Influencer marketing is a buzzy term these days and rightfully so – it's an area that can provide incredible reach for your product if executed well. Below are some tips and best practices for getting started with your first campaign and post-launch optimization using paid media, a.k.a. direct response.

Step 1: Find The Right Influencer(s).

Know which types of influencers resonate best with your community. Reference your in-market and affinity segments and conduct customer interviews. Go to YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram and browse categories to find potential candidates.

When reviewing candidates for your campaign, overall reach is an important metric to look at but engagement is more critical. Here it is all about quality over quantity – finding an influencer with a dedicated, active community in place.

Create a hit list of potential influencer partners and prepare for the next step.

Step 2: Do direct deals if possible.

There are countless influencer-specific platforms and agencies out there acting as representatives on behalf of the influencer (Our favorite, Famebit, was even acquired by Google last year). While we've worked with many of them and can speak to the pros and cons of each, we recommend working with influencers and their teams directly.

Step 3: Experiment, and measure everything along the way.

Use tracking links everywhere possible to measure the promotion's effect. Keep your expectations in check - assume that for any average campaign 1-3% of people who engage with the post will convert to meet your KPI.

It also helps to test a series of small campaigns before going big with a large influencer. By working incrementally, you can spread small budgets over many small-mid sized influencers over a period of time. This way, you have the option to make a handful of bets until you know what works.

Step 4: Use DR to boost visibility.

Finally! Here is where you can leverage paid media to spread the message cross-network and boost it to new and relevant audiences.

Video is King (or Queen!) on Facebook. Not only does it rank higher in the FB algorithms but users engage with it more frequently, so this is the time to boost your influencer posts and get specific in your targeting.

If you've followed the steps above you already have your links ready. Try running a series of experiments, for example three tests targeted at three separate audiences. One can be a variation on audience interests, while another can be a variation on audience behavior or general demographic (age, gender, location). You can even boost the post to the influencer's own audience so it displays more prominently in their feed.

Create and promote a tweet and do the same on Instagram and other platforms where your audience tends to spend their time.

Keep an eye on reach over the run of the campaigns. Then, double down on the experiments where you see the best gains (your goal may vary here but this is typically where conversion rates are the highest). The idea is to maximize the number of people viewing your content while simultaneously reaching the audience most likely to convert.

Tip 5: Go (Ever)green.

Lastly, get more from your investment by leveraging the content later for your brand awareness marketing campaigns. With permission from the influencer, use pull quotes (a.k.a. social proof) on your website and on other promotional materials, for example on your app store screenshots.

Keep in mind that timing is everything on social media and visibility is key. With the right influencer, you can create amazing content that generates a high volume of buzz while producing quality marketing content that lasts even longer.

NAC Worldwide is a multi-disciplinary, data-driven marketing studio operating in the new global economy. Learn more: http://nac-worldwide.com/