Brand Influencer Programmes – A Detailed Guide for Businesses

Brand influencer programmes have gained immense popularity among businesses worldwide. More and more businesses are using these programmes to enhance their visibility, connect with their audience and increase their profitability.

 Influencer marketing has reportedly become a USD 21.1 billion industry in 2023. Social media influencers have become household names and their popularity is helping brands reach their target audience swiftly. If you have been overlooking the importance of running brand influencer programmes then this piece of writing is a must-read for you. As you go through this article, you shall learn how these programmes work, why they are essential for your business, the reasons for their success and more.

Brand Influencer Programme: Know in Detail

Choosing a brand influencer programme for your business simply means collaborating with an influencer to promote your products and services. This is a paid cooperation which is mutually beneficial. The key is to look for influencers who resonate with your target audience and get them to include your brand promotion seamlessly into their content. It proves to be an effective marketing strategy. A large number of marketers who have collaborated with influencers have seen positive results. Research shows that around 31% of social media users find out about new products through the influencers they follow. 

How Influencer Programmes Work to Promote a Brand?

Influencers use innovative ways to include your products strategically in their content. Through their content, they try to influence the buying decisions of their audience. The popularity of the influencer and the type of content she creates determines the output. A brand influencer programme involves creating quality content that resonates with the target audience and posting it on different online platforms including social media, websites and other channels. An important point to note here is that the influencer you choose should be popular among your target audience. For instance, if you sell fitness bands, health supplements or gym wear, then you should collaborate with a fitness influencer. Likewise, if you run a food business then it is ideal to choose a food influencer to promote your offerings. 

Advantages of Implementing a Brand Influencer Programme

Here is a look at the various advantages of implementing a brand influencer programme for your business:

1. Enhances Brand Visibility

Collaborating with influencers helps increase brand visibility. As they post interesting content related to your products and services on different platforms, your business is likely to grab attention. Your brand awareness will increase among their followers.

2. Connects with Your Target Audience

When you collaborate with influencers who connect with your target audience, you shall also be able to connect with them. This would ultimately help increase your sales.

3. Builds Credibility

By collaborating with influencers who have a good reputation, you can instil trust in consumers about your brand. There is a higher chance of converting your target audience into customers by choosing brand influencer programmes. Statistics reveal that 21% of social media users between the age of 18-54 years have made at least one purchase by referring to influencer recommendations.

4. Increases Social Media Followers

By tagging your brand in their campaigns, influencers help increase your social media followers. You can encourage a greater number of sales when you have more followers.

5. Cost Effective

Brand influencer programmes are not as costly as advertisements. Statistics reveal that influencer campaigns are 30% cheaper in comparison to other types of advertising and marketing campaigns. You can lower the cost involved substantially by collaborating with nano or micro-influencers.

Reasons for the Success of Brand Influencer Programmes

Here is a look at why brand influencer programmes prove to be successful:

1.   Ability to Target Niche Audience

Influencers have a defined audience interested in a particular niche. For instance, beauty influencers have an audience looking for beauty treatments and cosmetic products. Similarly, social media followers of tech influencers are interested in the latest mobiles, smartwatches and other gadgets. By collaborating with influencers, you can reach the audience interested in trying products in your category.

2.  Emotional Resonance with the Audience

Influencers share different types of content including videos, reels, quotes and vlogs on their accounts regularly. Their audience looks forward to their posts and develops an emotional connection with them. Thus, their views about your products are likely to impact their followers’ buying decisions positively.

3.  Boosts Customer Engagement

Brand influencer programmes help boost customer engagement by posting interactive content. Most influencers try to respond to comments on their posts to increase the engagement rate further. By collaborating with such influencers, you can not just encourage the sale of new products but can also prompt repeat purchases. It also helps in seeking customer feedback which can be used to improve your products and services.

The Expense for Running a Brand Influencer Programme

The cost involved in running a brand influencer programme varies to a large extent depending on the popularity of the influencer you collaborate with. The expense also varies based on the platforms you choose to run these programmes. Here is a look at the approximate charges of collaborating with influencers.

