Influencers are very effective in spreading brand awareness and improving a brand’s image. Not just that, influencer marketing is equally effective at driving sales conversions.
Wondering how to use influencers to drive sales?
Well, you have reached the right place. In this post, you will learn nine of the most effective techniques to use influencers to drive sales for your business.
So, let’s get started.
Table of Contents
9 Effective Ways to Use Influencers to Drive Sales
Try these tried-and-tested tips to use influencers to drive sales for your business by running a successful influencer marketing campaign.
1. Collaborate with Influencers for Giveaways and Contests
Social media giveaways and contests are great ways to lure in new customers and get them to engage with your brand.
You can either create a contest and ask influencers to promote it or co-host a giveaway in a way that is mutually beneficial.
How does it work?
First, you offer something lucrative enough that people will participate in your giveaway or contest. Then, you set the rules for participation like asking people to tag their friends and following both the influencer and your brand.
Next, ask the influencer you’re collaborating with to share the contest/giveaway details on their profile and promote it with their audience.
Here’s an example:
Image via Instagram
Campaigns like these get new people to engage with your brand and check out your products, which they may not have done otherwise. This, in turn, helps improve sales as more people become aware of your brand and check out your website.
2. Provide Influencers with Unique Discount Codes
This is a more direct way to use influencers to drive sales.
How?
You simply need to provide each influencer with their own unique discount code that they can share with their followers. Unique discount codes give a sense of exclusivity to the influencers’ followers as it gives the impression that only they can get that discount.
Image via Instagram
This entices people to take advantage of the exclusive discount and at least check out the products, if not instantly make a purchase.
It is a simple, yet effective technique to use influencers to drive sales for your brand and requires very little effort.
3. Ask Influencers to Use Campaign-Specific Hashtags
Hashtags are effective tools to reach new and special audiences on social media. And one of the best practices that successful brands follow is to use campaign-specific hashtags.
Launching a new product? Create a hashtag to promote it. Running a holiday social media influencer marketing campaign? Use a campaign-specific hashtag.
Ask influencers to create content to promote your campaign and use your branded campaign-specific hashtag. This way, all your campaign-related content will be organized and if there are enough influencers in your campaign, there’s the potential for your campaign hashtag to start trending which would amplify the campaign results.
This influencer marketing strategy helps in generating interest in and hype about the latest products and collections, thus encouraging more people to buy and drive sales.
4. Give Influencers Free Products to Review
If you want to learn how to use social media influencers to drive sales, then you can’t ignore the importance of product reviews.
A good review from a trusted influencer can put your brand or products on the map and get more and more people to try them.
Wondering how to get influencers to review your products?
Well, some brands choose to get sponsored reviews by paying for them. But a better alternative is to send free product samples to various influencers in your niche and request them to share a review.
More often than not, influencers will oblige and share a good review.
Here’s an example:
Image via Instagram
The best part about this tactic to use influencers to drive reviews and sales is that it does not cost much beyond the product cost and delivers excellent results.
5. Get Influencers to Share Gift Guides During Holiday Season
The holiday season is the time when brands drive more sales than any other time of the year. Consumers’ buying behavior around the holidays revolves mostly around buying gifts for their loved ones.
That is why gift guides work very well, this time of the year, to drive more sales. Simply curate a list of products that are great for gifting and have influencers create gift guides for their followers using products from that list.
Give each influencer the creative freedom to curate their own guide, according to their taste. They can then share those guides with their followers and help them buy the best gifts for their loved ones.
This strategy on how to use influencers to drive sales is effective but seems non-promotional and useful for the consumers. So, don’t forget to use influencers to create holiday gift guides for your brand and drive more sales.
Experienced influencers with large audiences will plan gift guides into their holiday posting schedule. They often leave spots open in their guides for brands to purchase. If you can find an influencer like this, purchasing a spot on their gift guide post is an effective way to drive results.
6. Ask Social Media Influencers to Create Shoppable Posts and Stories
Want to learn how to use influencers to drive sales?
The most direct way to do that is to pay influencers to create sponsored social media content and use each platform’s shopping features.
Platforms like Instagram and Facebook have several business-friendly features that can help you drive more sales. Instagram, for example, has the option to create posts where you can tag products, display their prices, and click on the post to buy those products.
Ask influencers to create such posts where their followers can directly buy products by clicking on the post. Similarly, they can also create stories with “Shop Now” or other calls-to-action to drive sales.
This is one of the best ways to use influencers to drive sales for your brand.
7. Leverage Influencers to Promote Limited-Time Offers
Limited-time offers create a sense of urgency and compel people to make a purchase decision quickly. This is an evergreen strategy that brands have been using for a long time.
But, how can you use influencers to get better results with this strategy?
Ask influencers to promote your limited-time deals and offers to create a sense of urgency and get more people to try your products.
If you promote it yourself, only your followers will know about the offer. But if you leverage influencers, then you can reach a much larger targeted audience and drive more sales.
8. Co-Create a Product Line with Popular Influencers
Some brands collaborate with popular influencers to co-create a product or product line. Many beauty brands, for example, launch entire collections designed by a celebrity or an influencer.
You can replicate the same strategy and use influencers to design products for your brand.
Next, both you and the influencer will promote the products starting from pre-launch marketing to driving sales after the launch.
9. Start an Affiliate Program and Enroll Influencers
If you want a long-term association with influencers where they regularly help you drive more sales, then this is a great option for you.
Ask your top influencers to join your affiliate program and earn commissions for every sale that they help drive for your brand. This is a great incentive for the influencers as they will be more motivated to drive sales for your brand if they’re getting a part of the profits.
So, if you don’t yet have an affiliate program, it’s time that you consider starting one and find the best influencers in your niche to join that.
This is a long-term strategy to use influencers to drive sales for your brand.
FAQs
1. How can influencers drive more sales?
Influencers can help you promote your products, offers, sales, and other promotions to drive more sales. Here are some of the top ways to use influencers to drive sales:
- Collaborate with influencers for giveaways and contests
- Provide influencers with unique discount codes
- Ask influencers to use campaign-specific hashtags
- Give influencers free products to review
- Get influencers to share gift guides during the holiday season
- Ask influencers to create shoppable posts and stories
- Leverage influencers to promote limited-time offers
- Co-create a product line with popular influencers
- Start an affiliate program and enroll influencers
2. Do influencers actually drive sales?
Yes, influencers can help you reach a wider audience and promote your products to their engaged followers to drive sales. You can choose from different types of influencers and work with the ones that are the best fit for your brand.
3. How do influencers attract customers?
Influencers create useful and relevant content to attract and engage followers on social media. They rely on their expertise in a particular area and use it to provide advice and recommendations to their followers. You can leverage this influencer-generated content for your brand and drive sales for your products.
4. How do I pay influencers to promote my product?
You can either offer monetary compensation or pay in kind. The latter involves providing free products or services in exchange for product promotion.
If you want to pay money, then do ask for the influencer rate sheet of each influencer and negotiate from there.
5. How do I contact influencers to promote my product?
Most influencers mention their preferred mode of communication in their social media bios. Check for these and then contact them accordingly.
If an influencer doesn’t have their contact info in their bio, you can try messaging them directly on the social media platform on which they are most active.
Conclusion
Influencers have a loyal and engaged audience that you can tap into by collaborating with them for product promotions. Try using some or all of the nine techniques mentioned above to use influencers to drive sales for your business.
Need some help running a successful influencer marketing campaign?
Reach out to our team and get a consultation on the best way to leverage influencers to drive sales and grow your brand.
