Did you know that nearly half of the consumers trust everything their favourite influencer says online?
It's true! According to Nielsen's Global Trust Report, a staggering 46% of us are swayed by their recommendations and opinions.
That's the incredible power of influencer marketing! In today's blog, we're diving into the exciting world of SaaS influencer marketing and how it can help businesses like yours build credibility in the digital landscape.
So, grab a cup of coffee and explore the fascinating realm where influencers and SaaS intersect.
Get ready to discover how this strategic approach can take your brand to new heights and establish your business as a trusted authority. Let's dive in!
Why your SaaS business needs an influencer for marketing?
Today influencer marketing has emerged as a powerful strategy for businesses across various industries, including SaaS. If you're running a SaaS business, here are some compelling reasons, or you can say benefits of influencer marketing you should focus on:
1. Expanded Reach and Targeted Audience
Influencers have dedicated and engaged followers who trust their recommendations.
You can benefit from their large followers when you team up with influencers relevant to your SaaS brand and work in your industry. This helps you expand the reach of your SaaS product or service.
Using this content strategy, you can focus on a particular group of people, like your ideal customers.
By targeting this specific audience, you increase the chances of reaching people interested in what you offer. Collaborating with influencers helps you connect with the right customers and grow your business.
2. Authentic Endorsements and Social Proof
Influencers are considered authentic voices in their respective fields. When they endorse your SaaS product or service, it creates a sense of social proof.
Their followers are more likely to trust their recommendations, increasing your business's credibility. Influencers can share their experiences, review your product, or provide testimonials, which adds authenticity and value to your brand.
Example
Speaking of social proof, we have an excellent example to share with you—a review of the Notion app by the influential YouTuber Ali Abdaal.
In his video titled “My Favourite Note-Taking App for Students – Notion,” Ali Abdaal clearly discloses that Notion sponsors the video. Throughout the video, he provides an in-depth review of the SaaS product.
This review by Ali Abdaal is a prime illustration of how an influencer's opinion can greatly influence the audience. It showcases the persuasive power of influencer marketing and its influence on consumer behavior.
3. Enhanced brand awareness
Working with an influencer helps more people discover your SaaS business. They can create fun and interesting content, like videos or social media posts, that shows off your product and its advantages.
Influencers sharing this content with their followers introduce your brand to a larger audience. This exposure brings in potential customers and boosts traffic to your website or landing pages without paying for ads.
4. Improved SEO and Online Presence
When influencers make content about your SaaS business, it can help improve your search engine optimization (SEO). Their content, like links to your website and brand mentions, can strengthen your online presence.
This can make your website more visible in search engine results. As a result, you may get more people visiting your website and achieve higher rankings in search engines. This will let you appear more trustworthy to search engines and potential customers.
5. Access to Industry Expertise and Insights
Influencers often understand their niche or industry. Working with them allows you to access their expertise, insights, and market knowledge.
This can help you refine your SaaS product, understand customer needs, and stay updated on industry trends. Influencers can provide valuable feedback and suggestions. This will contribute to your business's growth and drive sales.
6. Cost-effective marketing strategy
This form of marketing can be cheaper than traditional advertising or paid campaigns. Using influencers for your marketing can cost different amounts.
But collaborating with micro-influencers or influencers who focus on specific topics can be a great value for your money. Moreover, their content can be reused and shared on your other marketing platforms. This way, it continues to have an impact and becomes even more valuable as time goes on.
Type of influencers that will fit in for your SaaS Marketing
Based on brand relationship and follow count, influencers can be defined within the following categories:
1. Brand relationship and profession
These influencers have a strong, long-term relationship with a specific brand. They act as advocates and representatives of the brand, promoting its products or services.
Brand ambassadors often understand the brand's values and messaging and collaborate with the brand on various campaigns and initiatives.
Sponsored influencers are individuals who work with brands on a campaign-by-campaign basis. They have a contractual agreement with the brand to promote specific products or services for a predetermined period.
Sponsored influencers maintain a professional relationship with the brand and may work with various brands simultaneously.
Affiliates are influencers who earn a commission or revenue share based on the sales or conversions they generate for a brand. They promote the brand's products or services using unique tracking links or discount codes.
