What is an Influencer Marketing Strategy?
Billions of people scroll through social media every day. For businesses, however, standing out and truly connecting with users has never been more challenging. Fortunately, there’s one method that can bridge the gap between your brand and your audience: social media influencers.
As a social media agency, we’ve seen firsthand how the right influencer — paired with the right strategy — can rapidly expand a brand’s reach, credibility, and growth. But like any marketing tactic, it only works when done right… and with the right outreach.
So, can it work for your business? This page will walk you through everything you need to know about crafting an effective influencer marketing strategy — what it is, how it works, and how to make it work for you.
What is influencer marketing? How does it work? 
Influencer marketing, simply put, is a branch of social media marketing where businesses find and collaborate with influencers who endorse their brand to their followers—hence the name.
Influencers are an umbrella term for online personalities with a dedicated audience. This can mean global celebrities like Taylor Swift, but it may also include business-y thought leaders like Alex Hormozi, who pioneered the “Hormozi-style” videos currently dominating most social media platforms, or your local mom-blogger.
Influencers like these already have an established following and are viewed as top “experts” within their respective niches. Thanks to these qualities, they can easily influence their audience’s purchasing decisions—they’re a trusted authority, not just another ad.
Having an influencer endorse your business gives you a shortcut to building trust with a new audience. Instead of starting from scratch, you’re tapping into a network that already trusts and listens to them.
Types of influencers
As mentioned above, there are different types of influencers. Each type brings unique benefits. Reviewing them will help you identify the best fit for your campaign goals:
- Nano influencers (1,000–10,000 followers) are ideal for authentic engagement. Why? Because they have such a tight-knit following, there’s plenty of room for personal interaction. For example, a nano influencer might take time to reply to DMs or duet follower videos on TikTok.
- Micro influencers (10,000–100,000 followers) strike a healthy balance between reach and authenticity. They’re great for brands looking to tap into niche communities without compromising conversion.
- Macro influencers (100,000–1 million followers) are essentially celebrities in their own fields. They’re authoritative and credible, making them ideal for brands aiming to scale reach quickly. However, this often comes with a higher price tag and lower engagement than nano or micro influencers.
- Mega influencers (1 million+ followers) are the real celebrities, reaching millions or even hundreds of millions. Think Kylie Jenner or MrBeast when you need mass exposure fast. However, mega influencers come with downsides. For one, just a single campaign with them can be very expensive. Despite the reach, engagement rates tend to be lower than those of the other three types.
Is influencer marketing strategy effective?
It depends on the nature of your brand. What works for you might not be the best fit for another, and vice versa. However, when we look at the data, implementing an influencer marketing strategy has proven to be highly effective for many businesses.
According to statistics from Influencer Marketing Hub and the Digital Marketing Institute, influencer marketing generates an average of $5.78 in earned media value for every $1 spent. Moreover, when it comes to feasibility, the same report revealed that:
An overwhelming majority of brands consider influencer marketing to be effective. In some cases, influencer-generated content even outperforms professionally produced brand content in terms of engagement and reach
In short, while it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution, an influencer marketing strategy can absolutely be a high-ROI tactic when done right.
How to craft a good influencer marketing strategy
Step 1: Decide on a budget, goals, and expectations 
Before we reach out to any influencers, it’s important to clarify what we want to achieve with our brand first, as well as how much budget we should allocate for collaborations.
Ask yourself these questions: Is your goal to get more people talking about your brand online? Are you promoting a new product or service? Or are you trying to reach a specific audience segment?
Whatever your goal, ensure it’s realistic and achievable within a reasonable timeframe and budget for your influencer marketing strategy.
Speaking of budgets, be prepared to spend an appropriate amount depending on the type of influencer you’re targeting. Also, you need to account for additional costs such as content creation, product samples, and potential agency fees associated with the influencer.
Step 2: Identify your target audience
After that, we’ll identify a target audience for this campaign.
This means researching your ideal customer’s age group, the social media platforms they’re most active on, and the content types that resonate most with them. This helps you avoid wasting hundreds or even thousands of dollars on an influencer unaligned with your brand.
