The greatest threat to sponsored ads on social media is influencers. They reach twice more people than you would ever reach if you did sponsored ads to sell your business.
If you doubt this, go on social media, see how many likes and engagement a sponsored ad has, then see how many likes and engagement happens on an influencers page.
When it comes to influencing, Instagram influencers are the Kings of this business. This is because humans are attracted to visuals and Instagram is all about visuals and images.
Influencers are sometimes called celebrities because just like your actors, musicians, and the rest, they have a fanbase. A lot of people look up to them, trust their choices, and follow what they say. They have a community.
Which is why you need them.
If you had an Instagram influencer post your product on their page for a day or days, you would have people coming to your page to either make orders or to follow you. Again, these people who follow these influencers trust them. So if the influencers say your product or service is gold, you will have a bunch of people believing that your product or service is gold.
Now that we have established how important they are, and what they can do for you. How do you leverage them?
Paid ads: Now, this sounds pretty basic. But you need your business out there, and they know how to put your business out there. Don't create the content. Give them the important details and let them create the content around these details. You are letting them create the content because they know their audience and they know the language their audience understands.
They also know how to give their audience what they want. So let them create the content. This would cost more, but it is better. If the influencer you are an online comic act using skit, leaving the content in their hands, means telling them that they have to create a skit that would be funny and still sell your business. This is popular in the Nigerian influencer marketing business.
Different skit makers advertise products and services using their comic videos. These videos are sometimes downloaded by their fans and reshared in different places just for laughs, but guess what? So has the product or service advertised.
So, paid ads are a great way to start, just remember, let them deal with the content creation. That content got them the followers they have now, it will get you the publicity you need.
Reviews: Whatever service or product you're offering, the feeling will be stronger if the person talking about it has used it before. If you want an influencer to talk about your product or service with passion, let them use it and like it.
''Guys, use this, this is good' is not as strong as 'Guys, check out this stuff I used a few days ago, I like it, you should try it out'. When you look at both statements, you can see that one is making the statement relatable, and then instilling trust. It's like saying, 'do this because I did it and I liked it. So I am telling you to do it too, I can vouch for this'. They are telling their fans that they trust whatever it is you are offering.
Reviews are a great way to get people to do something, even when it is coming from a non-popular person. People read the reviews of an app before downloading it. If an Instagram influencer has great reviews of your work, then expect that they will get you the sales that you need.
Go for their stories: Now, since the invention of stories on Instagram and Facebook. The audience got larger. The algorithm thing that disturbs Instagram does not disturb its stories channel.
For every 10 persons that see an Instagram post, 100 see the stories of the person. So if you make that deal with your preferred influencer, do prepare for a page storm. Because a lot of people will see their stories and then those who require your services will get back to you.
Just make sure that whatever image you are providing is catchy enough for them to want to get interested. While it is easy for someone to see a post on a story, it is easier for them to scroll past it with speed if it doesn't interest them. No one has that much time to waste on an uninteresting subject.
Giveaways: This is pretty simple. Have something you want to give out to people. It could be your service or product free of charge, it could also be money or other kinds of gifts. Get the influencer to make a post about it, while directing them to your page with other instructions on how to win it. It's that simple.
However, let this always be your last resort. While it is the most effective way to get a large crowd, it is also seen as desperate, and the crowd it gets is fickle. They came for money, and once they get it, they are gone like the wind.
There you go. Using influencer marketing to make sales is a great idea, just as long as you can properly leverage the influencers. If you are unable to properly leverage these influencers, you might end up spending money on them, and not making enough sales to cover up for those expenses. If you are not making sales to cover up for expenses, you should not be having those expenses.