Affiliates often have a specific link or referral relationship with the brand, earning a percentage of each successful referral or sale.
Your own satisfied customers can be a valuable resource for influencer marketing. Identifying customers who are passionate about your SaaS product or service and have a strong online presence can serve as authentic advocates.
Encourage them to share their positive experiences, testimonials, or case studies through social media accounts, blogs, or other platforms.
Their personal stories and genuine enthusiasm can resonate with their followers. This helps in building trust and credibility for your SaaS business.
Example
Now, this example is something different from others. By publishing an interview with an influencer as a blog post, Slack represented her customer, who is also an influencer as a customer advocate.
When you go through the blog, you'll know exactly does Slack helped Mandy Ansari with her business tasks.
It would be an injustice to mention everything here, so just click on the link to read the complete article.
Thought leaders are influencers who have established themselves as forward-thinking visionaries within a particular field. They are often sought after for their unique perspectives, innovative ideas, and ability to shape industry conversations.
Partnering with thought leaders in your niche can help position your SaaS business as an industry leader. It also helps to drive credibility among their followers.
These influencers have a strong presence across various channels. These include blogs, podcasts, speaking engagements, and social media.
Working with influencers recognized as experts in your industry can bring value to your SaaS marketing efforts. These influencers have deep knowledge and insights into the industry. Also, their recommendations can carry significant weight among their followers.
Look for influencers with a strong track record of sharing valuable industry-related content, providing expert advice, and staying up-to-date with the latest trends.
2. Social media influencers
Social media influencers have amassed significant followings on platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and LinkedIn. They can create eye-appealing and engaging content that can capture their audience's attention.
Depending on your target audience and marketing goals, collaborating with social media influencers can help you reach a wider demographic. It also helps to drive engagement and generate brand awareness.
Look for influencers with an active and engaged following, relevant content, and a genuine connection with their audience.
3. Influencers based on follow count
Mega influencers, the giants of the influencer world, hold tremendous sway over their massive online followings. With millions of followers across various social media platforms, these influencers have the power to make a significant impact on brands and their audiences.
These influential individuals have built their reputations and credibility through engaging content, expertise, and the ability to connect with their followers personally.
Followers count: Macro-influencers have more than 1M followers.
Macro-influencers have a large following, typically ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of followers across social media platforms.
They have a significant reach and often cover a wide range of topics or interests. Macro-influencers can be celebrities, industry experts, or individuals who have gained popularity through their content and appeal to a broad audience.
Followers count: Mid-Tier Influencers have between 500K – 1M followers.
These influencers fall between micro and macro-influencers in terms of their follower count and reach.
While there is no strict definition for the number of followers categorizing an influencer as mid-tier, they typically have a follower count ranging from tens of thousands to a few hundred thousand.
Followers count: Mid-Tier Influencers have between 50K – 500K followers.
They have a smaller but engaged following, usually ranging from a few thousand to tens of thousands of followers.
They tend to have a niche focus, with expertise in specific industries or interests. These have a more targeted and loyal audience. Also, their recommendations and content are perceived as authentic and relatable.
Followers count: Micro-influencers are social media users who have between 1,000 and 50K followers.
Strategies for effective Influencer Marketing for SaaS
1. Set your Brand's Objectives and Goals
Before using influencer marketing, define your brand's objectives and goals. Are you looking to increase brand awareness, drive website traffic, generate leads, or boost sales? Setting specific and measurable goals will guide your influencer marketing strategy. It will also help you track its effectiveness.
Defining your objectives allows you to align your influencer partnerships and SaaS marketing campaigns with your desired outcomes.
For example, if you aim to increase brand awareness, you may focus on collaborating with influencers with a wide reach and high engagement rates.
If your goal is lead generation, you might work with influencers who can create compelling content. This will encourage audience participation and capture contact information.
2. Set a Budget for Influencer Marketing
Determine a budget allocated for influencer marketing. This will help you identify the scope of collaborations and the types of influencers you can work with.
