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The way businesses market is constantly evolving. Younger audiences are not responding to the same traditional marketing methods brands have been using for years. These days, we trust the opinions of influencers and public figures to guide us in what to buy, when to buy it and why we need it.
So, how can you or your small business invite influencers to collaborate to create content together?
This blog will explain how to approach influencers, leverage their creativity, and grow your brand's audience via video marketing using Clipchamp. We'll discuss:
What is influencer marketing?
How to collaborate with influencers for video marketing?
Where can small businesses find influencers?
Clipchamp's example influencer outreach template
What is Influencer Marketing?
Marketing is like speaking another language if you aren’t familiar with the latest. Trying to choose an appropriate platform for your product and figuring out which strategies are most effective for your target audience is tricky, to say the least. That’s why influencer marketing using video is the perfect way to help businesses reach new potential customers, create awareness, and boost your return on investment.
Influencer marketing is a strategy that businesses can use to promote their latest products or services by teaming up with influential social media users or public figures. These influencers generally have quite a large number of followers and high engagement rates to help your business build credibility and drive sales.
Influencers (and especially micro-influencers) also have a great pulse on what content works and execute ideas very easily. They can basically be doing all the heavy lifting for small brands.
So how can partnering with an influencer benefit your small business?
You’re able to reach a much bigger audience,
You can grow your social media presence and followers faster,
You can build trust surrounding your brand,
You can increase website and social media traffic,
You can generate more leads,
You can drive future sales.
If your favorite Instagramer, TikToker, or YouTuber is seen using or wearing a particular brand, you’re more than likely to research the brand for yourself and even purchase from them. The effectiveness of influencer marketing is proven.
How to collaborate with influencers for video marketing?
Building a following on social media doesn’t happen overnight. These influencers have worked hard to earn a platform with a huge organic audience. That's why you shouldn't expect that the collaboration will be free. The easiest way to leverage influencer marketing is to pay them their going rate for a video post.
Now small businesses don’t necessarily need or can afford influencers on a Kylie Jenner or LeBron James level. Staying practical and choosing a good micro-influencer is a good strategy.
Micro-influencers with 100 000 - 800 000 followers will still gain your business a large amount of traffic.
Finding the right match
Choose more than one influencer to approach in case 4 out of 5 influencers move your email to the trash can. Select influencers by their demographic of followers. If you’re selling cosmetics, skincare, or feminine products, try reaching out to influencers who already promote similar products and have the same target audience as you. For example Australian beauty guru Shani Grimmond or Lauren Curtis. There’s really no point sending your product to Jiffpom as they will 100% not even try your product. Find relatable influencers and public figures who already promote similar brands to your own. We will discuss how to find appropriate influencers further down in Where can small businesses find influencers.
Outreach marketing
Generally, influencers work with a personal manager who handles all their collaboration offers. You will need to contact them via email. This process is called outreach marketing. You will use email to establish a relationship with the influencer or manager so that you can get passive web traffic, reach new audiences, and earn links back to your content. Your email should include a brief of what you’re looking for from them and how they can help your business.
Create a good brief
Make sure you’re clear about the goals you want to achieve from this collaboration and the specific audience you want to target. Outline the general concept behind the presentation, what you expect the influencer to talk about, and what information is to be shared. Ask what their posting schedule is like and how active they are as social media users.
Create an “Influencer Marketing Strategy” and budget
The key to a successful influencer marketing strategy is to include all the right steps. It needs planning, research and constantly nurturing relationships.
Your strategy should include:
Outreach marketing - form a relationship with the influencer or manager,
Goals and KPIs for your product - how many products you want to sell, website exposure, among others,
Influencers' target market - who will be watching the marketing video,
Determine what motivates your influencer to promote content
Create an influencer strategy -
what is the influencer promoting? Early access, discount code, demonstration, etc.)
