As companies attempt to reach a wider audience, influencer marketing is becoming increasingly popular. Businesses are now spending more resources on influencer content to reach a larger and more engaged audience. When building an influencer marketing strategy, one of the biggest challenges is deciding which influencer is the right fit for your brand.
Finding the right influencers is not an easy task. You need to be able to identify influencers that align with your target audience and understand their content, including their topics of focus, tone and style. Luckily, there are plenty of tools out there to help you in your search, in addition to your own creativity and research.
In this article, we’ll go over some steps you can take to find the perfect influencer for your brand.
Define Your Goals and Desired Outcomes
Before you start looking for an influencer, you need to define your goals. Consider what type of content marketing strategies you have in place, who you’re trying to reach, what your objectives are and what type of influencers you’re looking for—micro, macro, nano or any other type.
Once you have a clear definition of what you’re trying to accomplish and what type of influencer best suits your needs, you can start crafting your list of potential target influencers.
Identify Your Target Audience
When it comes to influencer marketing, specifying your target audience is critical. Understanding your target demographic and what type of content they’re interested in, will help you evaluate different influencers and determine if they would be a great fit for your brand. To help you identify your target audience, consider the following:
• Demographics – Age, gender and location
• Interests – Hobbies, lifestyle and social trends
• Platforms – Social media, blogs and forums
Analyze Your Competitors
Analyze your competitors and see who they’re working with. Identify which influencers are involved in the campaigns and understand the type of content they’re producing. This can give you a better understanding of the influencer landscape in your industry and help you determine which influencers you should target for your own campaigns.
Create a List of Potential Influencers
Once you have a clear picture of who you’d like to target, create a list of potential influencers. Look for people who have an engaged following and a content that aligns with your brand and message.
Google is a great place to start. Use keywords related to your brand and industry to find potential influencers.
You can also use social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram to look for influencers. Just be sure to use filters such as location, interest, topics and language to narrow down your search.
Also, don’t forget to include blogs and forums that are relevant to your industry. You’re likely to find some great influencers who can help you promote your content.
Use Influencer Platforms
Influencer platforms can greatly simplify your search. There are a number of platforms out there that specialize in connecting brands with influencers.
These platforms allow you to search for influencers based on a variety of criteria such as location, audience size, interests, language and more. Some of the best platforms available include:
• Hypetap
• Traackr
• Upfluence
• Mavrck
• AspireIQ
• Neoreach
• Awesome
• Tapinfluence
• Inflūenȝe
• Intellifluence
Research Each Influencer
Once you have a list of potential influencers, it’s time to start researching them. After all, you don’t want to work with someone who is not a good match for your brand or message.
Take the time to review their content, following numbers and engagement rates. You can also read their reviews to see what their past and present clients are saying about them.
This is also a great opportunity to assess their tone and style to see if they would be a good fit for your brand.
Evaluate Their Reach
Reach is crucial when it comes to influencer marketing campaigns. Estimate the reach of the influencer by taking into account the size and engagement of their following on all the channels and platforms they’re active in.
This will help you determine if the influencer is a viable option based on the size of their following and their potential reach for your campaign.
Decide on Compensation
When deciding on compensation for an influencer, it’s important to keep in mind that their fee will depend on the size of their following and their engagement rate.
Once you’ve settled on an influencer and discussed their fee, draw up an agreement and specify how long the collaboration will last, what type of content they’ll be producing and their respective roles and responsibilities.
Monitor and Evaluate Outcomes
Once you’ve launched your influencer campaign, it’s important to monitor and evaluate the outcomes.
This is your opportunity to review the content that was produced and assess the performance of the campaign. You can use a number of metrics to measure the performance such as engagement rate, reach, impressions and website visits.
These metrics will help you understand the effectiveness of the influencer and determine if you should continue working with them or look for other options.
Finding the right influencer for your brand is essential to your success. With the right influencer, you can reach a larger and more engaged audience. To do this, you need to research your target audience, identify potential influencers and assess their reach and performance. Once you’ve found the right influencer, you can negotiate a fee and launch your campaign.
By following these steps, you’ll be able to find the influencer who is the perfect fit for your brand.