We live in a time when most (if not all) of our purchasing decisions are based on online exposure. With the surge of competition in the digital market, it has become even more crucial for businesses to develop innovative campaigns.
If your company has been looking for a way to boost its digital presence, the term influencer marketing might ring a bell. Influencer marketing is a strategy in which brands partner up with influential personalities on social media to promote their products and services.
Over the years, major social media platforms have been tweaking their algorithm to emphasize content-creators over brand pages. If there was ever a perfect time to partner up with influencers, it is most definitely now.
When it comes to influencer marketing, the first dilemma brands face is deciding which platform to use. For most companies, the answer is pretty simple. What better platform to use than the largest and flashiest social media, Facebook?
With an insane active user base of 2.74 billion users every month, there can hardly be any argument against using Facebook for influencer marketing. But just for argument’s sake, let us take a deep dive into why Facebook is the ideal platform for influencer marketing.
Why Choose Facebook?
There are multiple reasons why Facebook is the ideal choice for influencer marketing. But they all boil down to three key points.
1. Massive User-base
Facebook’s popularity is a well-established fact. In the first quarter of 2021, Facebook has reported a daily user count of 1.87 billion people. For context, the world population is currently 7.67 billion. By basing your strategy around Facebook, you will be able to reach a massive audience.
But the benefit of Facebook’s user-base doesn’t just end with its sheer number. A unique feature that separates Facebook from other platforms is Facebook Groups.
Facebook Groups allow this massive user-base to stay engaged. Around 1.25 billion of the daily users log into Facebook every day. Groups allow influencers to engage with their audience in a more personal way. It is a unique experience that Facebook provides to its user base.
2. The Preferred Platform
According to a 2019 survey, Facebook is the third most preferred platform for influencers, just behind Instagram and Youtube.
Over the past couple of years, Facebook has integrated features that made Instagram and Youtube ideal for influencers into their platform. Facebook now supports Stories that can be synced with Instagram. They have also developed Facebook Watch as a legitimate competitor to Youtube and Twitch.
3. All The Right Tools
Something that makes Facebook stand out is the tools they provide you. Here is a brief description of the analytical tools Facebook provides.
Facebook has a built-in analytics tool called Facebook Insights. Facebook Insights can help you keep track of the influencer’s performance. Moreover, it will allow you to understand your audience better. By getting a better understanding of your customer’s psychology, you will make better decisions and hire the right influencers for your brand.
Another tool that can provide your brand with an edge is Branded Content Tags. Using this tag allows companies to partner up with content creators while being completely transparent with their audience.
There’s more – Facebook Live.
Facebook Live adds another dimension to engagement by allowing you to have real-time interactions with your favorite influencers. Moreover, the boost feature allows brands to boost their influencers’ posts to get maximum reach.
Finally, you can use third-party platforms to get the most out of Facebook. For example, you can use a scheduling tool like Postfity so that you never miss out on rush hours.
Finding The Right Influencer for Facebook Influencer Marketing
After you have selected your ideal platform, it’s time to find the right influencer for the job. But before you start looking into influencers, you must first understand your product and target audience.
What is your product? Who do you want to sell to? You must define your goals and KPIs. It is not enough to have something like “increase engagement” as your goal. Your goals must be well-defined. Moreover, you must analyze your target demographic.
Now let us take a look at how you can find the right influencer for your brand.
1. Keyword Search
Keyword research is probably the most common method for hunting down the right influencer. You can search for keywords related to your product or things your target demographic might be into on Facebook. You can also search for relevant hashtags.
When manually looking for influencers on Facebook, it is a good idea to filter in pages only. Most influencers will operate from their pages rather than their profiles. Afterward, you should apply more filters according to your need to narrow down your pool.
Let’s say that you want to target teenagers who are into video games. In that case, you should search up “gaming” on Facebook. It will show you the most popular gamers on the platform.
2. Look At Your Competitors
If your competitors are already using influencers to promote their products, see if they can promote yours as well. Even if they cannot promote your product, you will get an idea of what sort of influencer you are looking for.
3. Use A Database
If all else fails, you can resort to a database service. There are agencies out there that have a database for prominent online figures along with relevant statistics. These services can help you find the perfect influencer for your brand. However, they are not cheap. It is good to use agencies and databases only when you know you can afford them for your business.
Ideas For Facebook Influencer Marketing
Alright! Now that we have established the effectiveness of Facebook influencer marketing and learned how to find the right influencer, let’s look at some strategies you can use for your Facebook influencer marketing campaign.
