Influencer Marketing for Mobile Apps

Influencer marketing is about building relationships between companies and consumers by leveraging people who already have strong connections with audiences who could use what you offer. When it comes to mobile apps, this mutual relationship of trust between the influencer and the audience can be harnessed to get more users, increase app usage and engagement, improve your app’s retention rate and optimize your payer conversion rate.

However, while influencer marketing is a godsend in a world where consumers struggle to trust brands, it can also be a bit of a minefield, especially if you’re just starting out. But, have no fear! In this guide, we will take you through the ins and outs of influencer marketing for mobile apps.

What to observe when choosing influencers?

Engagement rates

When choosing what influencers to spearhead a new campaign, a lot of marketers will focus on candidates with a high following, with the mindset that a high following will get them a wide reach and thus more conversions. However, in order for influencer marketing campaigns to be successful for your app or game, you’ll want to partner with someone with a high engagement rate. Engagement rates act as social proof that influencers have strong relationships with their audience, and will have the power to shape their buying decisions.

Post frequency and content quality

It’s not about posting as much as possible—it’s about reaching the right audience at the right time with relevant content. Too often, influencers who post too frequently on behalf of their clients’ apps end up drowning out their own message by oversharing or sharing too much promotional content. Be sure that you choose an influencer who can strike the right balance between consistency and quality: posting regularly enough that it feels like there’s always something new to check out, but not so frequently that it becomes difficult for people to keep up with your app updates (or causes them to tune out altogether).

Your audience

You should also observe your own audience. Find out what they like, what they don’t like, and where they are most likely to be. You need to know how they want to be engaged and what they are looking for. This information will help you understand their needs, wants, and interests better so that when you can base your influencer choices on what’s relevant enough for them to engage with.

What are good KPIs?

Install rate

This may seem obvious, but measuring downloads is the number one KPI for an influencer campaign. An increased install rate will illustrate a successful influencer campaign overall.

Retention rate

This shows how many users stay on your app after installing it. It’s usually measured in terms of the DAU/MAU ratio, which means the number of daily active users divided by the total monthly active users. For example, if there are 5,000 users who use your app every day and 30,000 who use it monthly, your DAU/MAU ratio would be 15%. These statistics can illustrate how well an influencer is communicating app features and updates and how effectively they can engage app users.

Churn rate

This shows how many people stop using your app after downloading it for the first time. The churn rate is normally expressed as a percentage calculated as follows: (# Of Customers Lost During A Period)/(# Of Customers Acquired During A Period).

How to track performance for influencer campaigns

Cost per install cost per click, and cost per view

So, cost per install, cost per click, and cost per view are all ways to measure your performance in influencer marketing campaigns. While the cost per install is the total cost of the campaign divided by the number of installs, the cost per click is the total cost of the campaign divided by the number of clicks. The cost per view is the total cost of your campaign divided by views on your app store page/website/social media account – whichever you choose to focus on during your campaign.

Social media analytics

Engagement on the social posts created by the influencer will provide insight into campaign performance. Influencers can share their personal analytics with your brand to show impressions, likes, comments, and clicks and allow you to get a wide-lens view of your performance.

Top tracking issues and how to solve them

Tracking ROI

Many brands are hesitant to dive into influence marketing for this issue alone. Unlike many marketing tactics, it can prove difficult to measure your return on influencer marketing efforts. Brands can solve these issues by identifying KPIs and matching them up with influencer metrics The most common tactic to get reliable data on the impact of a campaign is offering discount codes that include the influencer’s name, often on a dedicated landing page. This way, impressions, as well as signups (or other goals related to the campaign), can be tracked, while at the same time giving something of value and a clear call to action to the influencers’ audience.
The downside of this widespread tactic is that users have gotten used to it and expect products to be discounted, so they may be less willing to pay the full price eventually.

Tracking influencers analytics

Without access to an influencer’s social profile, you won’t be able to access the vital analytics you need to track and measure success. It’s important to agree on a system with any influencers you hire for a campaign, where they record and provide these analytics. It is a major part of the briefing process that should be discussed prior to campaign kick-off. A shared spreadsheet is often the simplest and most effective system for influencer-brand relationships. However, some may agree on using a project management application to streamline processes.

Luckily, there are new ways for advertisers to get granular insights on performance and not rely on the data the influencers choose to share. The most prominent example is TikTok’s Spark Ads format which takes the guesswork out of influencer campaigns and allows advertisers to boost the most successful ones.

How to brief influencers

Briefing influencers is a major contribution to the success of the campaign. Here is a checklist of what you should do:

Create an easy-to-use toolkit. This toolkit should include the following;

• Campaign assets like your application link, access to premium content…etc
• Brand values and insight into your brand’s tone of voice. Including what to say, what not to say, and don’t forget to align your information with any policies or regulations.
• Detail your product features and value propositions for the influencers as if they’re 5 years old.
• A quick summary of your target audience. Who they are, what do they think about your product or service…etc
• A quick summary of your competitors and some examples of their work with other influencers.
• Example videos, images, or other assets you already have. This helps influencers brainstorm creative video ideas.

Create the campaign: you need to detail some examples of the message that you want to deliver in the video.

Detail the technical requirements for the delivery of the assets such as vertical-only videos, HD resolution, no watermarks, etc.

Important: Include a clause that allows you to use the influencers’ creatives in your own ads.

Once you receive the creative assets, you’ll be testing them with various targeting then you can go ahead and use the winning videos in your performance ad campaigns. Using UGC videos in your campaigns helps increase performance and reduce your in-house costs and resources. Outsourcing creative production is one of the biggest upsides of working with influencers. Not only do they know what their audience likes. But they also take care of the content, editing, post-production, etc. themselves!

The benefits of working with an agency vs sourcing influencers yourself

Working with an agency rather than trying to source influencers yourself will ensure a better rapport with all partners. Agencies will have long-term relationships with influencers. They will provide access to those that are trustworthy and can showcase a catalog of successful campaigns with the agency. Agencies can also offer expert advice and access to a wider network of influencers to choose from. However, working with an agency can be costly, and often it can become frustrating dealing with an agency as the ‘middle-man’ and having less control, rather than working directly with the influencer.

Sourcing influencers yourself can be less costly but may come with a lot more hurdles. It can be hard to make contact and build a rapport with influencers who may have never heard of your brand before. Overall, you may lose more money over time by expending resources and time on research and relationship building. So if you’re taking our advice, the rule of thumb is always to start out with the help of an agency.

Conclusion

Influencer marketing can catapult your brand to app store stardom and more and more app owners are starting to utilize the power of the influencer. Our tips and tricks guide should help you beat tracking issues and streamline the entire process.