To carry out an effective influencer marketing campaign you need to work with the right social media influencers. This guide will show you how to do both. But before we get to the how-tos, tips, and tools of influencer marketing, let's start with the what and why?
What is Influencer Marketing?
Influencer marketing is a form of collaboration. A company collaborates with an influencer to promote something. It can be a product, a service, or a campaign. You can find more information about that in our separate article.
What is a social media influencer?
Simply put, an influencer is someone who can influence others. A social media influencer is someone who exerts that influence through social media. The form of influence can vary and no two influencers are the same. The right influencer can reach your target audience, build trust, and drive commitment. They create original and engaging content. They will not like to follow a template advertising style provided by your brand. Therefore, it is essential to work only with social media influencers whose vision aligns with yours. You can read more about them here.
How to find the right social media influencer in 8 easy steps
There are over 500,000 active influencers on Instagram alone. That means you have many potential opportunities for influencers to collaborate. It also means you have to work to find the right influencer.
Businesses' confidence in their ability to find the right influencer varies greatly from country to country. In China, 81% of marketers are confident that they can find influencers. In the United States, only 39% of marketers feel the same way. Here are 8 key ways to find and connect with the right influencer for your campaign
Consider the three R's of influence
Relevance
An influencer shares content relevant to your business and industry. They need to have an audience that aligns with your target market.
Reach
Reach is the number of people you could reach through the influencer's follower base.
Resonance
This is the potential level of engagement that the influencer can create with an audience relevant to your brand. Bigger is not always better. A large number of followers does not make sense if those followers are not interested in your offer. And a smaller number of followers can be very powerful if it is a niche area. Niche influencers can have very dedicated and committed followers.
Knowing who you are trying to influence
Your influencer campaign can't be all things to all people. An effective strategy requires you to talk to the right people using the right tools. (And, in this case, the right influencers). The first step is to define who your audience will be for this specific campaign.
Developing audience members is a great way to make sure you understand who you are trying to reach. Once you have done this, create a set of influencers. This will help you understand the qualities you are looking for in your content creators.
Seek commitment and trust from the right audience
The key is trust. Your audience must trust and respect the opinion of the influencers with whom they associate. Without the trust component, any result will be superficial. You will have a hard time seeing a tangible commercial impact from your efforts.
How do you know if your potential influencer is trustworthy? By getting involved. You want to see many points of view, tastes, comments, and actions. Specifically, you want to see them from the precise segments of followers you are trying to reach. A good commitment rate also means a loyal following, rather than an inflated number of followers reinforced by robots and fraud accounts.
Look for a consistent look, feel, tone and values
You need to find someone who produces content with a look and feel that complements your own. The tone should also be appropriate for the way you want to present your brand to potential customers. This will ensure that things do not feel disjointed in either party's social media publications.
Watch out for sponsorship saturation
Take a look at what your potential influencers are posting. How often do they share sponsored content? If you are already hitting your followers with tons of paid postings, your commitment rate may not last.
Look for a lot of unpaid organic content to keep followers interested, enthusiastic, and engaged – and keep this in mind when thinking about what you will ask the influencer to publish as well. Asking for too many publications in a short period will make your offer difficult for the influencer to accept, even if it comes with a large paycheck.
Research and learn
Influential people in demand receive many offers. When you first approach an influencer, you will have to show that you have taken the time to learn what they do. Know what their channels are about and who their audience is. Better yet, start your approach slowly by interacting organically with your target influencer's posts. Like their content. Comment when appropriate. Be appreciative, and do not focus just on sales.
Plan your budget
Powerful influencers rightly expect to be paid for their work. A free product could work with nano-influencers, but a broader influencing campaign requires a budget. Think about what kind of payment structure makes the most sense for your goals. But be willing to consider the needs of the influencer, too. For example, an affiliate or commission structure could be an option instead of a flat fee, or to reduce the flat fee. Remember that micro- and nano-influencers will have more flexible payment terms.
Contact privately, and personally
A direct message is a great place to start. If you can find an email address, try that too. But do not send a mass email or a generic DM. It can take a little longer to write a personal message to each influencer. But, it will show that you are serious about a potential society. This in turn will increase your chances of reaching an agreement.
Make it easier for influencers to trust you by providing them with as much information about your brand as possible. Tell them what you hope to achieve with your Instagram campaign. Make it clear how the influencer will benefit, beyond the salary.
Marketing tips for influencers
Follow the rules
Before you dive into influencer marketing, it is important to understand the rules. In the United States, those rules come from the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC takes disclosure very seriously. Be sure to include disclosure guidelines in your agreements with influencers.
Influentials should identify sponsored positions. However, Truth In Advertising found that many do not. Some do disclose, but not in a way that meets FTC requirements.
Being willing to give up a little creative control
A social media influencer who has worked hard to build a following will not accept a deal that makes his brand seem inconsistent. After all, influencers are experts at creating content. You will get the best value from their work by allowing them to showcase those skills.
Measure your results
When launching your influence campaign, it can be tempting to focus on vanity metrics such as tastes and comments. If your influencer has many more followers than you do, you may be a little dazzled by the sheer number of tastes that can accumulate. But to measure the effectiveness of a campaign, you have to understand its value in terms of return on investment.
Giving influencers their discount code is an easy way to track the sales they send you. You should also request that the influencer send you detailed reports on the scope and engagement levels of their positions. This is especially important for Snapchat's and Instagram's stories, where the engagement occurs out of public view. Do not be shy here. Nearly two-thirds of vendors say they have personal experience with influencer fraud. It is important to get a detailed analysis you can trust – and even though Brybe will do everything to keep your save, you still have to remain cautious!
Influencer Marketing Tools
Now that you are ready to get started with influencer marketing, here are some tools to make it easier.
Followerwonk
This tool allows you to search for relevant influencers on Twitter based on keywords and location. It is a great first tool to use when building your ranking of potential influencers to engage and partner with – and to create a list that you might want to work with later using Brybe.
Right Relevance Pro
This application can search for the main content shared by influencers based on topic and location. Use it to identify thought leaders and discover possible associations of influencers based on the quality of the content they share. Of course, you can do the same with Brybe – but to double-check your outcomes, we recommend you try using both at once for optimal results.
Fourstarzz Influencer Recommendation Engine
This application provides customized recommendations on influencers. It helps to predict the estimated reach, commitments, and other results of the campaign. Use it for estimation before starting a campaign on Brybe to know what to ask your future influencer for.
Platforms for influencers
There are several platforms to help brands find and connect directly with influencers... but naturally, we recommend that you use the best of them... which is Brybe!