The Ultimate Guide To eCommerce Influencer Marketing

There are different sets of FTC guides in advertising and marketing. But here, we're focusing on influencer marketing.

This will not only protect your brand but the influencers you're collaborating with as well.

Before we hop into these rules, you need to take note that you should communicate this with your influencers.

It's important that the two of you know, understand, and implement these rules.

So, here are a few social media influencer marketing guidelines from the Federal Trade Commission.

1. Disclose Paid Sponsorships

When you're working with influencers, you should remind them to disclose paid sponsorships.

In a statement by former Federal Trade Commissioner Rohit Chopra, he says it's an illegal payola if companies are paying influencers to fake their reviews and not disclose their financial ties.

This will prevent potential customers from falling into false claims.

Using social media tools where you need to disclose the sponsorship is okay.

But it's not yet "good enough," so make sure to disclose it even more. The tool is just a support.

If your influencers don't disclose your sponsorship, they would think that the reviews or endorsements are real, when they're not.

So, to disclose the sponsorship, they need to...

2. Use Uncomplicated Language

The exact words from the guidelines are "simple and clear."

As much as possible, don't use abbreviated words or slang... such as "spon" or "sp." Or open-ended terms like "thanks," "collaboration," or "ambassador" that prospective customers might misunderstand.

Be straightforward.

Say it's a paid ad, advertisement, sponsored, or sponsorship.

Again, be wary of the language you're using. It's also noted that the disclosure must be in the same language as your endorsement.

This will make your audience's understanding easier, especially for non-English speakers.

It's also important to take note that you should...

3. Place The Disclosure Properly

Don't hide it or place it somewhere not easily noticeable!

According to the FTC guidelines, the disclosure must be properly placed so the audience can see it without a problem.

For example, you and your influencer agreed to use stories to endorse your products. You need to clarify to them that they should place it where people can see it easily.

The guidelines say that influencers should "superimpose" it.

Another thing is when they're advertising through videos, they should disclose it in the video itself. Not just in the description.

And "Livestream" is a thing now on the internet, like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok Live.

So, if they're promoting a product through live videos... They need to repeat that the products are sponsored. Just in case there are viewers who missed it.

These guidelines should be clear with your influencers because you are an advertiser.

You need to protect your business and ensure the people representing your brand comply with these guidelines.

And that's not all...

4. Don't Talk About Products They Haven't Tried

You can't pay your influencers to talk about products they haven't even tried yet.

That's a no-no! And the social media influencer disclosure guidelines also say this.

The purpose of these guidelines is to fight "deceptive marketing."

So, influencers talking about products they haven't even tried yet are against the FTC guide.

This last one is also related to this...

5. Don't Make Claims With No Proof

When influencers promote your products, of course, they'd talk highly about your brand.

And that's part of their job. They need to encourage their customers to purchase from you.

But they can't make up claims that you can't prove.

For example, they can't say your products can cure a disease if they're not even medically tested or there's no clinical trial and case study to back up their claims.

Again, the guidelines are to prevent deceptive marketing. This might put your business in jeopardy if this happens.

I know these guidelines look frightening.

But don't worry!

Because you can totally be proactive and avoid being in difficult situations!

In this matter, you can consult a legal expert or your legal team to ensure you're following your country's FTC guidelines and other marketing or advertising laws.

That's the best route to take if you're hesitant!

These are just simple and easy ways to help you start ensuring that you're FTC-compliant.

First, you can...

1. Check The Captions Or Scripts Of Your Influencers

Before they post, you can communicate with your influencers and ask to see their captions or scripts.

You can inform them if you think there is a need for some changes.

This will help you ensure that they are following the guidelines.

This is also your job as an advertiser to ensure the message is clear and aligned with your goals.

The next thing you can do is...

2. Check The Authenticity Of Their Account

By this, it means you need to see if they're using fake followers or engagements.

Sometimes, influencers with massive followers are perceived to be "authority." I mean... they wouldn't get thousands of followers if they're not trusted, right?

It could also be the other way around. Because there are mega-influencers with low engagements.

So, you need to check why they get low engagements when they have a lot of followers.

You also need to check if the comments are genuine, and if the people leaving the comments are not bots.

Ensuring their account has authentic followers is one way to avoid misleading the target customers.

And lastly...

3. Make Sure They Understand The Guidelines

The influencers are your partners.

So, it's not only you who must understand and take these proactive measures.

Your influencers should be aware of them, too.

They need to understand that not following these can have a negative impact on your brand and their career as influencers.

That's why you should communicate these guidelines with them and agree to follow them when running your campaigns.

