Complete guide to utilising influencers for events

In today’s fast-paced dig­i­tal land­scape, it’s more com­pli­cat­ed than ever for brands to stand out and con­nect with their tar­get audi­ences. How­ev­er, one approach has proven to be incred­i­bly effec­tive: influ­encer mar­ket­ing.

By part­ner­ing with influ­en­tial indi­vid­u­als who have a fol­low­ing on social media and oth­er online plat­forms, brands can tap into the pow­er of their reach and cred­i­bil­i­ty, reach­ing new audi­ences and dri­ving engage­ment in a way that’s impos­si­ble through tra­di­tion­al adver­tis­ing chan­nels.

In fact, accord­ing to recent stud­ies, the influ­encer mar­ket­ing Indus­try is set to grow to approx­i­mate­ly 21.1 bil­lion USD in 2023. You’re miss­ing out if that does­n’t con­vince you to use influ­encer mar­ket­ing for your upcom­ing event!

1. The benefits of using influencer marketing

• Increased brand aware­ness: Influ­encer mar­ket­ing can increase brand aware­ness by reach­ing a large and tar­get­ed audi­ence through the influ­encer’s fol­low­ers. This can help cre­ate buzz and excite­ment around an event, result­ing in more atten­dance and expo­sure for the brand.
• Increased cred­i­bil­i­ty: Influ­encers have built trust with their fol­low­ers over time, and by part­ner­ing with them for an event, a brand can tap into that cred­i­bil­i­ty and trust. This can result in high­er engage­ment and con­ver­sions, as fol­low­ers are more like­ly to trust rec­om­men­da­tions from some­one they fol­low and trust.
• Cost-effec­tive: Influ­encer mar­ket­ing can be a cost-effec­tive way to pro­mote events com­pared to oth­er forms of adver­tis­ing. Influ­encers typ­i­cal­ly have small­er fol­low­ings than celebri­ties but still have a large and engaged audi­ence. Part­ner­ing with them can be much less expen­sive than hir­ing a celebri­ty to endorse an event.
• Tar­get­ed mar­ket­ing: Influ­encer mar­ket­ing allows brands to tar­get spe­cif­ic audi­ences based on the niche or inter­ests of the influ­encer they part­ner with. This tar­get­ed approach can result in high­er engage­ment and con­ver­sions as the audi­ence is already inter­est­ed in the type of event being pro­mot­ed.

In this blog post, you’ll uncov­er how to use influ­encer mar­ket­ing for events and how it can ben­e­fit your busi­ness. Keep read­ing to find out more!

2. What is influencer marketing & how does it work?

Influ­encer mar­ket­ing is like hav­ing a friend with a big micro­phone rec­om­mend­ing your event to their crowd. It’s a way for busi­ness­es to team up with peo­ple with a large social media fol­low­ing and lever­age their influ­ence to pro­mote their event to a tar­get­ed audi­ence.

The first step is to find influ­encers who align with the val­ues and inter­ests of the event and brand. This can be done by research­ing pop­u­lar social media accounts in the rel­e­vant niche or indus­try.

Once poten­tial influ­encers have been iden­ti­fied, build­ing a rela­tion­ship with them is essen­tial. This can be done by reach­ing out and engag­ing with their con­tent, com­ment­ing, and shar­ing their social media posts.

The next step is to work with the influ­encer to cre­ate con­tent that pro­motes the event. This could be a spon­sored post, a video, or a live stream.
The influ­encer then shares the con­tent with their fol­low­ers, pro­mot­ing the event to a tar­get­ed audi­ence of poten­tial cus­tomers already inter­est­ed in the niche or indus­try.

And that’s it! Influ­encer mar­ket­ing can be a fun and effec­tive way to pro­mote events, and it’s a great way to reach a large, tar­get­ed audi­ence in a more per­son­al and cred­i­ble man­ner.

3. How to identify the right influencers for your event

1. Understanding your target audience

Under­stand­ing your tar­get audi­ence is crit­i­cal to iden­ti­fy­ing the right influ­encers for your event.

