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There’s no question about it: Influencer marketing has taken off, and it’s not slowing down in the new year. According to Business Insider Intelligence estimates, “the influencer marketing industry is on track to be worth up to $15 billion by 2022.” From Kim Kardashian West to Disney moms, it’s all about who companies can reach and what audience they can reach through influencers. Because most of the time, brands are looking to market their products or services to specific groups of people.
It’s important to consider the legitimacy of engaging with an influencer before bringing them on to work with your brand. Are they aligned with your brand and product or service, and are they going to accomplish what you want them to, reaching an audience and increasing your product or services’ sales? Before solidifying your partnership with an influencer, you want to make sure that you pick the right influencer for your brand. Here’s how you can sort through the selection process.
Address Your Target Audience
I’d recommend only using influencers who are already engaging the audience you’re looking to target—people who are actually likely to convert. Your target audience is based on the objectives of your campaign and overall business objectives, which can vary based on whether your business is e-commerce, nonprofit, gaming, B2B or other.
Determine your key performance metrics for your campaign and if that influencer is going to be effective (and historically has been effective) in generating those outcomes. Plug into influencer-related platforms to discover and connect with influencers who mesh with your brand and target audiences. Verify that their followers are real users so that you can maximize your reach.
Consider Platform And Content
Where is your target audience most active and engaged? Keep in mind that different audiences gravitate toward different platforms.
For example, both Instagram and LinkedIn can be leveraged to reach consumers, but people use these platforms for different purposes at different frequencies. I know I use Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram for completely different reasons.
Determine what progress your audience is trying to make on these platforms and whether they are the best mediums for you to reach them. Then, it’ll be up to you to figure out how those platforms can best highlight your brand. Because the audience will want to see the products they’re purchasing and consuming, CPG brands like cosmetics, apparel, accessories and food companies should primarily consider platforms that are more visual-forward, like YouTube and Instagram.
Determine Your Goals
Depending on your goals, you’ll have to approach how you reach your goals differently.
For example, one of our clients already had a presence in women’s fashion but came to us looking to grow their social media presence and traffic organically. Therefore, we engaged a mix of micro, midtier and macro-influencers and activated a few campaigns per month with a number of influencers who have large followings and high engagement rates.
Another one of our clients was looking to enter the e-commerce game with its wrinkle-fighting, medical-grade silicone patches. We wanted to explore using a more niche, beauty-focused group of influencers to promote the product because of the influencers’ hyper-specific audience within the beauty community. We weren’t so much worried about the follower count of these influencers as we were about their authority in the space our client wanted to break into.
Look For Authenticity And Longevity
Influencers get large followings (for the most part) because they connect with users on some level—at least true influencers do. There’s a connection between them and their audience, and they are able to develop trust with people they’ve never actually met in person. Use influencers who are engaging with your brand and complementary brands already.
Social listening tools can help you discover which influencers are already talking about your brand and what conversations they are having. If—and only if—they’re the right fit, move forward with a campaign. Look for influencers who do more campaigning and post more consistently.
Pick A Clique
You want to pick an influencer who has a group behind them. Take Kendall Jenner; she has serious social clout with 122 million followers on Instagram and promotes brands like Proactiv and Calvin Klein, but she also has a group of friends that includes models Cara Delevingne and Bella and Gigi Hadid, who promote Calvin Klein as well. Most users who follow Kendall probably also follow Cara and the Hadid sisters, who are always in Kendall’s photos, so the Calvin Klein brand will get four times the visibility.
You’ll want to work with more consistent ambassadors for the long term. Using the tactic of click-based marketing, people they’re associated with and partners within the community can also help promote the brand. If people are naturally affiliated with one influencer but that influencer links to another user, the audience will likely click on the other user and check out their page too—a chain reaction of sorts.
Now a staple in a marketer’s toolbox, using influencers is a no-brainer, but choosing the right ones requires a little bit of strategy. The people you choose to represent your brand must align with the people you’re targeting to purchase your product or service. And if they are connected with others in similar online communities, it’s even better, raking in potentially an even greater number of social shares for your brand.
Defining and acknowledging your target audience, determining the appropriate platform and content you’re looking for, determining your end goals and thinking for the long term will help you guide your influencer choices for your next campaign.
