How to Choose the Influencers – Does Only Reach Matter?

53% of blog and vlog recipients admit that they bought the product under their influence. For 72% of readers, they are the first source of information about products (more important than the opinions of family and friends). No wonder that influencer marketing is one of the most important industry trends in recent years. But how to choose the right influencers for your brand?

It may seem that cooperation with Internet creators is only for the biggest brands. Nothing could be further from the truth! Local companies, start-ups, and small online shops can achieve spectacular success with influencer marketing. For this to happen, however, a well-thought-out choice of influencers is crucial.

Firstly, the strategy

Famous brands, when deciding to cooperate with influencers, often look at the range of their creators first. So they check out popular rankings, in which they find the leading influencers on YouTube and blogosphere. However, the reach of the blog, the number of comments under previous videos on YouTube or hearts on Instagram does not guarantee success. Of course, not every brand can afford to be promoted on the biggest channels.

Companies without a budget of a dozen or so thousand dollars for influencer marketing have to exercise more to find their ambassadors. After saying "yes, I want to invest in cooperation with influencers", instead of research in the search engine, sit down to strategy and decent brand monitoring.

Describe the brand and define a mission

Before working with influencers, take a look at your service or product. Think about its advantages and what you would like to see highlighted by an Influencer. Think about monitoring your brand using one of the available tools. Perhaps at this stage, you will find people who have already mentioned your product and are potentially an ideal ambassador. Or maybe you will drag the power of an influential hater to the good side?

Set goals for your collaboration with influencers

As with any marketing activity, you must first define exactly what you want to achieve. It depends on what type of promotion you will expect from the influencer and what people you will engage in the campaign. If your goal is to increase sales, you can think about an affiliate model or offer influencers a discount code for their readers. Do you want to better position yourself in the search engine? Bet on bloggers who correlate thematically and their blogs are well visible on Google. You run an online clothing store and want to present your new collection? Look for Instagrammers that are famous for their beautiful styling photos.

Specify your target group

Think about who you want to reach with the campaign. If you used to create staff for your product, it's worth going back to them. Specify your gender, age, interests, professional profile, and purchase preferences of your potential customer.

When looking for influencers, you must carefully analyze their recipients – pay attention to demographic data, their relationship with the influencer. It may turn out that a blogger who raises issues not directly related to your industry will become an excellent ambassador… but about that later.

Make a budget

The most common question that comes from customers interested in influencer marketing is "how much will it cost?” It all depends on what product is to be promoted, in what form and by what influencers. Although barter cooperation is becoming less and less popular, it is possible if the product is valuable, the Influencer will benefit from its possession and its viewers from the material they read. The win-win-win principle is desirable, but not always the product is so attractive that the creator agrees to promote it without additional monetary gratification. It is worth checking what the Influencers themselves think about barter.

Before you choose your influencers, consider what budget you are able to spend on the campaign and how many products you can give for testing. It depends on how many people you cooperate with and what actions the campaign will take.

Is it worth investing in micro-influencers?

Clients planning to cooperate with influencers often write in briefs that they want to carry out a campaign with the most reach creators. However, research conducted by Markerly shows that the engagement ratio (likes and comments) is decreasing with an increase in the number of observers on Instagram. Often it is more profitable to start cooperation with a few micro-influencers, because not only will it cost less, but it also increases conversion.

What else is in favor of choosing smaller influencers?

1. A micro-influencer does not run many campaigns, so it may be more willing to become a brand ambassador. He is often able to add additional activities to the price of the campaign – promotion in social media, sharing on groups, mentioning the text in the mailing sent to his readers.
2. In the duel, a range-focused lifestyle influencer – a micro-influencer specialized in a particular subject – wins the latter. Its message about the product from its industry is more expert and more reliable.
3. Micro-influencer usually runs fewer campaigns and therefore his blog or social media profiles are not a billboard. Of course, this is not the rule and before starting cooperation you should check his previous posts and blogs.
4. By deciding to promote in several smaller influencers instead of one high-performance one, we are able to get a crowd argument. If an internet user sees the product three times, with three different bloggers, there is a greater chance of the message becoming fixed.
5. Bloggers from outside the top are more familiar with the neighborhood than celebrities. They take care of the relationship with their readers, often respond to comments, and join in the discussion. If you care about an engaging message, try working with mid-range bloggers.