The advancements in technology and advertising have paved the way for social media to become a key piece of marketing. Social media platforms have paved the way for influencer marketing—an advertising strategy that puts a well-respected person in a particular niche promoting a particular product or service.
However, as effective as it can be, one of the biggest issues that a marketing agency comes across in that respect is finding well-fit influencers for their campaign in the first place! This is because there are many types of influencers out there, and it’s definitely not a one-size-fits-all situation!
What are some good ways to find an influencer who’s the right fit?
Set the Target Audience and Campaign Goal
It will be incredibly hard to go about influencer marketing if your goal is unclear. The same goes for not having a specific target audience in mind!
Goals can vary depending on the needs of a brand, but generally, the most common ones include:
- Improving the brand’s social media presence;
- Increasing brand recognition and awareness; or
- Improving sales and lead generation rates.
Many influencers pay particular attention to the target audience as defined by the brand that’s looking to work with them. It’s a crucial piece of the success of any campaign since not all influencers will have the target audience amidst their followers! For example, advertising women’s cosmetics with creators whose audience is mostly male will obviously yield nothing more than a waste of resources.
Having a clear target audience helps to narrow things down to what type of influencer is needed (micro, macro, mega, mid-tier, etc.) and what the campaign budget is for that.
Look in the Right Places
In order to find the particular influencers that may best serve the brand’s needs, there has to be some sort of method to the search. Ideally, a company would already have a database with influencers they’d worked with prior. Barring that, there’s always running a Google search, manually searching through hashtags and/or mentions, and more.
Other great ways to go about it include:
- Searching for Instagram hashtags;
- Using the internal influence base as leverage; and
- Using tools that are specialized for these searches.
What are key metrics for an influencer selection to make sure they fit brand needs?
- Engagement Rate
- Follower Count
- Influencer Content Quality
- Language/s Of Influencer
- Location Of Influencer
Understandably, engagement is the most crucial metric for many marketers. It’s also a rather popular KPI when it comes to brand awareness. This is what determines whether or not the influencer is able to connect at all with an audience.
Engagement rate is best calculated through:
Likes + Comments = (total), then dividing that total by the subscribers or followers of the influencer.
It should be noted that a good engagement rate alone doesn’t guarantee success. It’s just as crucial to look into the content in terms of whether or not it aligns with the brand’s needs!
Conclusion
Finding an influencer can seem easy since there are quite a number of them out there today. However, it’s key to make sure that the right influencer is working for and with the brand. Use metrics such as engagement, content, and location to make sure the right target audience is at play.
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