Working with YouTube Influencers to Grow Your Business
0
0
An influencer on YouTube typically has a large number of YouTube subscribers and receives several million YouTube views for their videos. They have the ability to influence their audience because of the knowledge they possess in the particular niche, their position, or simply because of the relationship they’ve developed with their YouTube subscribers.
With 500 hours of video content being uploaded to YouTube every minute, it’s no wonder that the platform has intense competition for marketers trying to see a growth in the number of real YouTube subscribers they get. Influencer marketing on YouTube can be a great way to engage your audience, target a specific niche, create brand awareness, and encourage business growth.
Types of YouTube influencers
Based on audience numbers, YouTube influencers can be segregated as nano-influencers, micro-influencers, macro-influencers, and mega-influencers. Nano – influencers typically have smaller number of YouTube subscribers but they have an engaged audience and can create a more personal relationship. Micro-influencers typically have a larger number of YouTube subscribers than nano-influencers and specialize in a particular niche area that their YouTube subscribers are interested in. Macro-influencers, on the other hand, tend to be full-time social media influencers and can be either B-grade celebrities who are yet to make it big or online experts in a particular niche. Mega-influencers typically include those who have gained fame offline and may differ in their level of influence, including celebrities, key opinion leaders of different industries, or other public figures whose rise to fame happened offline.
Why your brand needs YouTube influencer marketing
With the fierce competition that exists on YouTube, making use of YouTube influencers can provide you with benefits that you won’t be able to get on your own.
Loyalty
YouTube influencers have a loyal number of YouTube subscribers who are already connecting with their channels. Being recommended by a YouTube influencer can up your cool points in the minds of their YouTube subscribers, helping to drive traffic to your content and generate more YouTube views for your brand. The YouTube influencer has credibility with their audience, and associating with them will also give your brand credibility in the eyes of their YouTube subscribers.
Personal
Real YouTube subscribers are more engaged with the content being posted by an influencer, who can have a more personal relationship with their YouTube subscribers as opposed to an ad on television that can’t replicate that level of personal touch.
Targeted reach
Influencers typically work in a particular niche area and have YouTube subscribers who are already engaging with the niche area content. Choosing the right YouTube influencer can help you directly get in touch with your targeted audience and avoid wasting time marketing to the general public.
Cost effective
YouTube influencers also offer a cost-effective means of marketing your brand to their YouTube subscribers and greater ROI from influencer marketing campaign efforts than what you would get with traditional advertising on television.
Long term effects
Once the content has been posted by a YouTube influencer, it’s going to be on their channel forever which means their YouTube subscribers can watch it at any time, and even new YouTube subscribers have access to the information presented on their channel. As opposed to TV ads that run for a week or two and then die out, YouTube influencer marketing allows you to see long term benefits from the videos posted by influencers to their loyal group of YouTube subscribers.
Influencer marketing on YouTube
Establish clear goals
Don’t just jump into finding influencers for your brand. Clearly define the goals of your campaign. Are you looking to gain more YouTube subscribers and YouTube views for your own brand? Do you want to see growth in sales? Do you want to increase awareness for your business? Establishing clear goals will help you to contact the right influencers, decide on the type of content you want to be published, and decide on performance indicators you’ll need to look into to track campaign success.
Select the right influencer for your brand
Before reaching out to an influencer, consider the following factors:
- Relevance to your niche – choose an influencer whose content aligns with your niche because only then can they be considered an authority in that niche, and only then can you grab the attention of their YouTube subscribers.
- Influencer experience – working with influencers who have had experience with similar brands/types of content in the past will help you get access to insights from the past and benefit from their experience in the area.
- Reach – choose YouTube influencers who have a large number of YouTube subscribers and can get several YouTube views through their videos thanks to an engaged and loyal audience as this way, your brand will benefit from their popularity.
- Monitor engagement – YouTube influencers may have a large number of YouTube subscribers but not as such engagement for their content. As a business, it’s important for you to choose an influencer with an engaged audience, as this can translate into greater visibility and conversions for your brand.
Finding YouTube influencers to work with
You can find the influencers you want to work with by simply running a Google search mentioning your requirements, searching on YouTube, or using tools such as Scrunch, FameBit, Mention, and Influicity. While searching on YouTube, you can filter your search by type of video, type of channel, or even sort channels by their view count.
Compensating influencers
Compensation can be made in 3 ways: at a flat rate, by the commission, or through freebies. Flat rates pay for content created and can be determined by your budget and the influencer’s demand. Payment on a commission basis happens when you pay a portion to the influencer for every sale that they can produce, but this is often combined with a flat rate fee plus commission charges. Freebies may be used if the influencer is already a fan of your brand, where you give them free samples of your products, which they can review.
Develop user-centric content
User-centric content will help you gain more YouTube views and YouTube subscribers for your brand. Some popular types of content for influencer marketing are:
- Product placements
By having an influencer place your company logo, product, or service in their video, you can create awareness for your brand and benefit from more YouTube subscribers thanks to the engaged audience of the YouTube influencer. - Unboxing videos
With unboxing videos, influencers on YouTube unpack your company’s products and may explore its features, or even give a tutorial on its usage. They’re hugely popular among viewers and can generate more YouTube views for your products. - Tutorials, demonstrations, guides
The idea with tutorials, demonstrations, and how-to guides is to provide educational content that viewers can engage with and learn from. Such videos can be used in influencer marketing efforts to tap into an engaged audience of YouTube subscribers and guide the purchasing decisions of viewers. - Vlogs
Vlogs provide a great way for YouTube subscribers to connect with the influencers they look up to in a personal and relatable manner. They help to blur the divide between viewers and influencers as viewers can also be taken on a journey through vlogs posted by influencers that relate to your brand. - Product reviews and testimonials
Relying on reviews of your products by influencers and gaining their testimonials can help you reach more viewers who may be skeptical of brands promoting their own products. In this way, you can see a growth in sales and increase your number of YouTube subscribers. - Comedy and sketches
Such videos add a sense of humor to capture the attention of viewers and are great to generate viral content since they’re so popular with viewers.
Remember to let them create the content based on guidelines you’ve given them but don’t become so rigid about it that it hampers their creativity. They are, after all, familiar with what interests their audience, so trust that they know what they’re doing once you’ve given them the guidelines. Make sure you set clear deadlines to work with and follow the FTC regulations while making sure the influencer understands them. Be adventurous with your ideas, but remember to include calls to action in the content being posted in the form of clickable links, so that you can direct more of their YouTube subscribers to your website, increase brand awareness, and boost sales for your products.
Measure campaign success
It’s pointless to have done all this and not know whether it’s worked or not. Make sure you have your KPIs ready so that you can determine what worked and what didn’t for your influencer marketing campaign. Metrics that you’ll need to track include whether there’s been an increase in the number of YouTube subscribers and YouTube views you have. Other metrics to track include: video drop off, click-through rate, whether there has been an increase in traffic from organic searches, engagements in the form of likes, YouTube views, comments, and shares, CPM / CPV metrics, as well as acquisition costs on other platforms.
With this detailed guide on influencer marketing for YouTube, you can start generating more YouTube subscribers, YouTube views, and boost business growth.
