Influencer Marketing and Sales: How to Convert Followers into Customers?

Key points about influencer marketing sales

• Influencer marketing focuses on using the influence of content creators to drive sales by leveraging the trust and reach of their audience.
• Although marketing and sales are distinct terms, the two work in a complementary and collaborative way in  successful  campaigns.
• Influencers play a critical role in marketing plans because of their ability to create engaging content, promote products across digital sales channels, and  connect with target audiences.

What is the definition of influencer marketing and sales?

Influencer marketing is defined as  a strategy in which brands collaborate with influencers on social networks to promote their products or services.

Through influencer marketing, brands leverage the credibility and impact that influencers have on their communities to increase their visibility, build trust, and promote their key messages in an authentic way.

Sales, on the other hand, corresponds to the process of exchanging goods or services  for monetary compensation. In the specific context of influencer marketing, sales focuses on converting the followers of a content creator into potential customers for the company with which the collaboration agreement has been established.

On the subject of agreements, learn more about: How to establish an effective influencer partnership

What are the differences between marketing and sales ?

Marketing and sales are concepts with clear differences, yet they are  at the same time complementary in the business environment. On the one hand, marketing focuses on identifying and satisfying the needs of the key audience. Its main function is to create brand awareness, generate interest, and attract potential customers to a company’s products or services, which means that marketing takes a long-term approach.

Sales, on the other hand, focuses on converting that interest and awareness into actual business exchanges or transactions. Sales activities  involve direct contact with customers  to facilitate the buying process. And unlike marketing, whose focus is on long-term actions, sales are shorter in scope and more oriented to generating revenue in a specific time period.

Advantages of influencer marketing for sales management

Influencer marketing provides a number of advantages that allow companies to drive sales, but it also generates other positive effects in terms of credibility, reach, and brand reputation.

• Greater brand reach and visibility:  Creating marketing campaigns with influencers allows companies to have access to the large base of engaged and loyal followers that make up the influencer’s community, generating a massive reach of the messages and therefore greater brand visibility. Creating this awareness around the brand attracts the attention of potential customers.
• Traffic to your website and other digital channels:  With the links and calls to action that influencers share in their publications, it is possible for brands to get more quality leads and considerably increase traffic to their various digital platforms.
• Precise targeting: A huge advantage of working with influencers on social media is that brands can precisely choose the creators that align most closely with their target audiences and niche market. This means that specific segments of audiences relevant to the brand can be reached. By targeting a well-segmented audience, companies can increase the chances that the influencer’s followers will convert into actual customers.
• Credibility and trust: When influencers recommend a product, their followers tend to trust their opinion and consider that recommendation thanks to the previously established  relationship between both parties. This credibility and trust between influencers and followers can influence purchasing decisions and generate greater interest in your brand’s products.
• Measurable impact: Another of the important factors that favor influencer marketing strategies over other methods is the possibility of measuring and evaluating results effectively. In influencer marketing campaigns you can track the performance of your campaigns using metrics such as reach, engagement, clicks, and conversions. This allows for a higher ROI (Return of Investment) percentage and optimization of strategies to further drive sales.

Strategies that marketing departments can pursue through influencer campaigns

With influencer marketing campaigns, you can execute different branding strategies that we will detail below:

1. Follower growth and engagement on social media:  Influencer marketing is an effective technique for brands to increase the number of followers on social media and drive engagement with their brand. Marketing teams that choose to collaborate with influencers  gather an active and engaged audience and manage to attract new followers who, in turn, could become customers in the long term. All these actions are achieved when creators promote your brand in their posts, stories, videos, and other content.
2. Driving sales and conversion: A key function of influencer marketing is to generate sales and increase the conversion of followers into customers. As mentioned above, influencers have the ability to influence the buying decisions of their followers because of the trust and connection they have established. You can collaborate with influencers to create content that highlights the benefits and features of your products or services and offer exclusive discounts or promotional codes to encourage purchases. It is also possible to set up affiliate programs in which influencers receive a commission for each sale made. Read more about affiliate marketing as a pillar of influencer marketing in our blog.
3. Creating user-generated content: Another very useful marketing tool that allows companies to establish more real connections is for customers  to tell about their experiences with the products or services purchased. You can develop a campaign in which the influencer invites his followers to generate this kind of content using a specific hashtag or to participate in challenges. The result will be that the image of your brand will be promoted and you will have a constant flow of authentic content.
4. Long-term influencer collaborations:  It is of utmost importance for sales and marketing leaders to establish long-term partnerships with influencers as this will allow them to build long-lasting relationships, showing a solid and consistent image of  your brand’s key messages. In the same vein, working with the same influencers on multiple campaigns allows you to continually leverage their influence and develop a deeper connection with their audiences. In addition, long-term partnerships offer the opportunity to create content that is consistent and aligned with your brand identity, which reinforces your company’s recognition and follower loyalty.

What roles and activities can an influencer play in a business marketing plan?

Influencers can play a key role in a business marketing plan. First of all, they are experts in creating attractive and original content to better highlight your company’s products or services. Through social media posts, videos, reviews, blogs and more, influencers have the ability to generate interest and engagement among their audience, capturing the attention of potential customers. Likewise, they are often experts in new technologies, providing ideas that allow you to automate your campaigns.

Working with influencers will allow you to gain strategic advice based on the experience and knowledge that the content creators have about their audiences. This will help you to better target your campaigns based  precisely on the needs of your audience. Influencers can work with your marketing and sales team to identify growth opportunities, provide insights into target audience preferences and behaviors, and help your company make more informed decisions.

Influencers can also participate in events and marketing activities organized by your company. Their presence at product launches, conferences, or trade shows will attract more participants and increase the company’s visibility in both online and offline environments.

What is and how to create a marketing plan with influencers to sell more?

A marketing plan with influencers lists all the actions that you and the content creator will carry out in collaboration  to promote your products. To establish this course of action you must, first of all, set clear objectives. Whether it is to increase sales, generate more traffic to your digital platforms, or increase brand recognition, having clear goals will be the key to obtaining better results on the advertising investments you plan to make.

Identifying and selecting the right influencers will be the next step. Knowing which influencers are aligned with your brand values, market niche, and target audience will allow you to make an appropriate decision and connect with a relevant and engaged audience. Remember that  there are several platforms that can assist with your analysis. At Kolsquare we have developed a tool with an advanced search engine that helps you analyze and identify the best influencer profiles for your campaigns in Spain and around the world. You will also be able to recognize fake influencers and see credibility indexes for each creator. Request a free demo.

You might be interested in: Fake influencers: how to identify them?

In the next step you will define the type of collaboration you want to carry out. Broadly speaking, this can vary between sponsored posts, product reviews, affiliate marketing, and much more. Remember that the format should be tailored to the tastes, interests, and needs of the buyer. Consider how you want influencers to present your brand and how they will engage with their followers.

Then, together with the selected influencer, determine the content strategy. Remember that beyond the format you  have established, the content must be original and creative; but above all, it must be consistent with the brand’s objectives. Consider the use of elements that encourage the conversion of followers into customers, i.e., help them with  the purchasing process by offering, for example, special gifts to those who follow the influencer’s recommendation.

Then, you will establish a tracking and measurement system. Our recommendation is that you use a marketing automation tool that allows you to analyze metrics and track the performance of your influencer campaigns. To do this, you should review data such as reach, engagement, traffic and, most importantly in this case, conversions and sales. This will help you evaluate the effectiveness of your strategy and make adjustments as needed.

It is precisely the evaluation and adjustments to your campaign that is the final step in this process. It is essential for the marketing department to analyze which strategies and collaborations have worked best and which aspects could be improved. With this relevant information, you will be able to make the required adjustments so that future collaborations are optimal and maximize sales opportunities.