To determine your budget, consider several factors. First, think about the size of your target audience. If you have a smaller audience, you might allocate a smaller budget for working with micro-level influencers with a more niche following.
Conversely, if you have a larger target audience or want to reach a broader market, you may need a larger budget to engage with macro-influencers or celebrity influencers.
Additionally, consider the level of influence you want to achieve. Influencers with a higher reach and engagement tend to have higher costs associated with their collaborations.
Determine if you want to focus on a few key influencers with a significant impact or if you prefer working with a larger number of influencers at a micro level to maximize your reach within your budget.
In the end, assess the potential return on investment (ROI) for influencer marketing. Consider the potential benefits and outcomes you expect.
This will lead to gain from your influencer partnerships. Will it lead to increased brand awareness, improved brand perception, higher engagement, or a boost in sales?
3. Identify and Select the Right Influencers
Thoroughly research and identify influencers who align with your brand values, target audience, and marketing goals.
Look for influencers with a genuine interest in your industry or niche whose content resonates with your target audience. Check their engagement rates, audience demographics, content quality, and previous brand collaborations to ensure a good fit.
When looking for the right B2C or B2B influencers for your SaaS startup or established company, you can use several platforms and methods to find and connect with them. Here are some popular places to find influencers:
1. Social media platforms
Social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and LinkedIn are excellent resources for discovering influencers in various niches. Use hashtags related to your industry or product to find influencers already creating content in your target market.
2. Influencer marketing platforms
There are dedicated influencer marketing platforms that connect brands with influencers. Platforms like Upfluence, AspireIQ, and Tribe Dynamics provide databases of influencers, along with tools for managing influencer campaigns and tracking results.
3. Online directories
Explore online directories designed to help you find influencers. Websites like Influence.co, Grin, and Julius allow you to search for influencers based on specific criteria. These include niche, location, follower count, engagement rate, and more.
4. Google and blog searches
Conduct Google searches or blog searches using relevant keywords to find bloggers or content creators who are active in your industry. Explore their content and engagement to determine if they fit your marketing campaigns well.
5. Industry events and conferences
Attend industry events and conferences related to your SaaS business. These events often attract influencers and thought leaders actively involved in the industry. Networking at these events can help you connect with influencers and build relationships.
6. Referrals and recommendations
Seek recommendations from colleagues, industry experts, or your existing network for influencers they have worked with or know of. Referrals can be a valuable way to find influencers who have proven their effectiveness and credibility.
7. Influencer outreach
Take a proactive approach by contacting an influencer who aligns with your brand. Send personalized or direct messages expressing your interest in working and explain why you believe they would be a great fit for your marketing campaigns.
4. Decide a suitable Type of Influencer Relationship
Consider the influencer relationship that best suits your objectives. Each type of relationship offers unique benefits and levels of commitment, so choose the one that aligns with your goals and resources.
1. One-time collaborations
This type of relationship involves partnering with influencers for a single campaign or project. It can effectively promote a specific product launch, event, or seasonal campaign.
One-time collaborations are flexible and allow you to work with different influencers based on their expertise and audience relevance.
As an example – Nord VPN
Liverpool is known as one of the top soccer teams globally, and watching their matches live is an exciting opportunity. Nord VPN cleverly connects their brand to Liverpool FC by highlighting its shared focus on defence and protection.
With a one-time partnership with the Liverpool soccer team, Nord VPN emphasizes how they safeguard the identity of their users just like Liverpool's defence repels threats on the field.
By using the phrase “the best defence works around the world,” they effectively leverage Liverpool's reputation to showcase their expertise in keeping users secure no matter where they are.
2. Ongoing partnerships
Building ongoing relationships with influencers can provide consistency and continuity in your influencer marketing efforts. Collaborating with the same influencers on various campaigns establishes a deeper connection with their audience.
It also enhances brand recognition and fosters long-term loyalty. Ongoing partnerships allow for a more integrated approach to influencer marketing.
Brand ambassadorships
A brand ambassador is a long-term partnership where an influencer becomes the face of your brand. They promote your products or services over an extended period in a consistent way. Thus, building a strong association with your brand.
Brand ambassadors understand your offerings and share their experiences and positive reviews with their audience.
