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17 Influencer Marketing Ideas To Build A Successful Strategy

Published May 1, 2023
/ Updated April 25, 2024

61% of consumers trust influencer recommendations over brand-produced content. Leverage your influencer marketing ideas to generate more revenue, increase brand awareness, and attract leads.

Influencer Marketing Fundamentals

What Is An Influencer?

Influencer

A person who guides their audience’s purchasing decisions on social media.

An influencer is someone who an audience trusts to share recommendations and opinions on social media. These opinions and recommendations can help guide their audience’s purchasing decisions.

What Is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer Marketing

A social media marketing technique where companies use influencers for marketing their products or services.

Influencer marketing increases brand awareness, builds credibility, and drives purchasing decisions.

7 Steps To Get Started With An Influencer Marketing Strategy

60% of marketers reported that influencer-generated content performs better and drives more engagement than branded posts. Follow these 7 steps to get started working with an influencer:

Recommended Reading: AI Influencer Marketing

1. Outline Your Goals

Define your campaign goals by creating SMART goals for this partnership. These goals will set the stage for your strategy and focus your influencer marketing campaign on measurable KPIs.

Influencers can produce different results for your brand based on your wants. Here are a few examples:

Influencer Marketing Goal Ideas presented by CoSchedule showing how to Generate Leads, Build Brand Awareness and Drive Sales.

2. Identify Your Audience

Are you trying to target a new audience? Or target your current customers? Develop audience personas to understand the intended audience.

Engage with your social media personas to find the right platform and the right influencer for your campaign.

3. Set Your Budget

A budget helps identify potential influencers and campaigns to reach your target audience effectively.

Influencer rates vary based on the platform, the number of followers, the types of content, and your business goals. The standard influencer rate is shown as follows:

Influencer Earnings Per Post

  • Nano-Influencers: $10-100/post
  • Micro-Influencers: $100-500/post
  • Mid-tier Influencers: $500-5,000/post
  • Macro-Influencers: $10,000+/post
  • Celebrities: Varies, usually $50,000+

4. Determine Your Platform Strategy

Choose the right social media platform to produce results for your goal.

CoSchedule showing the top 3 social media platforms which are Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube with the benefits of each listed under them.

Now that you have the platform, select content for the influencer to post. Check out the influencer marketing ideas below to guide your strategy.

5. Find The Right Influencer For Your Brand

Research influencers to reach your target audience and produce desired results. Use the 3 R’s to choose an influencer.

Reach: The number of potential people the influencer could reach based on their follower baseRelevance: The appeal an influencer has with your target audience

Resonance: The influencer’s potential to increase engagement, conversions, and awareness

Keep your goals in mind when determining the influencer. Want to grow your reach? Shoot for a mid-tier influencer or higher. Want to connect with your audience on a smaller scale? Go for a nano or micro-influencer.

The 5 influencer tiers shown on a sphere as well as the following for each type of influencer and how much money is made per post.

6. Share The Content

Create a content calendar to schedule influencer posting days. Use this calendar to schedule times for your business to repurpose the content to maintain the relationship with your followers.

Get started with your content calendar to start planning your influencer marketing strategy. CoSchedule Marketing Calendar creates, schedules, and publishes social campaigns to promote your initiatives.

screenshot of CoSchedules Marketing Calendar, along with some tasks on the calendar.

Utilize CoSchedules Marketing Calendar to schedule social campaigns and content for your business.

7. Measure The Results

Ensure your influencer marketing strategy is producing results to understand your success rate.

CoSchedule tracks engagement analytics for all messages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn pages. Use CoSchedule to view data for a specific social message or social campaign to measure your goal’s success.

Screenshot of CoSchedules analytics for a social campaign, including the growth and engagement rate.

Analytics for your social campaign presented by CoSchedule.

Instagram Influencer Marketing Ideas

1. Share Product Tips

Share product tips to inform your audience about the different ways to use a product. Post product tips that many audiences can use to attract new customers.

An influencer Tayshia using a curling iron on her Instagram to show her followers how she styles her hair with this specific curling iron.

By sharing these product tips Tayshia is helping out her following as well as promoting the product.

2. Start A IGTV Series

Instagram TV (IGTV) series allow influencers to educate viewers with multiple videos. IGTV series provide value for your audience to increase customer confidence in your company.

Tarte Cosmetics posts influencer content to their IGTV series.

Tarte showing their IGTV posts specifically the category for dry skin on Instagram.

You can also view other types of tutorials on the Tarte Instagram by clicking on the series tab under IGTV.

3. Promote Content With In-App Advertisements

87% of people claim that they followed a brand, visited the brand’s website, or made an online purchase after seeing an Instagram ad.

Promote Instagram content with Ads Manager to turn content into paid advertisements. Paid advertisements direct the message to your target audience and reach more viewers.

Fabletics athletic set being promoted by famous dancer Maddie Ziegler on her Instagram.

Paid partnerships with large influencers help the company get their product out there.

4. Host A Giveaway

Influencers host giveaways to increase engagement and encourage social sharing of the post.

An instagram post of influencer Destiny Schriver doing a giveaway of smart sweets, a candy company.

Giveaways can help your page become more trafficked when your followers repost your content to their following.

 

TikTok Influencer Marketing Ideas

5. Take Over A Brand’s Account

A “takeover” occurs when an influencer posts content on the company’s social media account. Takeovers allow followers to connect with someone outside the company to build the brand’s perceived value.

The University of Minnesota Bookstores allows brand ambassadors to take over the TikTok account.

Tik tok screenshot showing the University of Minnesota bookstore account having a brand ambassador take over their account for the day.

