By Ravi Kumar
The digital marketing world is constantly shifting. Every year, new platforms emerge, causing the changes. If you belong to this world, you know how vital it is to follow up on the latest trends.
The ever-present problem is related to human nature, namely the fear of change. In digital marketing, this means that marketers have become too accustomed to having a plethora of performance data available. This is the primary reason why many companies still heavily rely on content, social media and email marketing. All of these channels include metrics, giving more control to marketers.
Even though these approaches still work and they will remain viable for a long time, shifting to another marketing channel can bring significantly better results. In this article, we are going to go over influencer and ephemeral marketing approaches, how they can help you grow, and why.
Tracking Performance
Marketers avoid using these two marketing channels because tracking performance is a bit more challenging. However, with a smart approach, it is possible to track results and decide how effective the approach is. These are some ways in which you could do this:
- Specific linking – Before the influencer’s video or post goes live, it is necessary to create a specific tracking link. This is going to provide details about the effects of the marketing strategy. Doing this is especially fruitful if you are working with different influencers, as it will show which one is the best for your business.
- Monitoring website traffic – Even though creating a tracking link provides in-depth information, if you are planning to raise your brand awareness, you can deduce the results by monitoring traffic on your website. Once the post or video is live, you can see how many people are flocking to your company’s website.
- Capturing a surge in sales – If you are promoting a product, you already know what your current sales are. Pay attention to the spike that occurs, and you will know how effective the influencer is. However, adding a tracking link will give you a better insight into your conversion rates.
Combining all of the three methods is going to allow you to track how well your marketing strategy is performing. Choosing solely one method is not going to provide enough information. It is not as automated of a process as with other marketing channels, but it is possible to track results. You simply have to be a bit creative.
Influencer Marketing – Authenticity Makes an Impact
The modern customer is quite different than one from two decades ago. People now want to know more and the amount of research they do reflects this fact. Also, a lot of trust is put into online personalities, as the raw content they create is authentic, creating a powerful trust bond between the person and his or her audience. This is precisely the missing element in PPC campaigns, no matter how well they are designed.
By choosing to advertise with an influencer, you are heavily relying on the authority that he or she has with their audience. Basically, the influencer is vouching for your product or service, bringing thousands of people to your brand instantaneously.
To understand the power of this approach, we can all refer to PewDiePie, the YouTuber with the most subscriptions, who skyrocketed the success of the game Flappy Bird. Once he published the video, it went viral counting millions of views. It all resulted in at least half of the audience downloading the game and, through word-of-mouth, it became a worldwide phenomenon. This clearly shows how much potential collaborating with influencers carries.
But, before getting in contact with an influencer, it is necessary to perform market research and dedicate a decent budget for the whole endeavor. Every influencer has an audience that is interested in a particular niche, some are focused on lifestyle topics, others on reviewing products, whereas some run entertainment shows. Your goal is to pick influencers from your own niche. This is going to bring much better results for your marketing campaign.
Ephemeral Marketing – A Powerful Marketing Approach
In 2011, Snapchat brought a great change to the online world. It’s daily story and disappearing messages gave the opportunity to brands to advertise in a completely new way. This is the reason why many people have flocked to this social media network.
The psychology behind disappearing messages emphasizes that a deal is limited and will expire soon, increasing the conversion rates. This feature works neatly, making calls to action more effective, as social media network visitors experience this content as exclusive.
Measuring performance is quite limited here. That is the main reason why some of the marketers are not on the platform. Getting out of the comfort zone is very important, especially in the marketing world, where you can get significantly better results by testing out new platforms.
The power of ephemeral marketing is supported by the fact that Instagram and Facebook have also adopted a similar functionality in their apps.
Additionally, social media networks are personal, therefore, building a big following on them is a great way to start building better relationship with customers.
Making the Right Choice
Both of the abovementioned methods can be quite effective, but it is necessary to know what you are doing.
When it comes to collaborating with influencers, it is necessary to spend some time researching before you contact him or her. Study the content of the videos, and try to figure out how your product would fit in the influencer’s video. Also, never focus on a single personality – you should be looking for several different influencers to collaborate with.
This is more likely to offer variety in pricing, but it is also important for testing this approach. Once you have made the deal with the influencers, and the videos are out, it is necessary to track the performance of each one.
The best approach is to have videos published every two weeks from different influencers, as it is going to be easier to measure the performance of each separate video. Once you have collected the data, you can pick one or two of them for future collaboration.
On the other hand, ephemeral marketing requires you to remain active on social media networks. No matter where your brand is appearing, it is necessary to point the people to your social media networks such as Instagram or Snapchat. When it comes to these platforms, it’s important to create “cool” content that will keep people engaged.
Once you have a nice following, it’s time to start doing promotions to reap the rewards. The more followers you have, the better the results are going to be, so remember to give your best to increase your social media following.
For example, a great strategy is to work with both of these marketing strategies. The goal is to build your own social media networks and get in a position similar to that of an influencer. Therefore, while you are working with influencers, work on a deal that includes a shoutout.
This will make the personality mention you in their video or blog post, and include a link to your social media accounts. Over a short period of time, you can expect a higher number of followers across all social media networks, making your ephemeral marketing game much stronger. Be creative and utilize these two methods more, you are going to love the end results.
Using these two methods is definitely something you should incorporate in your digital marketing strategy. Remember not to forsake the usual digital marketing strategies you are working on. The best results are going to be achieved by using different marketing channels, as you are going to diversify your strategy. Even when one is not going too well, the other is still going to bring in new customers.
There are plenty of options you can go with, all you have to do is work with a creative team that will combine different marketing elements for stable growth. Make sure to use influencers and ephemeral marketing – it might be costly, but it will pay off in the long run.
Featured photo credit: Depositphotos