How influencer marketing helps drive sales

If you still haven't tapped into Influencers to promote your product - you're missing out on a big opportunity. Right now, someone is using bloggers and increasing their customer base and you still haven't figured it out.

Influencer marketing is a powerful tool that can bring in a lot of money or, conversely, zero out your budget if done wrong. Together with the experts from Step Link Platform Inc, let's understand why it's so important and how to use it wisely.

Why Influencer Marketing is not just advertising

Many people are already bored with classic advertising. Potential customers are tired of banners, targeting and template advertising texts. They trust not ‘dumb’ adverts, but people. When a blogger talks about a product, his audience perceives it not as an advert, but as a personal recommendation - advice. So through blogger adverts, the chances of you getting straight to the people who will be interested in your product are greatly increased.

A blogger may mention the product several times in their posts, warming up the audience. As a result, when it comes time to sell - people are already ready to buy, share experts platform Step Link dropshipping. But there are pitfalls here: if you pay the first blogger you see, in 99% of cases you will lose your money.

How to use Influencer Marketing without losing money

Choose a blogger with the right audience. If you're selling sports nutrition, there's no point in advertising with a gaming blogger. His audience simply won't understand why they want your product.

Your blog topic (and therefore subscribers) should match your target audience. Check the activity. Lots of likes and comments are good, but if all comments are one-word - it's suspicious.

Give the blogger freedom (but not complete freedom)

The mistake many business people make is trying to control the blogger's every move. As a result, the post looks like a boring advert and the audience simply ignores it.

Give the blogger the basic talking points, but let them speak in their own words. Real-life demonstrations work best - a review, a test, a personal experience. Don't make the blogger read the text on a piece of paper - it kills trust and lowers the level of engagement of the blogger.

Keep an eye on the results

You can't just pay a blogger and hope for a miracle. You need to analyse what results the advertising gives. Track how many people clicked on the link, how many placed an order, how many came back for a repeat purchase. Use promo codes or unique links to understand which blogger is bringing in money and which one is just collecting payment for posts.

Step Link managers have listed the classic mistakes

1. Choosing a blogger based only on the number of subscribers. Better 50,000 active subscribers than a million bots.

2. Too obvious adverts. If a post looks like a typical advertising text, the audience feels it immediately and just clicks through.

3. Expecting instant results. Sometimes a blogger's audience doesn't buy right away, but they remember the product and come back later.

4. one-off adverts. A one-time post rarely produces results. It is desirable to build a long-term co-operation.

Profitable or not

Influencer marketing really increases sales, if you do everything competently and analyse each stage. It works better than classic advertising, because it is based on the trust of the audience in a particular person.