To get to know your tar­get audi­ence, you must analyse your exist­ing cus­tomer base to deter­mine com­mon inter­ests and demo­graph­ics. See what these poten­tial atten­dees’ age groups are and what would suit that age group’s inter­ests.

Anoth­er method is to use social lis­ten­ing tools to track peo­ple’s opin­ions about your brand and indus­try. Social lis­ten­ing tools like Hoot­suite, Brand­Snob, and Upflu­ence can help you stay on top of what peo­ple say about your brand and indus­try on social media. These tools allow you to track spe­cif­ic key­words, hash­tags, and men­tions relat­ed to your brand, giv­ing you real-time insights into how peo­ple per­ceive your brand and what they say about your indus­try.

As a third option, you can engage with your audi­ence on social media and ask for their feed­back. For exam­ple, ask your audi­ence to fill out a sur­vey, leave a com­ment on your social media posts, or par­tic­i­pate in a poll. This infor­ma­tion can help you make informed deci­sions about the type of con­tent mar­ket­ing you want, the social media influ­encers you want to part­ner with, and the pro­mo­tions you want to run.

2. Researching potential influencers

There are sev­er­al ways to find poten­tial influ­encers for your event. How­ev­er, we are going to focus on just three.

Insta­gram, Tik­Tok, and YouTube are some of the most pop­u­lar social media chan­nels for influ­encer mar­ket­ing. These plat­forms have mil­lions of active users, allow­ing influ­encers to con­nect with their fol­low­ers and share their con­tent. You can iden­ti­fy poten­tial influ­encers and build rela­tion­ships by research­ing pop­u­lar social media accounts in your indus­try or niche.

Influ­encer mar­ket­ing agen­cies are spe­cialised com­pa­nies that help busi­ness­es find the right influ­encers based on their needs. These agen­cies have exten­sive data­bas­es of influ­encers and can help you find the right influ­encer for your brand and event. They can also help you nego­ti­ate rates, man­age your influ­encer cam­paigns, and mea­sure the results of your cam­paigns.

As well as help­ing you under­stand your tar­get audi­ence, Social lis­ten­ing tools can also stream­line your search for influ­encers and help you find the right influ­encer for your brand and event. These tools allow you insights into who is talk­ing about rel­e­vant top­ics in your indus­try — just like that, you’ve found your influ­encer. They can also help you mon­i­tor your influ­encer cam­paigns and track the suc­cess of your influ­encer part­ner­ships.

3. Evaluating influencers based on critical criteria

Once you have a list of poten­tial influ­encers, it’s time to eval­u­ate them based on the fol­low­ing cri­te­ria:

• Engage­ment rates: Look for high­ly engaged influ­encers, indi­cat­ing their fol­low­ers active­ly engage with their con­tent (high engage­ment rates are much more valu­able than their num­ber of fol­low­ers).
• Authen­tic­i­ty: Authen­tic­i­ty is vital when it comes to influ­encer mar­ket­ing. Look for influ­encers who are gen­uine and relat­able to their fol­low­ers.
• Rel­e­vance to your event: Choose influ­encers whose inter­ests and niche align with your event and brand.

4. How to contact influencers

Direct mes­sag­ing on social media plat­forms such as Insta­gram, Tik­Tok, and Twit­ter is a great way to con­tact influ­encers. This allows you to con­tact them direct­ly and build a rela­tion­ship with them. Per­son­alise a direct mes­sage and clear­ly state what you want when send­ing it.

Email is anoth­er effec­tive way to reach out to influ­encers. This allows you to send a more detailed mes­sage and pro­vide more infor­ma­tion about your brand and event. When email­ing an influ­encer, per­son­alise it, be clear and con­cise, and offer fair com­pen­sa­tion and incen­tives. You can set up an email list with all poten­tial influ­encers you’d like to work with.

Here’s when influ­encer mar­ket­ing agen­cies come in again. Influ­encer mar­ket­ing agen­cies can help you con­nect with influ­encers and nego­ti­ate rates and terms. These agen­cies have exten­sive data­bas­es of influ­encers and can help you find the right influ­encer for your brand and event. They can also help you man­age your influ­encer cam­paigns and mea­sure the results of your cam­paigns.