Kolsquare tip: to improve the success of your influencer marketing plan, always strive to maintain high standards of transparency and authenticity. Make sure you comply with regulations and collaboration between brands and influencers in the country of origin. Also build long-term relationships with successful influencers to leverage their influence over time and cultivate lasting partnerships.

Tips for specialists and domain experts who want to improve sales with influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is a powerful sales channel. In fact, it is estimated that companies earn 5.40 euros through influencer campaigns for every 0.93 euro spent. This confirms the figures of the Statista market study, in which the size of the influencer marketing market is expected to reach a record 19.6 billion euros.

If you want your brand to start generating profits and increase sales opportunities in digital channels, here are some tips that can help your marketing department in realizing these objectives.

Address a specific target

It is important that your sales teams and marketing departments work together in defining the target audience. With this clear information they will be able to select and work with influencers who have followers that align with your strategy. This ensures  that the influencer’s followers are  interested in purchasing your  products or services and will ultimately convert  from followers into customers.

Create quality digital content

The quality of the content is key to the success of any influencer marketing campaign, therefore, make sure you work with influencers that generate authentic and attractive content that exalts the benefits of your product in the best possible way. Our recommendation is that you analyze, together with your marketing team, the profile and quality of the content of the influencers you consider  collaborating  with to ensure that they meet the necessary quality standards.

We recommend you read: The complete guide to create branded content on Instagram

Use tools such as contests and sweepstakes

In your collaborations with influencers you can  use  tools such as contests and sweepstakes that  often support marketing plans and allow you to capture the attention of consumers more easily. With these initiatives, participants have the option to win branded products, but also increase the participation and visibility of your company.

Offer discount codes for the marketing of your products

By offering discount codes, the influencers’ followers  are able to access preferential prices to purchase your brand’s products. Users will certainly be attracted by any exclusive offers, which will motivate them to start the purchase process. They are also very useful tools to nudge  undecided customers as  such discounts can be the last “push” to close the sales cycle.

Finally, discount codes also help to monitor the amount of sales that are generated through collaboration with influencers since in most cases a personalized code is used.

Monitor and leverage user-generated content

The ultimate goal of measuring any campaign is to analyze the results obtained in order to make the appropriate adjustments and transform those marketing leads into sales. By monitoring the results through this sales channel, you will be able to obtain relevant information that will lead you to improve the purchasing and customer service processes.

If you come across content created by users during your analysis, or if the influencers encouraged  their followers to share their personal experiences with your products through the use of specific hashtags or mentions of your brand, you can further enhance the reach of your campaign. Take advantage of all that follower-generated content to promote your brand and products in a more real and human way, as this can have a positive impact on future customer decision-making, and of course, ultimately, on  sales.

Examples of successful influencer marketing campaigns in Spain

It is increasingly common to see companies using social networks as sales channels and creating influencer marketing campaigns due to the obvious positive results in terms of visibility and consumer reach.  Here are some examples of  campaigns that have been executed with great success in Spain.

Goiko with streamer Axozer

A successful campaign in the restaurant sector in Spain was seen with Goiko, a hamburger restaurant chain, which carried out an advertising strategy with the Axoner streamer in the summer of 2022, generating more than 480,000 online interactions and an earned media value of 524,414 euros.

Ibai Llanos and Dominos

Ibai Llanos, one of Spain’s most popular streamers and content creators, partnered with the renowned pizza restaurant chain Domino’s for a promotional campaign. Llanos launched his own pizza called “la más dura” (the hardest). The launch announcement was made during a live Twitch broadcast, taking advantage of the huge audience of more than half a million viewers.

The “La más dura” pizza was marketed in all of Domino’s Pizza stores in Spain for 3 months and was positioned in the top 3 of the most ordered pizzas on Domino’s website.

Multiópticas and Laura Escanes

The Mó x Laura Escanes campaign is an outstanding example of collaboration between a brand and an influencer to promote products and generate an impact on the market. Laura Escanes, renowned Spanish influencer and writer, partnered with Multiópticas to present the ENDLESS SUMMER collection, featuring bold and daring eyewear models.