How to Find The Right Influencer For Your Brand
Over the past couple years, social media has grown to become one of the most popular forms of digital marketing. According to BackLinkO, within the last 5 years alone the number of active social media users has increased by 92.76%! Due to this increase of social media users, individuals with larger followings have become influencers. A social media influencer is someone who has a following with a specific group of individuals who share similar interests in brands or products. Influencers have the ability to affect the purchasing decisions of their followers and have become a powerful tool to increasing success for many brands.
Why do you need influencers?
Influencers help you accomplish your brand goals by creating content surrounding your brand that can help you get attention and reach your target audience. Although there are many benefits to using influencers to promote your brand, two of the main benefits of implementing influencer marketing are brand awareness and generating sales:
- Brand Awareness: Having the right influencers post about your brand and your products to their social media following will create brand awareness. Brand awareness is important so that people are familiar with you, which will in turn increase your brand’s popularity. By creating brand awareness, you gain trust, association and equity.
- Generate Sales: The more people that see your brand on influencer’s accounts that they love and trust, the more likely these people are to interact with your company. This will increase the attention your brand receives and will encourage users to want to purchase your products or services. If user’s see their favorite influencers using your brand, they will want to do the same resulting in an increase in sales.
However, these steps only work if you have the right influencer for you and your company’s brand. You might be asking, “How do I know which influencer is the right choice for me?” We outlined some helpful tips on how to organize your search and how to find the right influencer for you below.
How to Organize Your Influencer Search
- Know what you are trying to accomplish and have a clear goal in mind of what your brand needs and how an influencer can get you there.
- Understand your campaign (Contests, Sponsored, Ambassador, Etc.) and know what and how you are trying to promote. There are many kinds of influencers!
- Research influencers who work in the same industry as your brand and see who your competitors are working with.
- See if their following is similar to your target audience and look at the influencers following to make sure they would be interested in your brand and products.
- Look at their content to see their creativity, originality and how their followers respond and interact with their posts.
Finding the Right Influencer
Similarity
When looking for the right influencer, it is important to make sure that the content they post, messaging, and their followers align with your brand. You must keep in mind that these influencers are going to represent your brand. You do not want any messages they put out about your company to be interpreted the wrong way.
Engagement
Look at how often the influencer interacts with their followers and in what way. Also look at how the influencer’s followers interact with them. Are they liking and commenting on their posts? Are they sharing them? The amount of followers that interact often shows how important and meaningful the influencer’s content is to them.
Regularity
It is important to look at how regularly the influencer is posting on their social media accounts and how often they would be willing to share content about your brand. The more often they post, the more likely their followers are to check out the products they are mentioning. Also, the algorithms of many social media platforms today benefit the influencers who post the most often. See what method works best in terms of posting for the influencers you recruit for your brand.
Reach
The amount of people the influencer is getting to see each post is a factor that should be considered. This number determines what size your potential audience is. Depending on your brand, you may want your influencer to have a small reach or a large reach. Looking at influencer’s and their reach on multiple platforms may also be helpful to see what platform is best suited for your business goals.
Originality
Lastly, having influencers that post content that is different from others is a way to attract more followers and get more brand awareness. Having an influencer share personal stories or experiences while including your brand allows followers to trust your brand or products. You want your target audience to see the ways your brand is different or better than others.
When hiring an influencer, you must be clear and communicate exactly what you are looking for from them. Be sure to tell them what kind of content and tone you are looking for and how often you would like them to share content for you. If you have any questions or concerns, be sure to ask. Picking the wrong influencer for your brand can have a very negative impact. You will likely lose money, trust, and popularity among your audience. Track your progress with an influencer and how it has impacted your brand. Following the steps above will help you ensure that influencers are going to represent your brand the best way possible!
Get Help Finding your Next Influencer
Are you still not sure where to begin finding the best influencers to represent your brand? Slice is the go-to for all things social media! Contact us now to get more information on how we can help your company find the best influencers to represent you.