3. Sponsored content
In a sponsored content arrangement, you collaborate with influencers to create specific content related to your brand. This could include product reviews, tutorials, or sponsored posts on social media platforms.
Sponsored content provides a targeted promotional opportunity. It also allows you to reach the influencer's engaged audience.
4. Event collaborations
Collaborating with influencers for events can help increase brand visibility and create buzz around your brand. You can invite influencers to attend or host events, product launches, or workshops related to your industry.
Their presence can attract a larger audience, generate media coverage, and provide valuable content for your marketing efforts.
5. Takeovers and guest content
Allow influencers to take over your brand's social media accounts for a limited time. This collaboration gives them creative control to engage with your audience, share their insights, and promote your offerings.
Guest content can also involve influencers creating content for your blog, YouTube channel, or podcast, providing fresh perspectives to your audience.
As an example – Buffer
Buffer is the popular social media management platform. They realized that their previous blog content focused solely on social media wasn't yielding the desired results. That's when they decided to take a unique approach and incorporate influencer marketing into their strategy.
Instead of traditional guest blogging, Buffer took a different route. They created content specifically tailored to appeal to influencers. By creating valuable content that resonated with influencers, Buffer relied on them to share it within their networks.
As a result, their blog numbers started to skyrocket, and with the increase in readership, their subscriber base expanded significantly. In just one year, Buffer gained an impressive 100,000 new users thanks to their innovative influencer marketing approach.
Influencer giveaways
Collaborating with influencers on giveaways can help increase brand awareness and engagement. Influencers host contests or giveaways on their social media platforms. Here their followers have a chance to win your products or services.
This type of partnership encourages user participation, drives traffic to your brand, and expands your reach.
5. Align influencer content with business objectives
Work closely with influencers to align their type of content with your brand's messaging and business objectives.
Provide them with clear guidelines, key messages, and necessary product information. Encourage influencers to create authentic and engaging content.
Also, make sure that it showcases the value of your SaaS product or service while maintaining its unique voice and style.
6. Analyze the influencer marketing's impact on credibility
Implement strategies to measure and analyze the impact of influencer marketing on the credibility of your SaaS business.
Track website traffic, conversions, social media engagement, and brand sentiment metrics. Use tracking tools and analytics to attribute the results to your influencer campaigns as a SaaS marketing strategy and check the impact on your brand's credibility.
Challenges of SaaS Influencer Marketing
1. Finding suitable Influencers
You all must be thinking that just a few minutes ago, you read the heading of “Finding suitable Influencers” as a strategy. But now it is in challenges, so what's actually right?
Both of them are right. This is because finding influencers is the primary step to start with influencer marketing but identifying relevant influencers who align with your product or service, which is SaaS, can be challenging.
It requires thorough research and evaluation to ensure their audience matches your target market and their content resonates with your brand.
2. Maintaining Authenticity
Authenticity and genuine connections with influencers can be challenging. Establishing a mutually beneficial relationship that goes beyond mere promotion is important.
Striking the right balance between brand messaging and the influencer's unique voice can be delicate.
3. Compliance and Disclosure
Adhering to legal and ethical guidelines, such as disclosing sponsored content, is crucial. Navigating the area of disclosure regulations and ensuring influencers follow these guidelines can be challenging.
4. Long-term Partnerships
Building long-term partnerships with influencers can be challenging. This is especially true considering their availability, evolving interests, and potential competition from other brands.
Maintaining a strong relationship and keeping influencers engaged requires ongoing effort and nurturing.
5. Cost and Return on Investment Considerations
Collaborating with influencers may come with costs, and it's essential to check the potential return on investment.
Balancing budget allocation with the expected outcomes and benefits can be challenging, particularly for smaller SaaS businesses with limited resources.
TOP 9 Influencer Marketing Platforms to make your job easy
1. Upfluence
Upfluence offers a comprehensive influencer marketing platform with advanced search capabilities.
They also provide campaign management tools, influencer analytics, and performance tracking. It provides access to a vast network of influencers across various social media platforms.
2. Aspire ( Formerly AspireIQ)
Aspire is an all-in-one platform that helps brands discover, connect, and collaborate with influencers.
