f you’re a business owner on social media, you’ve probably heard of influencer marketing. With the success of platforms such as Instagram and, more recently, TikTok, more business owners are turning to this advertising arena. Are you one of the business owners? If yes, then this is the article for you. We’ll talk about how to find the ideal influencer to represent your brand.
What is an influencer?
An influencer is a social media user that posts information about a certain business (beauty, fashion, and fitness, to name a few) and has a voice that resonates with the industry’s target audience. In other words, they can “influence” customers into buying things that they use. Influencers frequently get followers because they are perceived as a trusted authority in the topic they cover on their platform. Influencers are compensated for sponsoring businesses, promoting items, and representing companies in long-term collaborations.
Are influencers still an effective marketing channel?
Indeed, they are. The days of traditional celebrity endorsements are over. Furthermore, influencer marketing is more affordable for small and medium-sized organizations. However, one difficulty with influencer marketing is oversaturation: the sheer number of users on social media platforms has resulted in an increase in influencers, leaving viewers overwhelmed with options. Your brand will face additional competition from other firms seeking for the attention of an influencer’s audience. This is where the concept of niches comes into play: if you can identify your influencer’s “niche,” you will be able to target consumers more effectively.
Do people trust influencers?
Consumers follow influencers that share content relevant to their interests. There are numerous influencers available, so it is easy to identify a few with whom they may connect. Because of this “relatability” feature, as well as the fact that the individual may be perceived as a professional or expert in their field, consumers are more likely to believe influencers than celebrities when it comes to advertisements. To put this in perspective, Morning Consult discovered that 72% of Gen Z and Millennial respondents follow influencers. The survey also discovered that 50% of millennials trust influencers for product suggestions, compared to 38% for their favorite celebs.
Trust also depends on the demographic you’re attempting to reach: how frequently do your target consumers use social media? Do people engage with multiple platforms or just one? What is your target audience’s average age? Before you begin influencer marketing, ask yourself these questions about your target audience. Depending on your audience, the investment may not be worthwhile.
What is the degree of influencers?
Before reaching out to influencers, it’s helpful to categorize them based on their following. These figures fluctuate, but here is a typical breakdown of the levels of influencers.
- Nano-influencers have 1000–10,000
- Micro-influencers have 10,000–50,000
- Mid-tier influencers have 50,000–250,000
- Macro-influencers have 250,000–1,000,000
- Mega-influencers have more than 1,000,000
The larger an influencer’s platform, the more they’ll charge for a sponsored post or endorsement, so keep this in mind as you search.
What to consider while selecting an influencer
There are various aspects to consider during your quest. Let’s get into some of them.
Understand your target audience
If you’re unsure where to begin, start with your target audience. Before you hunt for influencers, build buying personas for your target market. Consider the demographic, regional, and behavioral features of your target consumer. Understanding your target audience can help you work with the proper influencers – those who hold clout in your preferred market.
Ensure that the influencer is relevant to your target audience
Is your chosen influencer’s audience compatible with your own? If so, they’re a good option. Analyzing their content will help to identify this.
Select your niche or targeted reach
Your niche refers to the precise market segment in which your brand operates. Research influencers in your niche to better reach your target audience. If you want to reach as many individuals as possible in your niche, consider working with a mid-tier or higher influencer.
Check the followers and interaction rates
If you want to learn more about how following an influencer affects their pricing, go into their tiers. The engagement rate is a metric that shows how frequently an influencer’s followers interact with their content. This encompasses views, likes, comments, and shares. Each post often includes audience insights.
An influencer’s engagement rate does not necessarily increase dramatically as their number of followers grows. It is actually more difficult to achieve a greater engagement rate when you have more followers – an engagement rate of 1% to 5% is often deemed desirable. Smaller influencers often have great interaction rates, which you wouldn’t expect based only on their following count.
Make sure their content is consistent with your brand
Think about your own brand while researching influencers. The person who endorses, promotes, and shows your product will represent your brand. Choose an influencer who posts material that aligns with your brand.
Check out how much the influencer charges
To obtain an idea of price rates, contact several distinct influencers you believe are a good fit for your business and campaign. Their profiles usually include contact information or connections to their management companies, if any. To ensure you receive a response, write a professional email (or direct message if they are a minor influencer with no public contact information) with information about your company, campaign details, what you hope to achieve, a timeframe for the posts, and your budget. If they are interested, they will provide their pricing.
Keep in mind that the price may vary depending on your campaign and the material required: for example, a single photo post recommending your product will be less expensive than a video or a campaign with multiple posts.
