july 10, 2024
6 min read
An influencer wears headphones.
Influencer marketing taps into creators’ authentic buying power. While it’s widely used to promote tangible products, it’s also an effective way to advertise digital products. Whether you sell design files to crafters, digital investment courses, or stock photography subscriptions, here’s how to expand your reach — and sales — with influencer marketing:
Launching an Influencer Campaign for Digital Products
Launching an influencer campaign for digital products involves identifying the right influencers, creating engaging content, and leveraging the power of social media platforms to reach your target audience effectively and drive product sales.
Find the Right Influencers
Team up with influencers who reach your target audience. If you’re trying to promote the purchase of a 60-minute retirement investment course, you might aim for a financial influencer with a target audience that’s in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, for example.
Also, make sure the influencer has a:
Good reputation online
Strong engagement rate
History of responding to comments
Tone that matches that of your brand
In a campaign for digital products, incorporating varying creator tiers can be highly beneficial. This includes micro-influencers, who often have a smaller but highly engaged following; mid-tier influencers, who have a larger reach and are often seen as community builders; and macro or mega-influencers, who have a massive following and can significantly boost brand awareness. Each tier brings unique advantages. Micro-influencers, for instance, are often praised for their authenticity and high engagement rates. Mid-tier influencers balance both reach and engagement, while macro-influencers can offer extensive reach and trendsetting power. By utilizing a mix of these tiers, brands can create a well-rounded campaign that maximizes reach, engagement, and influence.
Use Mark My Ad for influencer discovery. With advanced filters, you can quickly narrow your results, giving you a shortlist of qualified influencers with profiles you can explore. Our full-service leverages our tools and creator network to find the ideal partners.
Plan and Execute a Campaign
Flesh out the details of your campaign, including:
Which social channel you’ll use
Which product you plan to promote
What incentive you’ll use, like a promo code
Which hashtags and @mentions you’d like the influencer to use
Deadlines
Approval processes
Key messages
This information should all be put into an influencer brief to help guide the creator and ensure minimal revisions.
Consider an Always-On Strategy
Influencer marketing for digital products has seen a significant shift with the implementation of the always-on strategy. This approach allows for a continuous and meaningful connection with consumers at every stage of the marketing funnel. It begins by building awareness about the product and then enhances consideration through engaging content and persuasive messaging. Ultimately, it facilitates conversions by providing a seamless path to purchase. This strategic method of influencer marketing not only increases visibility but also fosters a stronger relationship between the brand and its audience, resulting in improved customer retention and sales.
Tips to Optimize Your Influencer Campaign
To optimize your influencer campaign, keep these considerations in mind:
Make the Shopping Experience Seamless on YouTube
Partnering with creators on YouTube has proven to be a highly effective strategy for many brands. By integrating a direct, clickable link into the video or description, brands can provide a seamless consumer journey from viewing the content to downloading the digital product. This method eliminates the need for consumers to search for the product independently, thereby reducing potential obstacles to conversion. The audience can simply click on the provided link while their interest is piqued, leading to an immediate and effortless download. This strategy not only enhances the user experience but also can significantly boost the conversion rates for the digital product.
Consider Co-Creating a Product
While you can ask an influencer to promote your digital product, you can ask an influencer to invest more than a social post. Consider collaborating with several influencers to co-create a digital product.
For example, if you’re trying to promote a marketing course, ask several marketing influencers to contribute a section to the course. While this type of partnership does require a larger time commitment, influencers are more invested in the success of the product.
With each influencer promoting the course, you expand your reach, and likely, sales too.
Ask an Influencer for a Testimonial
As influencers do with a physical product, you can ask influencers to provide a testimonial of your digital product. Ask influencers to explain how your digital course helped them or the benefits of subscribing to your platform.
You’ll grant them access to the necessary tools so they can provide their honest feedback. For digital products, this includes a promo code or link so that the creators can sign up for the product and try it before creating content.
Encourage Influencers to Offer Inspiration
If your digital products aid in the creative process, ask influencers to showcase how they use your products. For example, if you sell SVG files to crafters, tap a handful of Cricut users to shoot videos of products they make with your designs.
Consider the Incentive Carefully
To encourage an influencer’s audience to act, add an incentive. Most influencer campaigns, whether they promote a tangible product or a digital product, include a promo code that gives followers a discount. What’s the most effective type of discount? Research suggests:
For products under $100, offer a percentage off.
For products over $100, offer a dollar amount off.
While a discount is the most common incentive, a “bundle” incentive is effective for digital products. For example, you could bundle two classes for the price of one or give followers an additional asset for free.
Create Educational Content
Educational content plays a pivotal role when promoting digital products. It offers potential customers valuable insights about the product, its features, and how it can solve their problems or meet their needs. By providing in-depth, informative content, you empower consumers to make informed purchasing decisions. This not only builds trust and credibility for your brand but also positions you as an authority in your industry. Educational content can help demystify complex digital products, making them more accessible and appealing to a broader audience. Ultimately, the more knowledge a customer has about your product, the more likely they are to see its value and make a purchase.
Reference Influencer Rates for Digital Products
Wondering how much you should pay an influencer to promote your digital product? Refer to Mark My Ad's State of Influencer Earnings report for specific pricing. You’ll find payment benchmarks for influencers by platform and by audience size.
In addition to compensation, giving the influencer free access to your digital product is customary. As a way to sweeten the deal, consider granting additional access. For example, give an influencer free access to your platform for a year or offer a bundle of free products beyond the promotional item.
For tips on promoting apps with influencer marketing, read our guide for best practices and examples.
Influencer marketing is effective for physical products and can aid in the sale of digital products. With influencers, you can increase brand awareness, engagement, and sales through authentic promotions that customers respond to.
Influencers:
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Marketers:
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