It offers features like influencer search, content management, and contract and payment management. It also provides a performance-tracking feature to streamline influencer campaigns.
3. CreatorIQ
CreatorIQ is an enterprise-grade influencer marketing platform trusted by many large brands. It offers influencer search and discovery, campaign management, and content tracking. Along with this, it also provides performance analytics and data-driven insights to optimize influencer collaborations.
4. Izea
IZEA is an influencer marketing platform that connects brands with content creators and influencers across various social media platforms.
It provides a marketplace where brands can discover and collaborate with influencers to create impactful marketing campaigns. IZEA offers comprehensive tools and features to streamline the influencer marketing process, including influencer search, campaign management, content creation, and performance tracking.
With its extensive network of influencers and data-driven insights, IZEA helps brands maximize their reach, engage with their target audience, and achieve their marketing goals through effective influencer partnerships.
5. Traackr
Traackr is an influencer marketing platform that helps brands identify influencers. It also leads to building relationships and measuring the impact of influencer campaigns.
It provides influencer search and discovery, influencer relationship management, and performance analytics.
Regarding its pricing plans, as mentioned here for the enterprise section the user needs to schedule a demo and ask for custom pricing to avail their services for all the mentioned products.
6. Mavrck
Mavrck is a platform for influencer marketing that aims to create real and meaningful connections with customers. It uses smart technology to find and work with influencers who have an impact on their followers.
Mavrck offers helpful tools like finding influencers, managing relationships, running campaigns, and tracking performance.
The focus is on building long-lasting relationships with influencers and creating content that strengthens brand loyalty. They also encourage customers to support and speak positively about the brand.
Regarding its pricing plans, as mentioned here for the agencies section the user needs to schedule a demo and ask for custom pricing to avail their services for agencies and influencers.
7. Klear
Klear is a platform for influencer marketing that helps brands find the right influencers. It offers a powerful search tool to discover influencers and provides detailed profiles.
They provide profiles with information about their audience, engagement, and content performance. Klear also allows brands to manage influencer campaigns, track results, and measure the success of collaborations.
With its large database of influencers, Klear assists brands in finding the most suitable influencers for their SaaS marketing campaigns.
8. Neo Reach
Neo Reach is an influencer marketing platform that offers a wide range of features to streamline influencer collaborations.
It provides influencer discovery tools, campaign management capabilities, real-time analytics, and ROI tracking. Neo Reach focuses on data-driven influencer marketing.
Thus, allowing brands to make informed decisions by analyzing influencer audience demographics, engagement rates, and historical performance. The platform also facilitates influencer payments, contracts, and content approvals.
Regarding its pricing plans, as mentioned here for the influencer campaign section the user needs to chat and ask for custom pricing to avail their services for platfrorm APIs as well.
9. Captiva8
Captiva8 is a platform for influencer marketing that uses data and technology to help brands. It offers tools for finding influencers and managing campaigns.
This has a smart recommendation system that suggests the best influencers for SaaS marketing projects. It also provides in-depth analytics to measure how well influencer campaigns are working, track conversions, and calculate return on investment (ROI).
It also offers influencer communication, content collaboration, and campaign optimization features.
Regarding its pricing plans, as mentioned here for the agencies section the user needs to connect ask for custom pricing to avail their service for all the products mentioned.
Real-life Examples of Successful SaaS Influencer Marketing Campaigns
1. Canva with Guy Kawasaki
Canva is a popular SaaS graphic design platform catering to individuals and businesses. It enables them to easily create professional-looking visuals, presentations, and social media graphics.
About the Campaign
Canva's marketing strategy involved using the influence of tech influencer Guy Kawasaki. He was the former marketing head at Apple.
Recognizing Guy's prominence and reach, Canva appointed him the “Chief Evangelist” to endorse and promote the platform. Guy fully supported Canva's democratization of design. He stated that, “Canva democratizes design, just as Macintosh democratized computers.”
Impact of the campaign
Canva's collaboration with Guy Kawasaki showcases the impact of influencer marketing on a SaaS brand.
