Influencer marketing is a form of digital marketing that is growing and evolving consistently. Brands and companies have started to divert their marketing strategies towards influencer marketing because they understand that in this day and age, speaking to target customers is very well defined when it is through an influencer.
In case this is all very new to you, in a nutshell, influencers are individuals who have an extraordinary presence on social media. They use their platforms to create content and share their lives, what they like and what they do on a daily basis with their audiences. What makes influencers such a great tool for marketing is that they have created a connection and a sense of trust with their followers. If an influencer shares their preferred product for their daily skincare routine or their choice of gym in their city, there are thousands and sometimes even millions of people listening and watching. With this, they have the power and ability to create an influence.
So, how can your brand collaborate with influencers? You need to find the one that is perfect for your brand. Here’s a few tips on how you can select the right ones:
1. Define your target audience
Before getting started, you need to know who your upcoming marketing campaign is aimed at. Once you understand the demographics of your targets, you can then begin to find influencers whose audiences belong in those demographics. For example, if your target is women aged 18 to 30 who like makeup, you would know to find influencers across social media channels who promote beauty. This would help since these influencers would primarily have a following of women between the targeted age group and interest.
2. What kind of content would work best for this campaign?
Since there are so many social media platforms available, each of the platforms has their own set of influencers. There is Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, Twitch, and so much more! Each platform has its own kind of content. If you are aiming at short videos, then Instagram or TikTok would be the right choice as they would have the best short video creators. If you are looking for a longer video such as a review, then something like YouTube would work best. Requirements can be different; this is what needs to be narrowed down.
3. Finding influencers in your niche
Once the audience, campaign goals, and detailing is finalized, you can now create a list of influencers that would work best for the niche you are aiming to target. It’s always best to find more influencers than you need since shortlisting can involve a lot of cut-offs. For example, if you need 20 influencers for your campaign, make sure you narrow down on a list of 30-40. This ensures that in case of unforeseen circumstances, a replacement is always ready.
4. Evaluating the influencers
Before beginning a campaign and finalizing the last list, it’s always important to evaluate their social media profiles. Factors such as engagement rate, their audience data, and past branded content is a must. These give you an insight into how your campaign with them and how the success might turn out to be. This is also an important factor to ensure that the influencer’s presence on social media is authentic. There is always a risk of fake followers, bots, etc. on platforms like Instagram.
5. Sometimes, bigger is not always better
Many times, companies and brands believe that the bigger the following the influencer has, the better the results will be of the campaign. Although, with influencers this is not the case. There are many scenarios where an influencer with 50,000 followers will perform better than someone with 500,000 followers. This is because influencer marketing relies so much more on just follower base. It involves content quality, frequency of posting, relevancy, engagement rate, etc.
Influencers are what’s trending, and this is definitely a bandwagon that every brand should hop into! With social media evolving, even influencers are only seeing a growth in number. We definitely believe that influencers are the new age of marketing and something that will only help your brand go upwards!