The platform matters
Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook all provide unique benefits. The types of advertisements available on these sites also vary. For example, TikTok and YouTube are video-only platforms. Depending on your target audience and desired reach, you may wish to run a variety of social media campaigns to increase brand visibility. You must decide what you want your campaign to achieve: do you want it to go viral? Does your campaign feature a “always-on” advertisement? Would you like it to reach as many people as possible? Would you like potential clients to be redirected to your website? On each platform, it is beneficial to review an influencer’s content and assess the ones that did successfully.
Create a strong outreach message
Before making a deal with one influencer, you’ll most likely need to contact several others. Create an outreach message that is tailored to each individual, capturing their attention (or that of their supervisors) and making them want to cooperate with you. Make sure you explain how the partnership will benefit both the influencer and the brand. You want them to represent you because they are confident in your product or service.
As part of your outreach approach, send free PR to an influencer so they can decide if they like your product. An influencer who is more selective about their endorsements and only promotes things they truly use or enjoy will appear more trustworthy to their audience, which is advantageous for you. Another crucial aspect of outreach is interacting with their postings directly through your company’s social media accounts. This includes liking and leaving comments on posts. This will express a feeling of long-term interest and demonstrate that you made an effort to engage and get to know them prior to publicly contacting out.
Watch out for red flags
Do your research before agreeing to a deal with an influencer. Investigate any previous controversies and assess whether it is worthwhile to pursue a collaboration with that influencer. Ensure that you work with someone who constantly discloses advertisements and sponsorships. Posting an undeclared ad is against the law, and you don’t want your business involved with any breaches.
Other red signs are:
- Inconsistent communication
- Increasing rates or modifying the conditions of your deal unexpectedly
- Unusually low engagement rate for the number of followers they have (this may indicate they buy followers)
- An unusual number of “bots” in comments—you may recognize them by spam remarks (another clue that they may be buying followers).
- Their follower growth rate is unexpectedly high.
- Using filters or altering editing on sponsored posts (this may mislead clients and misrepresent the things they sell)
The significance of engagement rates
Before signing anything, ensure that you have analyzed engagement rates. Engagement rates indicate an influencer’s level of success on a specific platform. Low engagement rates indicate that fewer people are interacting with their content and thus less likely to be “influenced” as a result. You want to enhance brand awareness and sales. An influencer with a high interaction rate will reach more followers – and potentially non-followers – who may be persuaded to purchase your products. The more people engage with the influencer’s postings, the better it is for both your brand and the influencer: it’s a win-win situation. Keep in mind that influencers with a strong engagement rate have the ability to charge brands more.
Five Promotion Strategy Ideas
Do you need assistance executing your campaign? Here are some tips.
1. Send your stuff to influencers for free
Sending products to influential people with whom you want to collaborate might be really beneficial. They should only choose to represent your business if they actually appreciate and would use your product, regardless of whether they are paid to promote it. You are also promoting your brand by offering them free stuff.
2. Pay for sponsored posts
Start with a single sponsored post. In a sponsored Instagram post, for example, you may give the influencer guidelines on what to write in the caption and what type of photo to share. They can change the copy to reflect their “voice” so it doesn’t appear inauthentic. They will send the post to you for approval, and you may provide criticism. They’ll post once they’ve made the necessary changes. To comply with advertising requirements, always include the terms “ad” or “sponsored” in these posts.
3. Offer promotional codes
One technique to stir your audience’s interest through influencer marketing is to collaborate with an influencer and provide discount codes for your items.
4. Run cross-channel promotions
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket: there’s so much choice these days, and most influencers use many platforms. Implement campaigns across many social media channels. It’s an excellent technique to raise brand awareness and reach a large number of potential buyers. This also applies when working with multiple influencers.
5. Allow influencers artistic flexibility
You can provide your influencer partner the campaign plan and goals, but to genuinely fit in with their material and appear authentic, you need give them creative power. If they believe something does not fit with the way they communicate with their audience, they should be able to modify it. Furthermore, you’re paying them for their unique expertise: they have their own brand and have effectively produced their content to satisfy their audience, which you want to use and trust. As long as they achieve your campaign’s goals and highlight the unique selling points you gave, they should be able to personalize the campaign to make it more authentic. They will most likely be responsible for all creative components such as photography, videography, and directing. Their followers will be more interested in your brand if they believe the influencer is being genuine in their support.
Use influencer marketing to boost your business
Choosing the right influencer is crucial when it comes to growing brand awareness and reaching your target consumer. When you do it right, it can make a big impact on the success of your brand.