Since you already understand the rules and you also know what to do to avoid breaking them, we can now...

This is the exciting part... goal-setting!

Influencer marketing can help you achieve many goals, but if you have no idea which goals to set...

Let's start with five!

1. Reach New Audience

You may have existing customers and followers... but you still have a lot of people to reach.

And through influencer marketing, reaching new audiences will be more attainable.

That's why reaching new audiences should be one of your influencer marketing campaign goals.

Thousands of people can still be your customers who aren't aware of your brand yet.

Another goal you can set is to...

2. Generate Leads

Before you can convert them into sales, lead generation is also an important process.

Leads include basic information about a prospect that they choose to share with you.

When you get leads, you can use them to get closer to your potential customers.

And with the help of the right influencers, you can generate more leads for your business!

That makes it easier for you to...

3. Increase Conversions

Converting these prospects into actual customers is one of the reasons you're strategizing for your influencer marketing campaigns.

This will also expand your business and give you more budget to pull off superb campaigns in the future!

So, this should be one of your goals because you need to sustain your business.

The next influencer marketing goal is...

4. Boost Online Presence

More people can be aware of your brand when social media influencers promote your products and tag you.

And if you have a well-planned social media strategy for your eCommerce brand, you can attract more followers and engagements.

Because having a strong online presence is beneficial for your business in making your brand look more reliable.

So, you need to choose an influencer that can help you with this.

But these aren't the only goals you can set, because you can also...

5. Strengthen Brand Reputation

This is actually a great goal to set for your campaign.

You must establish a fantastic brand image and reputation in the digital world.

That's why you need to find the right influencers to collaborate with.

Setting this as a goal can make you be more meticulous in finding the right one.

They will be representing your brand, so you have to ensure they also have a good reputation. But we will talk about it later!

For now, you need to set your KPIs or Key Performance Indicators.

During the goal-setting phase, it's vital to note the KPIs you need to measure the success of your campaigns.

We'll deep dive into that in a few. But first, here are some basic KPIs you need to consider to ensure you can create a smooth-smailing influencer marketing campaign.

1. Reach

This accounts for how many people your brand or influencer reached through their post.

You can set a specific number here to make the goal more measurable.

2. Impressions

This is how many times people have seen your post. It can be from repeating social media users.

Again, you can set your ideal numbers here to see by the end of the campaign if you reached it. Just make sure it's realistic and attainable!

3. Engagements

Likes and comments count, too!

This is how many people have interacted with your or the influencers' post.

You must also measure this to know how many people engaged with your brand.

are 4. Website Or Referral Traffic

This is to know how many people took action from the influencer's social media...

If they link to your website, you can see how many people visited it from their account.

Remember to set a number so you know if you're achieving your goals!

5. Conversion

To measure the effectiveness of your influencers, conversion or product sales should be part of your KPIs.

This is one of the most important KPIs because you can see how effectively they promote your products.

So, make sure to include these in your KPIs!

To achieve these, you need to...

There are still more people who can be an influencer, and you can identify them by numbers or the number of followers they have.

So, what are they?

• Mega-Influencers. These influencers have more than one million followers on their social media.
• Macro-Influencers. They have 100,000 up to 1 million followers on their platforms.
• Micro-Influencers. These influencers have 10,000 to 100,000 followers on their social media.
• Nano-Influencers. They have 1,000 to 10,000 followers.

You can collaborate with influencers of any size based on Step 2: your goals.

And this leads us to...

You can't just choose the most random influencer because they have a lot of followers or suit your budget.

That might not work.

You need to set your standards for influencers, so you can find the right ones who can help you.

The first thing you need to consider is...

1. Influencer Platform

Your money and effort might go to waste if you don't consider this.

When finding the right influencer, you need to consider the platforms they're using as well as the content they're producing.

Are they aligned with your goals?

For example... your goal is to show more people how to style your "infinity dress."

Of course, you need to partner up with fashion influencers. They can be Instagram or TikTok influencers in the fashion industry or bloggers.

But first, do you want them to show how through videos or blogs? If through videos, maybe you can look for a fashion TikTok influencer or Youtuber.

Or, if your budget isn't that much, you can reach out to an Instagram influencer to post photos on their feed or story.

You can work with any influencer in your industry... as long as you can achieve your goal: to show potential customers how your product works.

Another example of a goal is boosting your SEO ranking.

If you want to rank higher on search engines, it might be best to collaborate with bloggers with a lot of website traffic and followers.

If you do, they can link to your eCommerce website when promoting your products.

