at multiple levels.
Here, we have covered the core reasons why you need to focus on influencer marketing to grow your impact in the industry.
Expanding Outreach Through Influencer Networks
A common challenge for event planners and organizers is expanding their outreach in a particular market. Conducting large-scale events helps only when you have the power to gather relevant attendees. While paid marketing campaigns can be effective, they require a significant ad budget and knowledge.
This is where influencer marketing can be an optimal alternative. By partnering with an influencer marketer (specific to your target market), you can expand your outreach to create huge impacts. The wider reach can benefit you in terms of maximizing the number of attendees to your upcoming events, growing your brand recognition, and increasing your event planning profits.
Building Brand Awareness and Trust
Event planning is a huge responsibility. Many private and corporate companies hesitate to work with new event planning professionals due to the risk involved. Even the slightest negligence can impact a company’s reputation. This problem can be resolved by building your agency’s awareness and credibility in the competitive market.
No approach is as effective as influencer marketing in accomplishing this goal. Partnering with micro- or macro-influencers (depending on your budget) can help you gain the recognition and trust you need. This way, you can kick off your event planning business with big clients. When aiming for influencer marketing, be mindful of the influencer you choose. Remember, there are over 500,000 active influencers on Instagram alone. Do your research and pick the one that most accurately fits your goals.
Cost-Effective Marketing Approach
Event planning businesses spend a fortune in establishing their market. Despite a huge number of followers on their social profiles, they often struggle with conversions. Spending a marketing budget on ad campaigns can take significant amounts out of your pocket. Instead, focus on influencer marketing to reduce those costs.
Unlike TV and digital ads, influencer marketing does not require hefty amounts. Plus, you have vast options to choose from in the ever-growing influencer marketing domain. Cost-effectiveness helps you plan more promotions while expanding your loyal market in a specific area.
Authenticity and Personalization
An important factor that often puts businesses’ marketing budgets to waste is the lack of authenticity and personalization. As an event planner, you need certain features to stand out in the competitive market. Running ads on TV or digital channels may miss out on the personalization part. These promotional methods have become too mainstream for consumers and fail to create the impact a brand expects.
On the contrary, influencer marketing can effectively fill this gap. Influencers have unique ways of promoting ideas through their channels. They thoroughly analyze your business’s target market to address the USPs effectively. While valid, you may ensure partnering with an influencer that resonates with your target audience.
Faster Turnaround
Promoting a business today means that you need clients soon. If the expected outcomes take too long, they may not meet your demands effectively. Traditional marketing methods can take time due to high competition and the lack of personalization. As an event planner, you may have a target in mind to keep up with your monthly expenses.
With influencer marketing, you can expect a much quicker turnaround than other methods. Influencers have active followers who listen and adhere to their ideas. When they promote your brand, those in need are more likely to reach out to you soon.
Important Strategies to Identify and Collaborate With the Right Influencers
Influencer event marketing starts with choosing the right influencers. Picking the random options with massive fan followings may not give you the results you need. If you aim to grow your event planning business in a short time, you must pay attention to identifying the most relevant influencers before collaboration.
Here, we have highlighted the crucial strategies you need to follow for effective results.
Look for Influencers With Relevant Followers
With hundreds of micro and macro-influencers on social media platforms, finding one that meets your goals can be tricky. An effective strategy is to narrow your search based on the relevant audiences. Look for influencers with followers who can be your potential customers. Take time to go through the followers’ comments and likes to analyze their preferences.
A good rule is to be a follower yourself. Stay up-to-date with the latest posts and videos and analyze how they impact your behavior.
Check Relevance to Your Niche
An IT expert may best guide you in buying the best PC. The same rule applies to influencer marketing. You may focus on influencers that resonate with your business industry. When people hear about a business from an expert, they are more likely to explore it and book its services. Search for social influencers with expertise in your domain and reach out to them for effective results.
Discussing your goals with the influencer beforehand can help you in achieving clarity. Remember, influencer marketing is paid. You have a right to analyze all the odds before signing a contract.
Review Engagement Metrics
A common mistake some brands make is relying solely on the number of followers. When aiming to collaborate with an influencer, dig deep into their profile interactions. See if they have potential followers that can benefit your business (directly or indirectly). Some influencers have millions of followers, but only some of them are actively following the updates.
Be mindful of the engagement metrics to make a wise choice. If possible, seek help from an industry professional to make the right decision.
Rule Out Controversies
Influencers often get caught in controversies, impacting their trust and reputation in the competitive market. Such influencers may not be a good option when aiming to grow your event planning business. Remember, the whole point of influencer marketing is loyalty and trust. If they do not have these elements, you may consider other options in the industry.
When you come up with a list of influencers, take some time to research their records. Rule out the possibility of controversies before coming to terms with them.
Decide Terms and Compensation Clearly
An important strategy to build your brand’s positive reputation is to clearly decide your terms and compensation for influencer marketing. Negotiate as much as you like, but bring everything to clear contract terms. This can help you avoid conflicts during or after the promotional run. Moreover, you can avoid the negative impact of disputes on your event planning business down the road.
Deciding your terms with the influencer’s team beforehand can help you build good relationships for future collaborations.
How to Measure the Success of Influencer Partnerships
Collaborating with a social influencer is only the beginning. Your real focus should be on the positive effects of the partnership. To better understand how you can measure the success of your influencer marketing partnership, we have covered a quick guide below.
