Influencer marketing may seem like a piece of cake. After all, all you have to do is choose an influencer, send them a few products, and sit back and watch as they work miracles, right?
Unfortunately, reality is not that simple. Influencer marketing has skyrocketed over the past decade, and with a variety of social media platforms and an explosion of glamorous influencers in each of them, it can get extremely difficult to try and narrow down which influencer would be best suited for your brand or product.
To make things easier for you, here are 5 important factors you need to consider before choosing your influencer:
RELEVANCE:
If you are choosing influencers and don’t know how to begin, this is a good place to start. You need to pay very close attention to determine whether your influencer’s theme and followers are compatible with your target demographic. This will give you the right opportunity to reach out to your target audience and communicate with them about your products or services.
For example, parenting influencers would be your go-to influencers for baby goods, as they post relevant content and have a relevant audience. Glamorous influencers who are used to working with fashion brands would be your best bet if you are launching a new clothing line.
Before you begin your search for influencers, make sure that you understand factors such as the age, gender, geographical location and general interests of your target audience, among others.
SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLET:
Different social media platforms offer very different benefits. You have to consider various factors before selecting an influencer from a specific platform: do you want your campaign to be more visual or informative? Do you want it to reach a limited audience or as many people as possible? Do you want any potential customers to get redirected to your brand website?
For instance, Instagram’s visual appeal and younger demographic is very different from Twitter’s comparatively older audience and news-related items. TikTok and YouTube are both limited to videos, but while TikTok is meant to be catchy and captivating, YouTube is also suited for longer, explanatory videos.
If you’re a seasoned marketer and want to maximize your brand visibility, a combination of social media campaigns would be your best bet. Until then, however, make sure that you carefully consider which social media platform best suits your brand, and choose your influencer accordingly.
AUDIENCE REACH:
While an influencer’s follower count isn’t everything, it is still extremely important to consider their audience reach to understand how many people can potentially gain exposure to your brand.
Here’s how influencers are generally classified depending on their followers and reach:
- Nano-influencers: Less than 10k followers
- Micro influencers: 10k-100k followers
- Mid-range influencers: 100k-500k followers
- Macro-influencers: 500k+ followers
Generally speaking, the number of followers an influencer has will also be the factor determining the price required for hiring them.
AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT:
An influencer’s audience engagement is just as if not more important than their number of followers. When done correctly, an influencer posts interesting content and interacts with their followers online. This includes liking and replying to their comments, answering their questions, and posting frequently. This can help you understand how much reach your campaign can generate and your return on investment, as engaged followers will be more likely to pay attention to any recommendations.
Generally, while macro influencers have a higher follower count, they receive a much lower engagement rate compared to nano and micro-influencers. If an influencer with 100,000 followers has an engagement rate of 1% per post, and an influencer with 50,000 followers has an engagement rate of 10%, your choice should be obvious.
VALUES:
If you are a company trying to boost audience engagement and build customer loyalty, you have to be very careful with who to decide to align with your brand. You must make sure that you and your influencer share the same values. For example, a meat company allying with a vegan influencer will inevitably result in a disastrous campaign.
Additionally, it is always advisable to avoid influencers with complicated reputations who have expressed controversial opinions in the past.
Make sure that you familiarize yourself with your potential influencer’s previous content and activities as well as their public reputation before approaching them. For instance, on Instagram, you can go through the influencer’s bio, captions, photos and videos, and comment section, to try and understand what causes they support, what brands they endorse, and the kind of comments they receive from their followers.
As you can see, choosing an influencer is hard work. At times, it can be extremely daunting and confusing. Luckily for you, there are several online tools which can help you narrow down exactly which influencer is best suited for you and your company. Make sure that you look those up and make good use of them, as they’ll make your process infinitely easier.
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