When it comes to approach­ing influ­encers, keep the fol­low­ing tips in mind:

• Per­son­alise your mes­sage: When reach­ing out to influ­encers, it’s essen­tial to per­son­alise your mes­sage and make it spe­cif­ic to them. This can be as sim­ple as address­ing them by name, men­tion­ing the con­tent you admire, or high­light­ing why you think they would be an excel­lent fit for your brand and event. Per­son­al­is­ing your mes­sage can increase the chances of the influ­encer respond­ing and being inter­est­ed in work­ing with you.
• Be clear and con­cise about what you’re look­ing for: When reach­ing out to influ­encers, it’s essen­tial to be clear and con­cise about what you’re look­ing for and what you expect from them. This includes the type of con­tent you want them to cre­ate, the length of the part­ner­ship, and the com­pen­sa­tion you’ll be offer­ing. By being clear and con­cise, you can avoid con­fu­sion or mis­un­der­stand­ings and increase the chances of a suc­cess­ful col­lab­o­ra­tion. Know­ing how to write an influ­encer mar­ket­ing brief can help to reach the influ­encers too.
• Offer fair com­pen­sa­tion and incen­tives: When part­ner­ing with influ­encers, offer­ing fair com­pen­sa­tion and moti­va­tion is essen­tial. This can include mon­e­tary com­pen­sa­tion, prod­uct or ser­vice com­pen­sa­tion, or access to exclu­sive events or expe­ri­ences. Offer­ing fair com­pen­sa­tion and incen­tives can help you attract the right influ­encer for your brand and event and increase the chances of a suc­cess­ful part­ner­ship.

5. Creating an influencer strategy for your event

1. Define your clear goals and objectives

Before you start work­ing with influ­encers, defin­ing your goals and objec­tives is essen­tial. Con­sid­er the fol­low­ing ques­tions:

• What is the pur­pose of your event?
• Who is your tar­get audi­ence?
• What do you hope to achieve through influ­encer mar­ket­ing?

2. Determine the types of influencers to work with

Deter­mine the types of influ­encers to work with: There are sev­er­al types of influ­encers to con­sid­er, includ­ing:

• Micro-influ­encers: These have small­er fol­low­ings but high engage­ment rates. You can find micro-influ­encers on any social media plat­form.
• Macro-influ­encers: These are influ­encers with more sig­nif­i­cant fol­low­ings and a wider reach.
• Celebri­ty influ­encers: These are well-known indi­vid­u­als with a large fol­low­ing and influ­ence.

3. Planning content & messaging

When it comes to plan­ning con­tent and mes­sag­ing for your influ­encer part­ner­ships, con­sid­er the fol­low­ing:

• Influ­encer-gen­er­at­ed con­tent: Encour­age influ­encers to use their cre­ative mar­ket­ing ideas to cre­ate user-gen­er­at­ed con­tent pro­mot­ing your event. For exam­ple, you can ask influ­encers to post cre­ative images or videos relat­ed to your event, such as clips from the venue or inter­views with speak­ers.
• Event-spe­cif­ic hash­tags and pro­mo­tions: Use event-spe­cif­ic hash­tags and pro­mo­tions to increase vis­i­bil­i­ty and engage­ment. For exam­ple, if your event is a music fes­ti­val, you could cre­ate a hash­tag specif­i­cal­ly for the event, such as #MusicFest20XX. You can use this hash­tag to pro­mote the event on social media and encour­age influ­encers to share it with their fol­low­ers. Addi­tion­al­ly, offer­ing dis­counts or spe­cial pro­mo­tions to influ­encers who pro­mote your event can be a great way to increase vis­i­bil­i­ty and engage­ment. Make sure these pro­mo­tions are unique and attrac­tive enough.

4. Budgeting for influencer partnerships

When it comes to bud­get­ing for influ­encer part­ner­ships, con­sid­er the fol­low­ing:

• Deter­mine what you’re will­ing to spend on each influ­encer.
• Con­sid­er the size of the influ­encer’s fol­low­ing and their engage­ment rates.
• Offer fair com­pen­sa­tion and incen­tives to ensure the suc­cess of your part­ner­ship.