Brand Awareness and Recognition
Check your brand’s awareness and recognition in the competitive market after influencer partnerships. You can achieve this by tracking some highly specific variables. Here is what you should track.
Your Brand’s Followers
Once your collaboration campaign ends, track the number of followers on your event planning business’s account. It is best to start tracking this metric before your collaboration campaign to measure the before-and-after variations.
Your Brand’s Impressions
Impressions are the number of times a post is visible in feeds or timelines on social media sites. It is a critical metric to evaluate the success or failure of a promotional campaign. Track your brand’s impressions before and after the collaboration activity to determine its effectiveness.
Your Brand’s Hashtags
Branded hashtags can be your event planning business’s name and/or slogan. Influencers use these hashtags to direct potential traffic to your business page. Tracking your hashtag’s performance can be an effective way to evaluate the collaborative activity.
Conversions
Another important way to measure the success of your influencer partnership is by checking your conversion rate. Conversions may include product purchases, event signups, and any other action-oriented effect that may result from a promotional activity. Here is how you can track conversions.
Check Trackable Links
Checking the performance of trackable links used in influencer marketing campaigns can help you track the campaign’s effectiveness. Using solutions like Google Analytics can help you evaluate the traffic on each URL (shared throughout the promotional campaign).
Check Discount Promos
If you offer a discount promo in your influencer marketing collaborations, tracking the traffic through those promo codes can help you evaluate your campaign’s performance.
Content Evaluation
Using content evaluation metrics can help you measure the success of your brand’s influencer partnerships. Here is how you can track total content engagement.
Check Likes, Comments, Shares, and CTRs
Monitor the likes, comments, shares, and clicks (CTRs) on the promotional campaign to determine the success of your influencer partnership. These factors can help you analyze the audience’s response and feedback on your brand’s services.
Check Engagement Rate
Engagement rate refers to the number of post engagements, then divided by the number of views or followers. Higher engagement rates reflect that the audiences found the posts more relatable to their interests and vice versa.
Building Mutually Beneficial Relationships With Influencers
Influencers always seek collaborative opportunities to enhance their value and recognition in the competitive market. The whole point of brand collaboration (from an influencer’s perspective) is to create a win-win scenario for both sides. When aiming for influencer event marketing, keep this factor in focus to get the best outcomes.
When you care for an influencer, they care for your brand. Here are the best practices for building mutually beneficial relationships with influencers.
Goal Research and Alignment
For influencer marketing, an important factor in establishing a win-win scenario is aligning certain goals with each other. For instance, your goal may be increasing your brand’s social media engagement. The influencer’s goal may be to gain some benefit from your services (for instance, discounted prices for event management).
Analyze the common benefits and make ways for each other to get the best marketing results. Offering discounts to the influencer may put you in their good books and vice versa.
Engage Before Collaboration
One of the best practices for mutually beneficial influencer marketing campaigns is engaging with the influencer ahead of collaboration. Many businesses stick to the business and overlook the importance of profile engagement. When you like, share, and comment on the influencer’s page, they are more likely to show appreciation for your work.
Such interactions can help you build relations beyond work. They can also be beneficial for future collaborations.
Personalize Reach-Out Messages
When reaching out to influencers on social media, take time to go through their progress and achievements. Mention them in your messages to create personalized texts. Such messages stand out among the rest and help you build positive relations with the influencer’s team.
Personalizing messages can pay you back in terms of increased engagement, loyal clients, and more post impressions.
Be Clear About Your Expectations
An effective way to build mutually beneficial relations with influencers is to be clear about your expectations. Be kind, but never hesitate to state your requirements. Remember, influencers are paid to promote businesses and their products. Take time to list your requirements and be vocal about them without being disrespectful.
When you ensure transparency, influencers like it and show willingness for future collaborations. Plus, you can have better negotiations with their teams in terms of compensation.
Post-Collaboration Gratitude and Feedback
A highly encouraged practice that can mutually benefit businesses and influencers is post-collaboration gratitude and feedback. After your campaign is over, take time to thank the influencer for offering their services. You can also provide them with your feedback to help them improve their promotional tactics for future collaborations.
Such gestures can keep both sides in each other’s good books without harming their sentiments. They can also help you in improving future collaborative experiences.
FAQs About Influencer Marketing and Events
How do influencers help promote events?
Influencers can promote your event to an audience you wouldn’t otherwise have access to, thus broadening your reach. By sharing event details, photos, and hashtags, influencers can generate buzz that drives attendance.
How do I land an influencer for my New York event?
Do your homework to find an influencer whose values align with your event. Make your invitation to collaborate sizzle, using incentives and value.
What do I look for in an online influencer?
Look for influencers who share your event values. And partner with those top contributors who already have a captive audience you’re trying to reach with your event.
The Takeaway Regarding Influencer Marketing
Influencer event marketing is an effective strategy to grow your event planning business in the modern-day market. Gone are the days when traditional marketing solutions provided sufficient conversions. Event planners rely on out-of-the-box and personalized tactics to expand their reach in the competitive market.
Going through the above details can help you analyze the definition of influencer marketing, its importance in the event planning industry, and crucial strategies for influencer collaboration. They can also guide you on different tactics to measure the success of collaborative campaigns.
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