The more links you have, the more traffic you'll get. And that will also help you boost your site's credibility.

You see, you always need to consider your goals when strategizing your campaign.

You can't work with an influencer that doesn't have the perfect audience or platform that suit your business.

Or else, your campaign may not succeed.

The next thing you need to consider is...

2. Engagement Rate

Do you still remember our sample KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)?

Engagements are a big factor, too.

This determines the willingness of their audience to interact with their post and their potential to take your desired action.

That's why you need to check the engagement rate of the influencers you're planning to work with.

Who knows? They might have 100,000 followers but they only receive around 1,000 likes and comments per post.

But what is a good engagement rate, anyway?

Less than 1% means it's a low engagement rate. While having between 1% and 3.5% is average. A 3.5% but not exceeding 6% engagement rate is considered high. And above 6% is very high.

Checking their engagement rate can also help you avoid influencers with fake followers. Always remember the FTC guidelines!

And last but not least...

3. Reputation

As a business owner, it's your job to protect your brand reputation.

That's how you can keep a smooth-sailing business untainted by any negativity.

And you can avoid this by partnering with an influencer with a good online reputation.

The cancel culture anywhere is strong. Many personalities get called out whenever they offend a religion, culture, or ethnicity, or support a law that "oppresses" others.

And brands aren't safe with all these boycotting calls if people don't agree with your actions and decisions.

So, you need to be careful with whom you collaborate.

That influencer must align with your brand's mission, vision, and purpose.

Now that you're ready to find the right influencers for you, you're probably asking...

There are many ways to find them, but let's talk about three!

The first one is through...

1. Social Media

Most of them are social media influencers, so of course... here's where you can find them.

You can start by using hashtags.

(Source)

As you can see, there are potential fashion influencers for your eCommerce brand when I searched for the hashtag #fashioninfluencers.

Just make sure that you're using the right hashtag keywords!

You can also search for them on YouTube.

If you're an eCommerce brand specializing in food and you want to collaborate with food vloggers, you can start by searching "food review" on YouTube and see the vloggers who are doing this.

These two are not limited to Instagram and YouTube. You can use hashtags and relevant keywords on other social media sites, like Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter.

Another way to find influencers is by using...

2. Google

Google is another search engine tool you need to take advantage of.

And again, you need to use the right keywords to find the influencers you're looking for.

You can use it to find bloggers or read articles with lists of popular influencers for your niche.

As they say... "if you can't find it... Google it!"

But are you tired of doing everything manually?

If you want to manage your influencers and campaigns efficiently, you can also invest in...

3. Influencer Marketing Platforms

Influencers are also looking for brands with which to collaborate.

Yep, you're not the only one looking for them!

So, some of them are on influencer marketing platforms to find a brand they can work with.

There are different influencer marketing platforms you can use, like Affable, Intellifluence, and Heepsy.

Using these can help you manage your influencer database and find the influencers you need for your eCommerce brand.

After choosing the right influencers for your marketing campaign, the next thing you need to do is...

These should guide you into making your own emails. After all, you know your business from the inside out.

Email Template #1: Sending Products

Dear [INFLUENCER'S NAME],

We are [COMPANY BRIEF].

We have been looking at your social media accounts and this particular post sparked our interests in working with you. We loved [TELL THE EXACT CONTENT AND WHAT YOU LIKED ABOUT IT]. We know you'll be the perfect [TYPE OF INFLUENCER] for our campaign [CAMPAIGN TITLE].

This campaign [STATE THE PURPOSE OF THE CAMPAIGN].

So, we'd like to send you some of our products and share them with your followers via [PLATFORM].

Please let me know what you think and looking forward to hear from you on or before [DEADLINE].

Thank you!

Warm Regards,

[YOUR NAME]

To save your and the influencer's time, you can ask them where do they want you to send the products in the initial email to shorten the series of email exchange.

Email Template #2: Paid Campaigns

Dear [INFLUENCER'S NAME],

We are [COMPANY PROFILE].

As we were looking for the perfect influencers to work with us, we came across your profile and saw that [EXPLAIN WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE THEM].

With that, we would like to work with you on [PROJECT OR CAMPAIGN NAME]. This campaign is [CAMPAIGN BRIEF].

Here are more details about this project.

[STATE THE BUDGET, WHAT YOU'LL BE NEEDING FROM THEM, AND THE DEADLINE.]

If this works for you, please let me know.

Thank you!

Warm Regards

[YOUR NAME]

Since this involves monetary compensation, it's best to include your budget but still let them know you are open for negotations in case your proposal doesn't work for them.