The U of M bookstore is just one example that allows brand ambassadors to take over their accounts.

6. Host A TikTok Live

Use TikTok Live to host a conversation between influencer and their audience. The influencer shares recommendations to increase brand awareness and encourage purchasing decisions.

Screenshot of TikTok Live shown with some included gadgets you can use when going live.

TikTok Live is a great way to be more interactive with your following.

7. Create Get-Ready-With-Me Videos

The hashtag #GRWM has more than 59.5 billion views on TikTok. Influencers film get-ready-with-me videos to promote brand products while creating a personal connection with the audience.

Thumbnail of a youtube video of a get ready with me for Disney brand trip, posted by Toni Bravo.

Posting GRWM videos is a great and easy way to start getting into content creation.

8. Test Out New Products

Send influencers new products to try on TikTok. Influencers give their reviews on a product to boost your credibility and increase the volume of new sales.

TikTok screenshot of someone reviewing and promoting a scrub daddy by using it to clean their pan.

This is a great way for influencers to connect with brands they might not normally be in network with.

 

YouTube Influencer Marketing Ideas

9. Record Your Reviews

More than 60% of consumers watch YouTube review videos. Review videos help consumers make purchase decisions with in-depth content.

Thumbail of a women reviewing CoSchedule for her social media scheduling needs.

Watching review videos helps form an opinion about the product and either influences or deters the customer to make a purchase.

10. Film Unboxing Videos

Over 90,000 people type ‘unboxing’ into YouTube’s search bar every month.

Unboxing videos show the audience the details of a product  – the packaging, the delivery process, and the initial reaction  – to strengthen the product’s position.

Mystery box sent by Xbox being opened on Youtube by an influencer.

Unboxing videos are not only a form of advertisement but also great for entertainment purposes.

11. Post Haul Videos

40% of haul video viewers will visit the companies mentioned in the video. Haul videos share multiple products from a brand to increase product awareness.

An Influencers Youtube video of her doing a haul of her purchases of home decor from Amazon.

Haul videos can unintentionally influence the audience to make purchases.

12. Create How-To Tutorials

Post an instructional video to provide the audience with valuable content. How-to tutorials introduce your product to viewers to generate leads.

Screenshot of a Youtube video of a tutorial on how to use CoSchedule for Social Sharing.

Creators make these videos to educate their audience.

 

Unique Influencer Marketing Ideas

13. Join A Discord

Discord is a communications app that allows users and businesses to share voice, video, and text chats. Start a discord channel for your company to improve the consumer experience.

Allow influencers to share their thoughts on your brand within a channel to promote your business and encourage their followers to subscribe.

14. Create Guest Blog Post Content

Allow the influencer to create content for your business’s website. Attract a new audience to drive webpage traffic.

A feature of Jeff Bogle's post as a guest blogger named "Why I"ll Return to Cheyanne, Wyoming"

Having a guest write a piece for your page can add more character and diversity.

15. Speak On A Podcast

Speak on an influencer’s podcast to establish topical authority in your niche and create a connection with the audience.

Screenshot of a Podcast interview on Youtube featuring Unicorn Companies.

Speaking on a podcast with an influencer can help you get connected to others who may want to collab with you.

16. Go Live On Amazon

Amazon Live is a streaming feature for Amazon influencers to promote products. This influencer marketing idea improves brand exposure and empowers consumers to make a purchasing decision.

Example of an influencer filming an Amazon live, showing beauty products she purchased.

These videos may be more popular with frequent Amazon buyers.

17. Create Product Pins

Product pins highlight shoppable products in a Pinterest image. These pins provide an updated price and product description from your website.

64% of Pinners say they go to Pinterest to shop. Pinterest influencers “tag” your products to increase sales and create a seamless shopping experience.

Example of a product pin on Pinterest trying to promote Sugru's Mouldable Glue.

Product pins are a creative way to advertise while also being subtle.

 

3 Marketing Influencer Examples

1.  Ryan Deiss

Influencer: Digital Marketing

“Speak like a human, don’t pretend to be something you aren’t, and above all else…tell the truth!”

Ryan Deiss, Founder and CEO of Scalable and Digital Marketer

Deiss is a digital marketing influencer who grew his podcast to 10,000 downloads each week and over 73,000 followers on Twitter.

Deiss influences followers to implement the best digital marketing strategies and tools for business growth with The DigitalMarketer Podcast and the DigitalMarketer website.

Youtube video screenshot of The DigitalMarketer Podcast showing the CEO's role, Ryan Deiss in marketing.

Digital Marketing is a great way to get into content creation.

2. Neil Patel

Influencer: Blogging

“Chase quality engagement, not just higher numbers.”

Neil Patel, Co-Founder at Neil Patel Digital

Neil Patel is named a top influencer on the web, with over 4 million monthly visitors to his blog and 1 million Facebook followers.

The NeilPatel blog educates readers about digital marketing trends and strategies to build an online platform. Patel uses his platform to grow his businesses and directly influence the purchasing decisions of his audience.

Screenshot of the homepage of the NeilPatel digital marketing blog.

The NeilPatel blog helps with all of your digital marketing needs.

3. Gary Vaynerchuk

Influencer: Social Media

“The right influencer will be authentic and gives you the best creative at-bat for meaningful distribution to a relevant audience for your brands.”

Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia

Gary Vaynerchuk is a leading technology business influencer with more than 44 million combined followers across social media channels.

Vaynerchuk motivates his audience with advice on common business issues. Vaynerchuk famously influences his 14.9 million followers on TikTok to become more successful with specific techniques and tools.

Screenshot of Gary Vaynerchuk's TikTok on "How to Double your content output".

Using these tips can help you gain more views on your content.