Remember, a micro influencer whose content is highly relevant to your brand will always outperform a bigger one whose only appealing asset is their large follower count.
Hitting the brand messaging is important too. After all, an influencer endorsement alone can only bridge the gap so far. So look for influencers whose content already reflects what you want people to associate with your brand, and see how they can naturally weave sponsorships into their posts.
People follow influencers because they feel authentic. Nowadays, it’s typically hard to sell without sounding too brand-driven or pushy.
Step 3: Conduct influencer outreach
In this stage, we’ll finally reach out to some influencers! Direct messages (DMs) via social media platforms are often the best way to connect, since influencers are usually very active there.
Many also include their contact information or a link to a media kit or form for brand partnerships on their profile. However, this approach typically works best for nano to micro influencers. Macro and mega influencers often manage their partnerships exclusively through agencies.
By the way, it’s always smart to review an influencer’s partnership history from at least a few months back. This helps you evaluate whether they’re a good fit to represent and propel your brand.
Once you find a few that match the criteria above, get everything in writing. It is imperative to have a contract that clearly outlines deliverables, timelines, and payment terms. This protects both you and the influencer and helps prevent confusion or costly miscommunication.
Step 4: Track campaign performance
All that’s left now is to run the campaign and wait for the results! After the campaign ends, measure its success using the predetermined KPIs you set in Step 1.
For example, if your campaign focused on increasing product sales through your website, then tracking the click-through rate (CTR) of the influencer’s link and organic traffic would be a better indicator of success.
If you provided a promo code alongside the campaign, be sure to analyze how many conversions came from it, too. Then calculate your cost per acquisition (CPA) to determine if partnering with this influencer was worth it in the long run.
Cost per acquisition gives you a clear picture of performance, as it measures how much you spent to acquire a single customer through influencer marketing compared to other marketing channels.
Skip the Search with Lil Shameless Plug
However, finding the right influencer is tough—not to mention a total time-sink. The perfect mix of fit, genuine interest, and good communication feels like finding a needle in a haystack.
Thankfully, a social media agency like Lil Shameless Plug can handle it for you, so you never have to stress about social media again.
If you’re interested in learning more about influencer marketing and want to make it a regular part of your social media strategy, book a call with us! We’ll be happy to help you identify and create partnerships with influencers aligned to your business goals.
Influencer marketing FAQs
How much does influencer marketing cost?
It’s hard to say, as the cost will vary depending on three things: the influencer type, the social media platform, and the campaign scope. However, according to Oberlo’s marketing statistics, nearly half of all brands spend less than $10,000 on influencer marketing campaigns.
It also depends on the level of influencer you are connecting with. A nano or micro influencer is an excellent fit for a local business and they will be open to deals in the hundreds of dollars range and sometimes will even work for trade. Whereas an influencer that has over 100K followers will typically expect a brand deal that costs considerably more.
To give you a clearer picture, brands that ran successful influencer marketing campaigns earned about $5.78 in profit for every $1 they spent on influencers. Some brands even earned as much as $18 per dollar!
What are the best platforms for influencer marketing?
According to Influencer Marketing Hub, TikTok ranks as the top platform, with 68.8% of influencers active there. It’s become a go-to channel thanks to its viral nature and highly engaged user base.
Instagram comes in second at 46.7%, but it still offers the highest return on investment (ROI) overall, perfect for brands looking to balance reach and conversion. Facebook follows at 27.5%, and while it’s no longer the trendiest platform, it’s still a favorite hub for certain demographics and localized campaigns.
How do I work with influencers?
Once you find an influencer whose content aligns with your brand, reach out to them directly. (usually via DM or email). Influencers are often active on their platforms and open to collaboration.
Make sure they have a strong following and a relevant track record (e.g., if you’re in skincare, choose someone who regularly reviews those products). Their audience is already primed to care about your products/services.
Of course, deal structures vary depending on your negotiation, but here’s a common scenario we often encounter as social media experts: Let’s say you’ve found someone who checks all the boxes. A typical deal might involve giving them a percentage/commission on all sales made through a unique referral link they promote in their videos.