Influencer marketing isn’t simply having an influencer post about a product. There is a strategy to driving sales, and not just any post will convert followers into customers. At Platform, our influencers publish 200 to 300 branded posts a month, with those insights, we’ve noticed there are a few common mistakes that separate campaigns with stellar sales reports from campaigns that under perform. The following tips are specifically for marketers whose success metrics are sales. Many campaigns focus on awareness, and the below rules do not necessarily apply. However, if you want to sell product and improve your influencer marketing strategies, keep on reading.
The Three Reasons Why Your Influencer Campaign Didn’t Generate Revenue:
Your pathway to purchase was too long
We love Instagram feed posts, but driving a user from a post to a link in bio, to a website link that has too many steps, gives the interested follower too much time to reconsider their purchase. This is how you lose out on sales. One of the quickest ways to convert a follower to a customer is an Instagram Story. Utilizing the swipe up feature (available to users with more than 10k followers or business accounts) immediately directs the follower right to your website. Ensure the link you are using is the product’s specific landing page, so it only takes two clicks (swiping up, and then hitting “add to cart”) to complete their transaction.
You didn’t use a promo code
The difference between buy now and buy later is often a promotion. And buy later may mean that they forget entirely to purchase. Offering the influencer a promo code that expires encourages their followers to act now. It is hard to pass up a deal! Additionally, the promo code allows you to know how many referrals each influencer has made. If you are working with several influencers during a campaign, providing each with a unique promo code allows you to see whose ad performed the best, giving you clear insight into who you should continue to work with and whose audiences connect best with your brand.
You included a giveaway
Giveaways should only be used in cases where you want to gain followers or awareness. When it comes to brands whose success is measured by sales, giveaways do not contribute to sales. Why would someone enter to win a product and also buy it? If they are entering the contest, they will not be clicking over to the website to purchase the product and if they do, it won’t be until after the winner is announced, and by then they’ve likely forgotten about it.
For more ways to drive sales, visit our shop to pre-order our online e-course for marketers, Optimizing Influencer Marketing Campaigns to Maximize Sales.