Influencer Marketing Checklist for Mobile Apps and Games in 2021

Influencer marketing is the fastest growing marketing channel, and it showed no signs of slowing down in 2020. For mobile apps and games, the returns on investment are especially high. With ad blockers now the norm, your best hope for discovery and growing your user base is native advertising. On top, expect very good conversion rates. Most social media content is consumed on mobile devices, meaning it’s just a one-click to your app store listing. And with no logistical costs, it’s simpler to run multiple campaigns and to enact a global marketing strategy.

Influencer Marketing Checklist for Mobile Apps or Games in 2020

But the big win for mobile apps and games utilizing influencer marketing are quality installs and app store optimisation. Ensuring new users stick means educating them about the product so they know what it can do and how to use it. Video, whether it’s in short form on Instagram, or better, long form on YouTube and Twitch, is the most powerful influencer content. It’s a trend that’s continuing to hold strong for this year. As reported this month, videos get 135% more organic reach than image, status or link posts. Good news for apps and games, as influencers can take the time to demonstrate the product, thus educating new users and delivering those treasured quality installs. Growing users is one trigger to jump up the app store rankings. Another is good reviews. Through influencer marketing, you can get both depending on your call to action.

However, rounding up a bunch of influencers and hoping for the best is not going to give you the results you plan. Your approach needs to be structured on what works. That’s why we’ve devised this checklist, six steps to an influencer campaign that ensures you meet your objectives.

Table of Contents

Influencer marketing checklist 2021

1. Set out your goals

Absolutely crucial to a successful campaign is knowing from the outset what you want to achieve – and be specific. Influencer marketing is a science with a clear, measurable return on investment. Ask yourself: What demographics and markets am I targeting? How many installs do I need to meet my goal? These questions will help you establish an influencer mix that will deliver the results you plan. Knowing your endgame will guide you through each decision point of your campaign, ensuring it progresses with maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

Set your goals

2. Select your influencers

Probably the most daunting decision is choosing which influencers to collaborate with. Fear not! We have come to a point with influencer marketing that from just a couple of influencer ROI indicators, an accurate results prediction can be determined. For example, click-through rate. This can be predicted by calculating the influencer’s engagement rate. That is the number of likes, shares and comments an influencer’s post or video garners divided by the number of views. The higher the engagement rate, the higher your conversions. Why? If your target audience is already clicking and interacting with the content, the barrier for them to respond to your call to action is reduced.

For even more accuracy, lower risk and to win time, try using an influencer platform. Matchmade, for instance, has custom-built software to help mobile apps and games find influencers. You’ll match with influencers who can deliver your planned results instantly. Run your campaign on the Autopilot setting and all you have to do is input your targets. Matchmade’s experts and the algorithm will take care of the rest – fill your budget, track your real-time results and scale quickly and easily.

Select your influencers

3. Settle on the creative concept of your sponsored content

Here is where your influencers earn their paycheck. It can be tempting to micro-manage your collaboration partners, but let them breathe! They are experts in their audience – your target customers – trust that they will pitch content that will generate a positive response. Many campaigns fall flat because marketers try to make the content too much like an ad. This is native advertising, don’t defeat the point, the influencer’s content has to be authentic.

4. Write a bullet-proof brief

In order to obtain optimal results from the collaboration a clear and pointed brief is essential. While the brief can be tailored to the content creator regarding the specifics of the campaign, there are a few components that are always a good idea to include.

You should set out your deadlines. There is probably a specific time you need the content to go live to fit in with your marketing strategy and goals. But remember you need to give your influencers time to use your app or game before they create the content. This will yield more authentic content and help your influencer better educate your target customers – very important for quality installs. You also need time to approve the content and request edits if necessary.

If there are particular selling points you want to be mentioned or you have prerequisites for the tone, language and whether competitive apps can be talked about in the sponsored content, send specific guidelines to your influencers.

Help them out also with placing the call to action. Be clear that you want one call to action, and that being to download your app or game. More than one will confuse and split your target customers. If the content is a video, tell them you want the call to action mentioned in the first minute and repeated at the end, as well as a link at the top of the description so viewers just need one click through to your app or game listing in the app store. Make sure they understand they have to use the tracking link you provide them so you can better measure the outcome of the collaboration. If you are giving an incentive for the audience to download immediately the app (a giveaway or a chance to interact with the influencer on the app or game, for example) then ensure the influencer will communicate it as you want to their viewers.

Write a bullet-proof brief

It must be clear for the influencers that they should include app or game footage in their content. You will see much higher conversions if your product is demonstrated, and in addition, new users you obtain from the sponsored content will have the correct expectations about what they can do on your app or game, making them more likely to stick.

Lastly, your influencers should push the sponsored content on their other social media channels. It’s another recommendation for your app or game, and it adds to the authenticity of your collaboration and increases your reach.

If you plan to reuse the influencer content, the terms also need to be set out in the brief.

5. Measure your results

Tracking and analysing your results will help you optimise your influencer marketing strategy. From the tracking link, you will see the direct impact of your influencer collaborations. But there will also be a large number of new users who were converted through the content, but came organically to your app or game. Know your benchmark of new users so you can correctly attribute the uplift to your influencer marketing. And bear in mind your influencer content will not be deleted. You will continue to acquire new users and grow your app or game indefinitely even after the campaign is over. Understanding your true ROI is key, with Matchmade it’s even simpler. Integrate your preferred tracking tool with the platform and effortlessly follow your results.

Measure your results

6. Keep the momentum

Knowing which of your influencers delivered or exceeded your planned ROI not only gives you a good idea of what type of content performs best for your app or game, but also that you should probably work with them again. It is a common misconception that you can only work once with an influencer. In fact, influencer marketing is like any other marketing channel. The more touchpoints with your product the audience has, the more will convert. If you don’t rehire your best influencers, their viewers who were intrigued by your product but not ready to download it yet will be lost. Moreover, a growing trend (one that will develop further through 2020) is long term influencer relationships. Collaborating continuously or on a regular basis over a longer period is more effective – both in terms of conversions and in terms of cost – than one-off campaigns.

Rehiring successful influencers and continually testing new influencers is the best way to scale your influencer marketing efforts. Increasing your effective content exponentially will boost your user base exponentially as well.

This blog post was written by Matchmade. The methodology set out in this checklist will help you smash your influencer marketing, grow your mobile app or game and dominate the app store. If you would like more tailored advice, Matchmade’s influencer marketing experts are happy to give one-on-one consultations.

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