Many business owners are experimenting with different marketing strategies to entice existing and potential customers to avail themselves of their products and services. One of them is influencer marketing, an effective digital marketing strategy that enables you to reach a larger target market and drive sales.
At its core, influencer marketing is all about collaboration and partnership.
You’re paying a person or a group to advertise, feature, or positively promote your brand to their existing audience. Some people may also see this as ‘paid word-of-mouth.’
However, influencer marketing can only work best for your brand if you hire the right influencer. Otherwise, hiring the wrong influencer may lead to marketing failures and decreasing sales, costing more money. Due to thousands of influencers online, choosing a suitable one for your marketing campaign may not be easy. So, how should you select an influencer to market your brand?
For your guide, here are some steps to help you select the best influencer for your brand:
- Determine The Relevance Of The Influencer’s Niche To Your Brand
The first-ever factor you should consider when choosing an influencer is the relevance of their niche to your brand. Simply put, you need to select an influencer who adheres to your type of industry. For example, if you’re selling make-up products, you need to find an influencer who frequently posts content about make-up and beauty products or make-up tutorial videos. Meanwhile, an athlete or a sports-enthusiast influencer may best fit your marketing campaign if you’re selling sports equipment.
To find out the influencer’s niche relevance, take your time to scroll over their profile and newsfeed and see if their content aligns with your messaging. You also need to check out the number and type of followers they usually engage with to know the kind of audience they have. For example, suppose you’re a USA brand that caters only to American citizens. In that case, check if they have USA Instagram followers or if most of them are from other countries, which means they’re already outside your target market.
- Check The Influencer Metrics
Another vital factor to check is the influencer metrics. Although an influencer with numerous followers is a good sign, you shouldn’t entirely base your decision on their follower count alone. Take this, for example:
You’re a sports equipment brand, and you have to choose between two influencers. The first one has 50,000 followers, most of whom are children and teenagers. The second choice has 20,000 followers, of which 70% of them are within the age group of 20-40 years old. If you choose the former, you’ll promote your products to kids or teenagers who may not be interested in buying or don’t have enough money to shop for your products. Meanwhile, the second influencer can promote your brand to the proper age group who have a higher chance of buying your products.
You also need to check on how these influencers earned their follower count. For instance, if they availed a reputable Instagram growth service to help them buy Instagram followers, you can guarantee that they have real, high-quality followers. Meanwhile, if they only have a fake following, you’ll most likely notice that most of their followers are dummy accounts.
- Check Engagement Rates
Even with a great following count, an influencer won’t be able to entice their followers to check your brand if they lack engagement efforts. Their engagement rate is a massive indicator of how active the influencer is in communicating with their audience. So, see if the influencer actively engages with their audience through liking, sharing, or responding to comments or questions.
You should also check the percentage of new followers. Remember, even if the success of your marketing campaign depends on your presentation, the influencer plays a significant responsibility in redirecting their audience to your content.
- Analyze Their Previous Marketing Campaigns
Perhaps you found an influencer whose niche, the following count, and engagement rate are illegible for your marketing campaign. However, you also need to check their previous marketing campaigns and collaborations, which may also affect your brand’s marketing.
For instance, you don’t want to collaborate with an influencer who has endorsed or tagged products of your competitors on their Instagram. Or perhaps this person goes against your brand’s core values. If your followers find this out, they may perceive your brand and the influencer as unauthentic. So, when choosing an influencer, ensure their values, lifestyle, and ethics align with your brand’s messaging.
On an additional note, avoid going for influencers promoting too many brands. For example, you may notice that they collaborate with one or several new brands every week, filling their profile with many advertisements. Doing this may only make the influencer less convincing for their followers, plus your brand’s promotion will likely overlap with other brands by the following week.
Wrapping Up
Selecting a suitable influencer for your brand can be uncomplicated when following the above mentioned steps. So, if you’re ready to start your influencer marketing, ensure to prepare your budget, have a marketing plan, and begin your hunt for the right influencer today.
