Your influencer marketing campaign was a success! You got thousands of views on the influencer’s sponsored reel. But did you manage to turn these views and followers into customers?
Most brands fail to capitalize on this audience. That’s where the real gold lies.
Although converting influencer engagement into sales is not easy, at Confluencr, we have successfully helped our clients get customers and boost sales with their influencer campaigns. In this article, we reveal seven of our tried-and-tested strategies.
01
Encourage exclusive and original content
People on social media already consume a lot of content. Be it skincare, healthcare, or SaaS, you need original and exclusive content that gets views and attention. If you’re running influencer campaigns, it becomes even more important to guide them to create content that educates as well as converts.
For example, look at how Nykaa collaborated with this beauty illustrator to create a graphical representation of skincare routines for different celebrities.
People on social media already consume a lot of content. Be it skincare, healthcare, or SaaS, you need original and exclusive content that gets views and attention. If you’re running influencer campaigns, it becomes even more important to guide them to create content that educates as well as converts.
For example, look at how Nykaa collaborated with this beauty illustrator to create a graphical representation of skincare routines for different celebrities.
02
Run contests
Who doesn’t like winning on social media? Contests are a fun way to engage your audience, get them to follow your account, and lead them to try your products.
In fact, 33% of contest participants are open to receiving information about the brand or its partners.
Here are some best practices you can adopt while running contests:
- Choose the social media platform where your audience is the most active
- Encourage user-generated content through your contest
- Specify the instructions and eligibility clearly to avoid confusion
- Highlight the prizes to attract participants
- Interact with the participants and provide updates throughout the contest
Look at how a purse company collaborated with a reading influencer on Book Lovers Day to give away a purse perfect for holding books.
03
Engage with followers
When followers see that the brand is actively invested in building a connection with them, they are prone to choosing you over others.
This does not mean just liking their content or leaving them a “Thank you” in their DMs.
Many popular brands take it a step further and comment on their followers’ best content. These comments could be either educational, funny, or witty, depending on the content and the audience you’re targeting.
Here’s how Nike replies to tweets mentioning the brand. The brand uses a mixture of fun, motivational, or witty replies.
Pro tip: Use social media listening tools to track brand mentions and quickly reply to tweets, posts, or reels.
04
Generate UGC
User-generated content (UGC) is any content created by customers or users of your brand or product. It’s all the hype these days, and rightly so.
If you were given these two options, which would you trust more?
Option A: An advertisement by a skincare company of their acne-reducing product and its benefits
Option B: A real-life example from a skincare influencer on how the product helped reduce their acne
The reason UGC is so effective is because the content seems more real and authentic. In fact, 79% of people say that UGC impacts their purchasing decisions.
To generate UGC, you can try creating branded hashtags and get people to post content using them. One great example is Apple’s #ShotoniPhone which has over 30 million posts on Instagram. Many of these pictures also turn up on Apple’s official Instagram account.
05
Place appropriate CTAs
Without proper call-to-actions (CTAs), you may generate a lot of engagement but fail to see conversions. The CTAs you use can be simple, like “Purchase now” or “Register for the event.”
While you can’t add clickable links to your Instagram posts, you can add them in your bio. Or you could use different platforms like Facebook, TikTok, or X (Twitter) to run campaigns where you need users to visit your website or store.
Here are four best practices you can follow while creating CTAs:
- Avoid vague instructions like “Click here”. Be specific.
- Create a sense of urgency. For example, “Register today. Only 4 slots left.”
- Use appropriate visuals and icons that highlight the CTAs.
- Use storytelling to make acting on the CTA a logical next step in the narrative.
06
Take advantage of social commerce
You don’t want to add friction to the buyer’s journey. One way to avoid that is by using social commerce the right way. For example, instead of asking users to purchase the product by visiting your website, you can create shoppable posts on Instagram where the user can purchase the product with fewer clicks.
Here’s how Vero Moda lets their followers purchase the product shown on their posts with just one click.
While running influencer marketing campaigns, you can even ask the influencers to add links to their posts to get more conversions.
07
Create a sense of community
People like being associated with brands that make them feel like they are a part of a community. This involves fostering genuine connections, encouraging engagement, and providing value to the audience.
You can even put up stories asking questions or encouraging interactions with your followers.
One brand that does this often is Cetaphil. They hold Derm Talks, where their followers are asked a question, and the dermatologist then discusses it. Here’s an example.
With these seven strategies, you’re all set to run campaigns and social media content that converts customers into followers. Remember that experimentation is the key and you may want to try multiple strategies before you find one that works the best for your business.
If you are looking for an influencer marketing agency that can help you with your campaigns, reach out to our team today.
