Running Moneyball Influencer Marketing
How can we run influencer marketing by taking a leaf out of the 'Moneyball' playbook? Utilizing data-driven strategies to get the most out of marketing budgets. Just like the famous baseball story, the idea is to focus on the statistics that lead to success, rather than big-name endorsements or vanity metrics.
Understanding Moneyball Strategy in Influencer Marketing
The Moneyball concept, derived from baseball, emphasizes the value of undervalued assets—in this case, influencers. It focuses on finding influencers with the right engagement and conversion metrics rather than just high following numbers, boosting ROI significantly.
Key Steps to Running Moneyball Influencer Marketing
1. Define Your Success Metrics
Before starting, identify what success looks like for your brand. This could be engagement rate, conversion rate, click-through rate, or any other metric that aligns with your goals.
2. Find the Right Influencers
To find influencers who provide the best value for money, use tools like SwipeMagic. SwipeMagic helps you discover influencers who may not have the largest followings but have high average views and audiences relevant to your niche. It does this by searching at scale, which allows you to uncover these hidden gems that are otherwise hidden amongst thousands of posts. Just run a deep search and then filter for low follow ranges (1K - 50K) and strong average views (5k to 30K +).
3. Look Beyond Follower Counts
Don't be dazzled by big follower numbers. Instead, focus on influencers who show high engagement and conversion metrics, and whose followers are genuinely interested in their content.
4. Analyze Audience Fit
Study the comment sections for interests of the influencers' audiences to ensure they match your target audience.
5. Utilize Advanced Data
Use the insights given by tools like SwipeMagic to understand things like average views and recent engagement. This helps in making informed decisions on whom to partner with.
6. Allocate Budget Smartly
Rather than spending the bulk of your budget on a few top-tier influencers, spread it across several up-and-coming or niche influencers who collectively can offer a high ROI.
7. Test and Learn
Implement a test-and-learn strategy to continually refine your influencer partnerships based on performance data. This could involve smaller, initial collaborations before committing to more significant partnerships.
8. Foster Long-term Relationships
Once you find influencers who generate a high ROI, work on building long-term relationships. This can often lead to better rates and deeper audience trust over time.
9. Calculate the 'Cost per Engagement' (CPE)
Instead of ‘Cost per Post’, focus on how much you’re paying for actual engagement with your content (likes, shares, comments, conversions).
10. Monitor and Adjust
Like any good Moneyball strategy, the key is to keep monitoring performance and adjust your strategy as needed. Stay agile and ready to pivot based on what the data tells you.
Conclusion
Adopting a Moneyball approach in influencer marketing means making every dollar count by investing in influencers who are most likely to deliver in terms of real engagement and conversions. It’s about being smarter with your investments, looking beyond traditional vanity metrics, and building partnerships that are backed by solid data.
By utilizing advanced search tools like SwipeMagic and focusing on engagement and conversion metrics, you can uncover underrated influencers who could become valuable assets in driving your brand's success. Remember, in Moneyball marketing—data is king.