Build Successful Influencer Marketing Strategy for Your Events

Event marketing and influencer marketing are often thought of as two separate strategies. In recent years, however, they have become more and more intertwined, with influencers becoming integral to brand events and live experiences.

Many companies are increasing their focus and shifting their marketing budgets to collaborate with influencers. Industry experts say that influencer marketing is the key ingredient needed to boost sales and drive traffic to events soon.

Influencer marketing allows organizations to leverage influential people to help them get their message to a wider audience. With more people adopting social media every day, influencer marketing is quickly becoming a staple in the marketing mix.

Let’s look at how to build a successful influencer marketing strategy for your upcoming events.

Pinpoint your objectives

You are most likely looking to create awareness about your event as a stepping stone to selling tickets. But what about increasing online visibility, reaching new markets and encouraging consumer loyalty? Getting these goals down on paper will help you better understand which audience you need to be tapping into before you invest in the wrong one.

How to find the right influencers?

Now that you’ve set your goals for the campaign, it’s time to start identifying the right influencers to partner with to help you reach your target audience. Influencers can be categorized into three different categories: Mega-Influencers, Macro-Influencers, Micro-Influencers — depending on the number of social media followers they have.

Mega Influencers are typically c-suite level executives or celebrities. They often have a follower count in the millions and have a diverse global following. They usually charge a high-dollar booking fee and require that you work with their executive team or talent agent to book them for any event appearances or collaborations. They may not be industry experts, but they will definitely draw attendance to your event due to their large following.

Macro-Influencers have a follower count between 100,000 and a million. Marketers have been collaborating with macro-influencers for years on brand campaigns and sponsorships. The macro-influencer is considered an industry expert who has expertise in a particular area. Working with a macro-influencer can generate brand awareness due to their large following and engagement rate.

Micro-Influencers are your average person online who have a follower count under 100,000. Despite the small following, this group has been identified by top industry marketing professionals as the most influential subject matter expert. Micro-influencers are considered prime real estate in today’s online world due to their niche and highly engaged following. They authentically share brands they love online and often charge less to collaborate. Guaranteeing that your brand will be exposed to the right target market. Another great place to find micro-influencers is by looking through past conference attendance lists to review subject matter experts who have attended for consecutive years in a row.

Determine how you’ll measure results

Three easy ways to measure influencer marketing are:

  • Reach/Impressions (the number of people who see information about your event)
  • Engagement/Top Content (the number and breadth of likes, shares, comments, and replies)
  • Conversion (the number of people who take action, such as registering for your event)

These measurement strategies can also be used during your research and selection process.

Once selected, it’s also always a good policy to monitor your influencers. Track their engagements and their impact, both to ensure that any paid influencers are a good fit and to provide recognition to those who have the most impact. Also, use this strategy to monitor any unpaid influencers for recognition or possibly converting to an official paid arrangement.