Since its advent, digital marketing has grown by leaps and bounds and spawned many different types of marketing. Of which, collaboration with influencers and paid advertising are two very commonly used forms that have proven to be effective over a long period of time in the market.
1 Collaboration with micro-influencers
Micro-influencers are social media stars with relatively large following, typically in the 5,000-100,000-follower range. They don’t necessarily have a macro influence, but they have the potential to increase followers, creating favorable opportunities for brands without having to spend large amounts of money like when collaborating with a macro influencer.
Although one of the biggest attractions of collaborating with a micro-influencer is the deep connection in real life. In general, micro-influencers aren’t too swayed by emerging online fame and tend to get along better with followers. This makes their influence in recommending a product much more valuable to the brand owner. New brands that have yet to attract customers can enjoy an immediate return in sales by making good use of their existing influencer.
Where can we find micro-influencers?
There are many platforms or search engines for influencers that suit brands. Here are some platforms for you to find influencers:
YouTube
With over 2.3 billion monthly active users, YouTube has become the world’s second most popular social media platform. For ecommerce brands, implementing video content as part of your purchase funnel can be hugely profitable, especially when partnering with a YouTube influencer.
Statistics on ThinkwithGoogle shows that:
- Over 90% of users say they discover new brands or products on YouTube
- Over 40% of shoppers globally say they have purchased products they discover on YouTube
YouTuber influencers are the new celebrities we listen to for advice and product recommendations. They are ordinary consumers who are able to generate instant sales for the product.
E-commerce brands can collaborate with YouTube influencers in a variety of ways, including product promotions, endorsements and video sponsorship agreements.
Blogs
While some influencers enjoy being in front of the camera, others prefer a more indirect approach like blogging. E-commerce brands can hire bloggers to write detailed product reviews that are likely to appear high in search results, or have bloggers write content that showcases the brand’s products as one. solutions to problems that readers may encounter.
In the early days of influencer marketing, simply giving away a few free samples of your product to an influencer was enough to get your product mentioned in so many ways. These days, paid collaborations are becoming common practice for companies looking to work with bloggers who write brand product reviews.
But not all bloggers will respond to requests for collaboration. Many people simply get spam emails every day from companies that want to work with them. This is one reason why it is imperative for brands to have a separate set of aggregated materials for bloggers, which include:
- Brand value proposition
- Terms of collaboration
- Content expectations and goals for the campaign
- Payment terms
Maybe the blogger you sent the collaboration request to will reply in a few emails. Just make sure you have a consistent approach in your communication, and you’ll see them reply soon enough.
2. Paid ads
Paid advertising isn’t as simple as spending a little ad dollars promoting a product line in circulation and expecting an immediate return on investment. Unfortunately, many new e-commerce brands have fallen into this trap.
Successfully running any paid advertising requires an accurate understanding of a company’s long-term value to customers. This number will help determine how much money the brand can spend to acquire new customers. But even with this number in mind, many brands simply can’t afford the advertising costs to build a strong sales funnel.
The reason is because ads open up discovery in the buying funnel. It can get potential customers to visit your website, video content, or other piece of content, but it doesn’t always convert into sales.
Therefore, without a trialled end-to-end purchase funnel, this content marketing strategy may not be the ideal marketing solution for every brand.
Brands that decide to go ahead with this strategy will have a wide choice of websites and social media platforms to use with their advertising budgets such as placements like Ads on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube or Google.
But first, brands need to determine what type of conversion rate and how much they can afford to spend.
Here are 3 conversion rates based on campaign goals:
- Lead generation rate: this rate identifies potential new customers and helps build a customer base
- Buyer conversion rate: calculated when a potential customer makes a decision to buy a product and becomes a paying customer
- Untraceable conversion rate: Not all conversions are measurable. Some may come from direct visits to your website or channel without the tracking attribute
While this strategy will help some brands quickly scale their e-commerce businesses, it is a strategy that should be considered carefully before proceeding.
Conclusion
Marketing success has always depended on making connections with customers. It all starts with defining your target audience, creating meaningful content, and building strong buying funnels. When these pieces of the puzzle are put together, your content marketing strategy will continuously drive traffic, creating long-term success for your e-commerce brand.