Email Template #3: Giveaway or Contests

Dear [INFLUENCER'S NAME],

We are [COMPANY PROFILE] and we are looking for someone who can help us [CAMPAIGN GOAL].

Our products aim to reach people who [DESCRIBE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE] and after exploring your social media platforms, we figured you have the best audience that will find value with our products.

With that remark, we would like to collaborate with you through a giveaway for your followers.

For this collaboration, [STATE THE IMPORTANT DETAILS AND WHAT YOU NEED FROM THEM].

Our target date for this giveaway is [DATE] but before that, we will send you sample products to your preferred address.

We are looking forward to working with you!

Warm Regards

[YOUR NAME]

You also need to imply why do you think they're the perfect person for this campaign. You can say that you know how important a matter is to them, so you know they're a great choice.

These are just examples of influencer outreach templates because working with influencers is not limited to these three.

Let's talk more about them!

These are the things you need to have in hand to ensure a smooth working experience in your influencer marketing campaigns.

1. Well-Written Contracts

Your contracts need to state the outputs you need and the compensation for their posts.

You can state in your contract:

• The number of posts
• Which platforms do you need them to promote your products on
• Where you'll use their content (paid ads, Instagram feed, TikTok, etc.)
• What type of content (carousel, TikTok video, long-form, etc.)
• The compensation
• How long will the partnerships be (if applicable)

If this is a big campaign and you're planning to collaborate with mega influencers, contracts are a must especially if you're thinking of long-term partnerships.

But sometimes, a well-written agreement is enough if it's a one-and-done deal.

Still, ensure to include the ones I've mentioned above to avoid misunderstandings.

Another thing you need to have is an...

2. Influencer Database

An influencer database will allow you to save influencers' basic details and refer to it once you need someone to work with.

This will save you some time in the future if you're finding the right influencers for your campaigns.

Also, you can keep your influencers' data in here, too. So it will be easier for you to find if you want to collaborate with them again.

And last but not least...

3. Campaign Tracker

A campaign tracker allows you to monitor the progress of your influencer marketing campaign.

You need to constantly update your campaign tracker to help you stay on your game.

You can also check which influencers have already posted and note the number of engagements they receive.

This is an excellent way to overview and organize the progress of your campaign. Also, to ensure its success.

Now that you know how to work with influencers and the things you should have...

Let's discuss these two successful influencer marketing campaigns by Dunkin' and Glossier before we hop on to our last step.

Dunkin' x Charli D'Amelio

Charli D'Amelio is a famous TikTok personality with over 140 million followers.

Dunkin' worked with Charli to release a drink called "The Charli" and "The Charli Cold Foam" drinks. These are Charli's personal go-to coffee orders.

(Source)

The result of this collaboration?

"The Charli" drink sold hundreds of thousands in the first five days. Not only that, but there was also a 20% increase for all other cold brews of Dunkin'!

Oh, and another thing... there was a 57% increase in Dunkin's application downloads after the release of her signature drink!

What do you think are the factors that contributed to this success?

✅ The Number Of Followers

Charli has more than a hundred million followers. Even if only less than 1% of her followers buy her signature drink, that still accounts to hundreds of thousands of customers.

✅ Right Targeting

TikTok has a lot of Gen Z and millennials users. Charli is also appealing to more these viewers because of her fun videos. If Dunkin' is targeting the same people for this campaign, Charli was the perfect influencer for it.

✅ Social Media Presence

Charli always grabs the chance to feature the drink in her videos. She has Dunkin' with her, whether she's getting ready for the day or traveling.

And that's an excellent way to display the products.

Charli is a mega influencer, but the next brand decides to take a different route...

Glossier

Glossier is a famous makeup and skincare brand.

They also have a successful influencer marketing strategy... and you'll know more about it later.

But what are the results of their strategy?

Well... it's reported that 70% of Glossier's online sales and website traffic are from referrals.

Now, let's analyze their platform and what contributed to their success.

(Source)

✅ Community

Glossier didn't focus on mega influencers who can give them an immediate result. Instead, they worked with micro-influencers, who are their fans, to talk about their products.

They built a community who are willing to spread the word for them.

✅ Referrals

Referrals from micro influencers are more trusted and credible. They also have an engaged following as compared to some macro-influencers.

✅ User-Generated Content

Since they have a lot of fans posting about their products and how they use them, Glossier makes sure to acknowledge the works of their customers by posting them on their accounts.

These examples prove that your influencer marketing campaign can succeed if you're strategic about every detail.

And remember that you can still improve your strategy over time.

That's why you need to...