6. Collaborating with influencers

When it comes to col­lab­o­rat­ing with influ­encers, it is essen­tial to estab­lish a pro­fes­sion­al rela­tion­ship: This includes clear and open com­mu­ni­ca­tion, set­ting expec­ta­tions, and pro­vid­ing feed­back. Make sure the influ­encer has com­mon goals for the part­ner­ship.

Be clear about what you expect from the influ­encer, includ­ing the type of con­tent you want them to cre­ate, the length of the part­ner­ship, and the com­pen­sa­tion you’ll be offer­ing. You need to ensure that you have com­mu­ni­cat­ed your expec­ta­tions and deliv­er­ables clear­ly.

Give influ­encers the free­dom to cre­ate authen­tic con­tent that aligns with their style and inter­ests while guid­ing them to ensure that the con­tent is con­sis­tent with your brand and event.

Of course, since this is all about event mar­ket­ing, event mar­keters should invite influ­encers to par­tic­i­pate and pro­vide them with a VIP expe­ri­ence. This will increase their engage­ment with the event and allow them to cre­ate more authen­tic and engag­ing con­tent at the actu­al event itself rather than just lead­ing up to it.

How­ev­er, you must make sure to com­mu­ni­cate what you expect from the influ­encer before, dur­ing, and after the event, includ­ing any pro­mo­tion­al activ­i­ties and post-event con­tent cre­ation.

7. Measuring the success of your influencer campaign for your event

1. Tracking Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

When it comes to mea­sur­ing the suc­cess of your influ­encer cam­paign, con­sid­er the fol­low­ing:

• Track­ing key per­for­mance indi­ca­tors (KPIs): Use met­rics such as engage­ment rates, con­ver­sion rates, and event atten­dance to gauge the suc­cess of your cam­paign. Tak­ing con­trol of your tick­ets will make it eas­i­er to track how much has been sold and if you’ve reached your tar­get for the event.
• Analysing your brand and event: Con­sid­er your influ­encer cam­paign’s impact on your brand and occa­sion, includ­ing the pos­i­tive and neg­a­tive con­se­quences.
• Adjust­ing your strat­e­gy for future events: Based on your results, change your influ­encer mar­ket­ing strat­e­gy to fit future events bet­ter. Know­ing how to get hon­est feed­back from atten­dees could result in bet­ter suc­cess for your next event.

2. Analysing the impact on your brand and event

Con­sid­er your influ­encer mar­ket­ing cam­paign’s impact on your brand and event, includ­ing the pos­i­tive and neg­a­tive con­se­quences.

3. Adjusting your strategy for future events

Based on your result and pre­vi­ous events, adjust your influ­encer mar­ket­ing strat­e­gy to fit future events bet­ter.

Source of all images inside this arti­cle: Mar­ket­Splash

Conclusion

In con­clu­sion, influ­encer mar­ket­ing has become a valu­able tool for event plan­ners and mar­keters look­ing to reach a large and tar­get­ed audi­ence. By part­ner­ing with influ­encers who have built trust with their fol­low­ers, brands can tap into that cred­i­bil­i­ty and trust, result­ing in high­er engage­ment and con­ver­sions.

The key to suc­cess in influ­encer mar­ket­ing is to under­stand your tar­get audi­ence, iden­ti­fy the right influ­encers, estab­lish a pro­fes­sion­al rela­tion­ship, and mea­sure your results.

By fol­low­ing these steps, event plan­ners and mar­keters can cre­ate suc­cess­ful influ­encer cam­paigns that dri­ve more event atten­dance and expo­sure. With its cost-effec­tive­ness and tar­get­ed approach, influ­encer mar­ket­ing has the poten­tial to be a game-chang­er for event pro­mo­tion, mak­ing it an essen­tial com­po­nent of any event mar­ket­ing strat­e­gy.

Are you ready to launch your event? Weezevent pro­vides tick­et­ing, access con­trol and cash­less pay­ment solu­tions and mar­ket­ing and CRM tools to make your event a suc­cess!

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