Collaborating with a nano influencer on Instagram can reportedly cost you around USD 10- USD 100 per post. Micro influencers charge around USD 100-USD 500 per post, mid-tier influencers charge USD 500-USD 5,000 per post and macro influencers charge USD 5,000-USD 10,000 per post. Big brands usually collaborate with mega influencers who charge more than USD 10,000 per post.

For YouTube, the charges are different. While nano-influencers charge anything between USD 20 and USD 200 for promoting brands on YouTube, mega-influencers charge more than USD 20,000 for brand promotions on this platform.

Micro-influencers charge between USD 200-USD 5,000, mid-tier influencers charge between USD 5,000 and USD 10,000 and macro influencers charge USD 10,000-USD 20,000 per video.

The rate varies depending on the length of the content, type of content, location, props and other factors.

Steps to Create a Brand Influencer Programme

You can create an impactful brand influencer programme by following the below-mentioned steps:

1. Understand Your Audience

Begin by understanding the psychology of your potential buyers. It is important to understand their buying behaviour, preferences, emotional triggers and pain points. Having a deep understanding of these aspects helps create content that resonates with them and encourages them to try your products and services.

2. Choose the Right Influencer

Everyone these days is trying to go viral on social media. You will find thousands of influencers specialising in different fields. The key is to find the one that is popular among your target audience, matches your purpose, fits your budget and aligns with your business values. You may choose between micro, nano and other types of influencers depending on your budget and the kind of impact you aim to create. It has been observed that nano and micro-influencers are preferred over big influencers. As per a survey, 80% of marketers prefer working with influencers who have less than 1, 00, 000 followers.

3.  Story Telling

The ability to create authentic and compelling narratives determines the kind of impact you shall be able to create in the market. Influencers should be able to include your brand promotion seamlessly into their content to make it look genuine.

Examples of Influencer Programmes by Top Brands

Here are some brand influencer programmes that have proved to be inspirational:

1. Sun Peaks Resort

This ski resort ran a campaign involving Canada’s leading adventure photographer and Instagram influencer Callum Snape. The aim was to increase awareness about crowd-free ski runs, seasonal festivals and other activities at Sun Peaks Resort. Several beautiful images of the resort, interesting Instagram stories and Facebook videos related to the events and activities of the resort were shared as a part of this brand influencer programme. It resulted in achieving the desired results.

2. Google

Google collaborated with two micro-influencers to draw attention towards its new Pixelbook laptop. They ran a unique contest asking users to like their giveaway post and comment on how they would use the Pixelbook as a winner. It was a huge success. Reports suggest that this giveaway post earned an engagement rate of 59.4%.

3. Marriott

The brand has run several successful influencer campaigns to attract customers. To celebrate one million check-ins on its mobile app, the brand ran a campaign in collaboration with Jeana Smith. As a part of the campaign, the popular YouTube influencer arranged an online surprise dance party for the users who completed the milestone check-in. The campaign proved to be a huge success as the video went viral and received millions of views.

4. Dunkin

To expand its reach among Gen Z buyers, Dunkin collaborated with a 19-year-old TikTok influencer, Charli D’Amelio. As a part of this brand influencer programme, Charli posted his images and reels consuming delicious Dunkin donuts and other products by the brand. He also ran an online contest where the winners got the opportunity to attend a virtual hangout session with Charli. As planned, the programme garnered the attention of the youngsters. Charli’s posts got numerous views and comments. It was even shared multiple times.

5. Casper

The mattress brand collaborated with twenty canine influencers for the promotion of its new product which was exclusively designed for pets. As a part of the campaign, these influencers were invited to a launch party. The party was live-streamed on Facebook by an online outlet for animal people named The Dodo. This helped the brand garner attention.

Conclusion

Brand influencer programmes have become a popular means to promote products, enhance brand visibility and boost sales. By collaborating with the influencers popular in your field, you can capture the attention of your target audience. Through their interesting and innovative content, they engage your potential customers and encourage them to try your products. As per a study, even a 1% increase in the influencer marketing budget can increase customer engagement by almost 0.5%. Thus, numerous businesses across industries are collaborating with influencers to market their products effectively. And most of them are satisfied with their return on investment.