2. Nord VPN with PewDiePew and Mr. Beast
Nord VPN is a leading SaaS company that provides virtual private network (VPN) services. They focus on ensuring online privacy and security for their users by offering a secure and encrypted connection while browsing the internet.
About the Campaign
Under their influencer program, Nord VPN collaborates with popular YouTubers and Twitch streamers to promote their products.
Nord VPN has partnered with some of the biggest names on YouTube, including PewDiePie and Mr. Beast's gaming channel, Mr. Beast Gaming.
PewDiePie, with over 111 million subscribers, has been sponsored by NordVPN more than 300 times. Similarly, Mr. Beast Gaming has been sponsored twice, with one video garnering over 45 million views.
In this particular video, Mr. Beast highlights the ease of connecting to Nord VPN servers in the United Kingdom and Japan, enabling users to access location-specific content with convenience.
Impact of the Campaign
3. Google and Zach King
Google is a renowned SaaS company known for its wide range of digital products and services, including search engines, online advertising technologies, cloud computing, and productivity tools.
With a global presence, Google aims to provide innovative solutions to enhance user experiences and empower businesses worldwide.
About the Campaign
Even a global brand like Google recognizes the power of influencer marketing to showcase the versatility of its products. In this instance, Google collaborated with popular YouTube illusionist Zach King.
The campaign involved a YouTube video where King seamlessly incorporated Google Meet and Google Password Manager into his illusions.
In the video, King starts by using a clever hand-through-TV illusion to introduce his conference room segment, highlighting the use of Google Meet for virtual conference meetings at 1:59. This subtle integration aligns with Google's objective of promoting its platform's capabilities.
Later, at 3:53, King seamlessly introduces Google's Password Manager app to transition into his next trick. This demonstrates how sponsored content can be seamlessly integrated without overshadowing the video's main purpose.
Impact of the Campaign
4. Asana and Natalie Barbu
Asana is a prominent project management software company that offers a comprehensive platform for teams to collaborate, plan, and organize their work efficiently . It provides tools and features to streamline workflows, track progress, and enhance productivity.
About the campaign
In 2021, Asana worked together with Natalie Barbu, a YouTuber who focuses on lifestyle and beauty, for a video campaign.
The goal of the campaign was to show how Asana's project management software can help entrepreneurs, small business owners, and freelancers.
Barbu shared her personal experience using Asana. It also demonstrated how the software helped her stay organized and achieve her goals in an effective way.
Impact of the campaign
5. Famebit (Now YouTube Brand Connect) and Sean Cannell
Famebit is a platform for influencer marketing. It helps brands find and work with content creators on different social media platforms. It acts as a marketplace where brands can discover, collaborate, and manage influencers for their marketing campaigns.
About the campaign
Famebit collaborated with Sean Cannell, a popular YouTuber, and entrepreneur, for an influencer marketing video campaign.
The campaign focused on demonstrating how to find sponsors for a YouTube channel using Famebit's platform.
In the video, Cannell shared his expertise and walked his audience through the process of setting up a profile on Famebit, finding suitable sponsorships, and negotiating sponsorship terms.
Impact of the campaign
Ready to onboard the perfect influencer to elevate your SaaS brand's online presence?
B2C or B2B SaaS Influencer Marketing offers businesses a powerful tool to build credibility in today's competitive landscape.
Businesses can use their influence and large following to make their brand look better when they team up with popular and knowledgeable people in their industry.
SaaS influencer marketing is a smart way to market your content. By working with influencers in a genuine and planned way, you can make your brand SEO-friendly, you can gain the trust of your target audience and make them see you as a credible brand. This leads to more people recognizing and remembering your brand, and they become loyal customers.
Businesses can make a big impact by embracing this new and creative approach. They can become trusted leaders in their industry and set themselves up for long-term success.
So, don't miss out on the incredible chance to leverage influencer marketing for SaaS that brings incredible results. Start harnessing the power of influencers today and watch your credibility soar to new heights.
Apart from this, if you're looking for a professional SaaS content marketing agency for great helpful advice, don't hesitate to contact webdew. Our experienced content and marketing team is here to help make your company a successful SaaS brand