Be clear about what you have to offer
In your initial email, be clear about what you are offering the influencer in return for a marketing video. A detailed product demo video will take the influencer a longer time to make rather than a quick TikTok, therefore they will charge a higher rate. You can offer a straight out paycheck, free products, a discount for themselves or their followers. The more you are willing to give them, the better chance the influencer will accept your offer. Suggest free to use programs the influencer can use to edit their video with to help them save time and money. Clipchamp is completely an in-browser experience, easy to use, and free.
Where can small businesses find influencers?
If you’re ready to find the right influencer to work with you and your small business, there are a few tips to help you research and find the perfect match for your campaign:
Tip #1: Take note of your social media comments and existing followers
The ideal situation would be to choose an influencer who is already engaged in your content and brand. One of the best ways to find a brand advocate is someone who is already following! Take note of stand out comments from your followers.
Is there a particular person who consistently comes up or genuinely is invested in your content? Don’t forget about your “tagged in” posts and DMs. People who have tagged you previously in their personal stories or posts are a good sign they love your product and want to share the news about your business.
Tip #2: Scroll through your competitor’s social media
If your competitor has worked with influencers before you, it will give you a good idea of the specific genre of influencer you want to approach. If the account has posted a video featuring an influencer, look at the number of video views and engagement it has. The more the better! Your competitors' comment section is also a great source of information. You might spot potential and verified influencers for your upcoming project. If the user is already liking, commenting, and engaging in your competitors' content, there’s a strong chance they will also like your products.
Tip #3: Ask your Instagram audience
There’s no better way to find out which influencers your followers love than to ask them yourself! Your followers most likely follow a ton of other influencers and brands, therefore they will definitely let you know who they’d like to see your brand partnered with. An Instagram poll or question box is the best way to connect with your followers. A simple question like “who’s your favorite influencer?” or “Picture this: you’re at Playlist Live (A YouTube expo). Who do you want to hear speak?” You might end up with a long list of potential influencers to reach out to.
Tip #4: Potential Influencers’ Demographics
To determine if your audience matches a potential influencer, you need to take a look into their demographics. Look for where their followers are located, age group, gender, language and lifestyle. Your main goal isn’t to reach their entire list of followers, rather just to see if your following overlaps at all. If you’re looking to promote a product with an influencer in a specific country, make sure a majority of their following is there too.
This step is extremely important when finding the right eyes to showcase your product or services to and who is most likely to buy. Keep an eye out for followers who don’t have a profile picture and have a random social media handle full of numbers. These are most likely to be not genuine accounts.
An Influencer Outreach Template
Writing an introduction outreach email can be quite daunting if you have never sent one before. You want to introduce your brand and directly get to the point of the collaboration while also building a working relationship. We have created an easy to follow influencer outreach template for you to use. We have used Clipchamp as the example company below for the description. All you need to do is add in your details and modify it to suit your business!
Hello [name],
I hope this week has treated you well.
My name is [your name] and I am the owner of [company name].
Clipchamp [replace with your company name and company description] is a global video editing platform that provides its users with all the tools needed to produce beautiful and impactful video content. Clipchamp’s video editor allows anybody to make high-quality, picturesque videos including Youtube tutorials, Instagram ads, and professional presentations + more, without relying on expensive equipment, complicated software, or any previous video production experience.
I am so excited to announce our new [feature, product, service] and think your audience would love it. Would you be interested in testing [feature, product, service] and creating a short 1-minute review video for social media? Feel free to check out our socials [social handles] and browse all of our latest products at [website link].
If this sounds like something you would be interested in, I can provide you with a free month subscription for you to review, and another free month subscription for you to give away to a follower.
Thanks for your time and we are looking forward to your response.
Kind regards, [your name]
Let’s start editing!
Get started with Clipchamp to make a template for your influencers to use consistently. Create your very own template or video marketing on social media, or use one of our already made Instagram or TikTok video ad templates. Check out our How Can Videos Build Customer Loyalty blog for essential tips and tricks, plus free templates!
