Influencer marketing uses social media to provide endorsements and product mentions from individuals who are viewed as experts within their niche and have a dedicated following. This marketing fosters authentic connections with an audience to encourage trust and engagement with a brand.
Why is influencer marketing important?
Recommendations from influencers provide social proof of your brand’s reputation for quality products or services. Therefore, you want to work with influencers who have the respect and attention of those you are trying to reach.
How do you identify the right influencers in your industry?
Whereas some influencers have broad audiences among multiple demographics, others have smaller audiences and targeted communities. Understanding which type of influencer has the most effective reach, range, cost, and engagement to fit your needs helps determine the right one for your brand.
Identify the goals for your influencer marketing campaign
Determine what you want to accomplish by working with an influencer:
- Brand awareness: Look for an influencer with a wide following. Track reach and impressions for your campaign.
- Sales: Seek an influencer with high engagement rates. Track engagement rate and conversions for your campaign.
- Follower growth: Search for an influencer with a large number of followers. Consider hosting a giveaway with the influencer and make following your social media account a requirement for entry.
Understand your target audience
Use your target audience’s demographics to create a persona to help determine which influencers to target. This persona should include your audience’s:
- Passions
- Interests
- Social media use
- Age range
- Job titles
- Regions lived in
Decide which type of influencer to work with
There are four main categories of influencers:
- Mega influencers: 1 million+ followers
- Macro influencers: 100,000 – 1 million followers
- Micro-influencers: 10,000 – 100,000 followers
- Nano influencers: 10,000 followers or fewer
Note that working with an influencer with more followers will be more expensive than working with an influencer with fewer followers. Also, having a large number of followers might not increase brand awareness or conversions: engagement is key.
Search for influencers
Choose a method to look for influencers:
- Search industry- or niche-related hashtags: Look for hashtags relevant to your product, service, or brand to find influencers interested in these topics.
- Scan tagged posts and mentions: Learn whether any influencers are organically promoting your brand.
- Find one influencer and related accounts: Discovering one influencer helps find similar ones.
- Determine which influencers your competitors work with: These influencers might be contractually unable to partner with you.
Know your influencer selection criteria
Focus on the characteristics needed for a successful marketing campaign:
- Engagement rate: Look for an engagement rate of at least 1-3% How well an influencer’s content resonates with their followers is more important than follower count.
- Post frequency: Determine whether you want an influencer who posts every day or less often.
- Personality and tone: Focus on an influencer’s captions or videos to determine whether their personality and tone align with your brand’s personality and tone.
- Authenticity: Ensure the influencer has organic account growth rather than paid followers.
Are you ready to implement influencer marketing?
If you’d like help to implement an influencer marketing campaign, just ask BARQAR’s digital media experts! We’ll discuss your business and its goals, and then recommend the right solution to help you build your brand and sell more.
