For multiple brands and companies, virtual events are not just an alternative anymore, but a new brand experience likely to stay. Virtual events proved to be beneficial for reaching and engaging new potential leads. More than 75% of marketers will use influencers for the promotion of various campaigns. So, if virtual events are becoming a major trend and influencers proved to be a useful toolkit, why not combine them together? This is why the new trend is Influencer Marketing.

Why use Influencer Marketing tactics? 

Most consumers follow people whom they find attractive and relatable. In addition, they are likely to also follow brands that those people support. Researchers say that over 61% of influencer followers heed their purchasing recommendations. Therefore, influencers can be a great persuading asset for brands. In addition, there is 11 times higher ROI when using influencers than traditional forms of marketing such as TV or print. 

Some of the most important brands in the fashion industry are huge influencer advocates and they invest large sums of money in collaborations with them. 

What type of Influencer Marketing is the right fit for you and your virtual event? 

Influencers vary not just in the number of followers, but in the type of content they present on social media. 

There are 4 broad categories of influencers: 

Nano Influencers– those that have less than 1000 followers 

Micro-Influencers– from 10000 to 100000 followers 

Macro Influencers– from 100000 to 1 million followers 

Mega Influencers– above 1 million followers 

Depending on your virtual event goals, you choose the type of influencers you want to work with. You will most likely want to collaborate with Mega or Macro influencers, but their services cost more. On the other hand, they are great for raising brand awareness because their followers are on a larger scale. If your budget is tight, you can still use Micro or Nano followers, because they have a more intimate and engaged community. These influencers can be of great use if you have a highly- targeted audience for your virtual event. 

Objectives to go through prior to influencer collaboration: 

Before you start collaborating with your chosen influencer, you must follow these objectives: 

   1. Objectives must be established prior to the virtual event. 

Meaning you must specify your needs, whether they are raising brand awareness, increasing attendance, purchasing power and so on. 

   2. Specify working requirements with influencers. 

After you have done proper research and defined your needs. You must establish common ground with your chosen influencer. For example, do you want them to promote your virtual event on Tik Tok or Instagram Stories? You must define what will bring better ROI for your event. 

   3. Define measurements of the event’s success. 

This is where you clearly define how the influencer’s effort will be evaluated. It is good to follow these three key steps, but the most important thing is to find influencers that you can maintain long-term partnerships. In this way, you all become part of the same community. 

How to incorporate influencers into your virtual event? 

Something that everyone is familiar with is Instagram Reels. They can swiftly increase reach because they are favoured by Instagram’s algorithm. Again, it is essential to explore influencers’ usual posts to see how well posts about your virtual event incorporate into their content. 

Out of all ways to promote a virtual event, posting in real-time may be best. Allowing an influencer to post life gives the virtual event great exposure and incentivizes networking among followers. Instagram Stories also provide the opportunity to reach followers and potential attendees. Influencers can put pools or question boxes on their Instagram Stories to include their followers in event planning. 

Even after the event is done, influencers can still use their social media platforms to post recaps of the event. They can even make whole videos about the event to prolong the life of the event. 

To sum up, influencers are here to stay for a very long time. They are a new chapter in each brand’s promotional toolkit. It would be of good use to take advantage of them on time.