Facebook Influencer Marketing Tip 1. Giveaway Contests
Giveaways are probably the most common and also the most effective strategy in the case of influencer marketing. The same can be said for Facebook influencer marketing. The creative freedom Facebook offers is perfect for curating flashy giveaway campaigns. The primary utility of such contests is to convert a portion of the influencer’s audience into your customers.
In these campaigns, the brand will come up with a simple contest that may involve answering a question in the comment section or simply liking and sharing their pages. The influencer will then share that campaign on their page. An important thing to remember is that the product that will be gifted must be related to the influencer.
If you pick a random product that has nothing to do with the influencer you are working with, the audience will not be able to relate, consequently putting all your efforts in vain.
On the flip side, if the influencer’s audience finds your products relevant, they will become aware of your brand and start engaging with your page as well.
A good example of a well-thought-out influencer marketing campaign is the partnership between popular singer Whitney Houston and fashion brand Abercrombie & Fitch.
In the giveaway, you can win a premium Whitney t-shirt by simply following their pages and tagging some friends. The t-shirt is a great product choice because it shows off the premium quality and Abercrombie & Fitch while also appealing to Whitney’s fans.
Moreover, the precondition that you have to tag your friends grants you scope for gaining more brand awareness. But what makes the campaign so good is the fact that they are also donating to a cause. This creates a very positive look for your brand and also appeals to the demographic you are standing up for.
Facebook Influencer Marketing Tip 2. Facebook Ads
Facebook’s algorithm is always evolving. There is never a sure-fire strategy that will give you maximum organic reach every time. So, when partnering with an influencer, it is a good idea to boost their posts using Facebook Ads.
Boosting your influencer’s posts will allow you to get the most out of your posts.
Take this sponsored post by Buy Here Now (BHN) as an example, where they are promoting exclusive dishes from a restaurant called Fool’s Diner. This post provides an incentive to BHN’s customers to buy from Fool’s Diner. So, by boosting this post, Fool’s Diner can potentially gain a lot more customers.
Facebook Influencer Marketing Tip 3. Video Content And Facebook Live
Videos are the most engaging form of media in social media. Try to create video content for your influencers to share. Even better, you can collaborate with your influencer to create content that will appeal to their audience.
Videos allow you to tell a story. The story can be anything. A fun activity, a childhood memory, or even a hobby. The influencer has unlimited creative freedom. And it is very easy to incorporate promotional material into these stories. It is always a good idea to ensure some degree of relevance between the product and the story.
Even among video content, live videos get much higher engagement than normal videos. There is just something about interacting with your favorite influencer in real-time that appeals to the majority of users.
Which is why it is a great idea to have your influencer go live. They can also subtly promote your product in front of their audience. Even simply having influencers use your product while they’re live can be enough to convince fans to buy it.
If you go for a more direct approach, you can have them unbox your product. Afterward, they can talk about their experience with your product and brand. There is so much that you can do.
But an important thing to keep in mind is that the promotion should not take away the influencer’s authenticity. It is a good idea to let the influencer do their thing while incorporating your brand’s promotional materials into it.
Facebook Influencer Marketing Tip 4. Stories And Cross-Platform Posts
Stories are what made Instagram the most popular platform for influencers. Stories are short posts that only last for a day. The attention span of an average social media user is not very high. So, the nature of stories tends to make them more exciting for most users.
Over the years, Instagram’s success has made other social media platforms introduce stories on their platforms as well. Facebook is no different. But what gives Facebook Stories an advantage over other platforms is its integration with Instagram. As a result, most influencers are not just limited to one platform. They are on multiple platforms.
Due to Facebook’s integration with Instagram, it is very easy to post promotional content on both these platforms simultaneously. 
Look at Burger King collaborating with Indian influencer Naisha Khanna. Her post was simultaneously posted on both Facebook and Instagram, thus reaching users on both platforms.
5. Standing Up For A Cause
As we’ve already explained before, standing up for a cause can greatly impact your brand image. It humanizes your brand and tells your audience that you are more than just a company.
No other marketing tool can humanize a brand to this extent. That is why donations and fundraisers are such popular strategies. The best part about this strategy is that it is not just good for your company, but also for the cause you are standing up for.
Whitney Houston’s collaboration with Abercrombie & Fitch is a perfect example. By donating to the Trevor Project, Inc., they tell their audience that they care about serious issues like mental health and LGBTQ rights.
Final Thoughts
By now, you should not have any doubt about the effectiveness of Facebook influencer marketing. We have already given you everything you need to get started.
So what are you waiting for? Get to the drawing board and start designing your very own Facebook influencer marketing campaign.
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