When you’re planning out your marketing, there are a lot of different platforms, strategies and tactics to consider. As an NFP, you might have toyed with the idea of influencer marketing. It may not be immediately clear how, but you can, in fact, use influencers to help promote your cause and make an impact. And we’re about to tell you how.
First, let’s start with basic housekeeping.
What is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is the art of collaborating with prominent online figures to improve brand recognition, market products or services, and in the case of NFPs, promote your cause by raising money or awareness (or both).
Influencers who are opinion leaders in their social circles introduce your organisation to their network and endorse your brand. This usually helps build a sense of connection and trust between their followers and your organisation.
Influencer marketing presents an excellent opportunity for NFPs to promote their work or connect with a new audience who might be interested in their activities. This form of marketing helps non-profit organisations boost their credibility and find new donors, among other benefits.
How to leverage Influencer Marketing for creating impact
Although influencer marketing might be a relatively new strategy, it seems to have evolved more quickly in recent times. According to Influence Marketing Hub, influencer marketing is expected to grow to $13.8 billion in 2021. So, it makes sense to leverage it for maximum impact.
Here are two important tips on how to get it right with influencer marketing.
1. Be clear about your goals
It’s crucial to have clearly defined goals before kicking off any campaign. For example, are you doing a fundraiser, running an educational campaign, or organising a brand awareness campaign? What milestones do you want to attain and when?
Influencers are more likely to create effective content when they are clear on your goals and deadlines. You can also collaborate with them to develop effective content that will help you achieve those goals.
2. Identify the right influencers
This is where the real challenge is. Being able to identify the right influencers can be a game-changer for your NFP. Generally, you need to be strategic about finding the right brand influencer. You should also go for quality instead of quantity. A micro-influencer with a highly engaged audience is better than a macro-influencer whose audience is largely disinterested.
If you can find an influencer in the NFP space who is passionate about your values, that’d be great. If not, working with influencers who want to show the world their humanitarian side and are ready to work with any well-meaning NFP will be just fine.
How to find Influencers that align with your values
To find the perfect influencers, you have to look in the right places. The first point of call is your immediate circle - your organisation’s social media channels, email lists, volunteer database, and other channels within your reach. You may be lucky to find a handful of influencers in your circle if you ask around.
The people who comment the most on your status updates, share your campaigns, and sign up for your events could be potential influencers. So reaching out to them with your partnership proposal won’t be such a bad idea. In addition, check the social media hashtags related to your cause and note the ones with the most engagement.
Another way to research suitable influencers is through the use of influencer marketing tools. These tools help you discover influencers through their conversations, the content they share, and their estimated engagements.
Chances are you’ll get a long list of influencers after going through the above tips. But before engaging any of them, you should make sure to do one last check. As Hootsuite puts it, this check involves relevance, reach, and resonance - the 3 Rs of influence. Ensure they have what it takes to:
- Create relevant content for your campaign
- Reach a large audience
- Generate enough engagement
With this in place, you’re on the road to a successful influencer marketing campaign.
Potential risks and how to mitigate them
As with every other business, influencer marketing comes with some potential risks.
These include deleting sponsored posts (sometimes, influencers lose their accounts), having a fake audience (influencers sometimes buy fake followers), contract breach, inauthentic content, and not getting the desired value.
Understanding that these risks exist prepares you for the worst. Thus, doing your due diligence before partnering with an influencer is super-essential. We’ve highlighted a few steps to take to run a risk-free campaign.
- Start by confirming if they’re truly influencers (in the sense that their followers take action based on their suggestions) or if they just have large followership. Don’t mix them up!
- Don’t kick off a campaign without a contract with clearly written terms.
- Working with verified brands is a plus.
- Be involved in the content development process.
Conclusion
Please note that as effective as influencer marketing is, it may not produce instant results. Think of it as similar to content marketing. It works mostly for those who are consistent and see it as a long-term marketing strategy. Also, you may need to work with different influencers over time to pick the ones with the best outcomes.
As a non-profit organisation, your strategy will be influenced by a slew of factors, but leveraging the organic influence of the right people to create deeper engagement between their followers and your brand is crucial for your brand in the long run.
Want to discuss ideas or create unique strategies for your next influencer marketing campaign? Get in touch today, we’d be happy to help.