Selecting the right influencer decides your marketing campaign's fate. Along with using the best influencer marketing platform for brands, you also need to have a solid strategy to choose the influencer that matters. But most brands consider any influencer based on the size of his follower base. It's an old-school tactic that just doesn't work now. You have to dig deeper than earlier days and prepare a set of pointers that your influencer must satisfy in order to be a good fit for your company's success.
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Let's find out the criteria on which you should select an influencer for your brand that could actually hit the right note:
1. Prefer an Influencer in Your Niche
Choosing an influencer that doesn't operate in your niche usually backfires. To make the right fit, you need to find out an influencer that operates in your niche. It's the key to the right influencer marketing strategy. Having a similar niche ensures that your content gets shared among your ideal audiences to achieve great results.
2. Prefer the One With High Engagement Rates
It's not just about the size of the follower base an influencer has got but his engagement rate. It's crucial to calculate the engagement rate of the potential influencer you are considering for your brand before you finalize him. To choose the perfect influencer, check his average engagement rate. The idea is to get the right influencer that could really spark engagements with your audiences.
3. Choose the One Who Operates in Your Demographics
If you want to target local audiences, it's better to consider a local influencer that operates in the same demographics. Choosing an influencer with more global audiences won't meet your marketing goals. Find someone who actively operates in your region and have followers in the segment and demographics you are looking for.
4. Consider the One Who Meets Your Brand's Voice
Investing in an influencer that doesn't meet your brand's voice and goals won't help you. For instance, if your brand operates a vegan restaurant, considering an influencer who actively promotes non-vegetarian food through his posts would ruin your marketing efforts. You must reach out to an influencer who is vegan and it reflects from his social media posts.
5. Measure His Previous Performance Results
Don't just believe in an influencer with your eyes closed when he brags about his performance. Take a look at the performance statistics of his past campaigns. Just analyzing one campaign won't give you a clear picture of his abilities. Prefer an overall picture of his performance metrics by going through a couple of his past projects. It will help you conclude if he is the right fit to proceed with your influencer marketing or not.
Conclusion
Choosing the right influencer comes with a set of tasks that you have to do if you really want to get the best influencer working for you. Choosing the best influencer marketing platform for brands is just the half job done. You need to get the right influencer too to make your campaign reach the height of success. Follow these tips to get the influencer who could really help you achieve your marketing goals.
First of all, let me say this is not a new marketing concept. However, if you can get the right people engaged and have them talking about your products and your brand, you will be able to expand your consumer portfolio and increase your sales revenues... Back to the tried and true methodology that Word of Mouth is the most trusted way for a potential customer to hear about your products and your brand.
You no longer need a megaphone to make a company announcement about Marketing! Social Media Marketing has taken the tried and true method of Word of Mouth marketing and made it international and immediate. Building relationships with the online influencers will have a powerful impact using Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, and many other social platforms. Influencer marketing gives your business the ability to tap into a trusted consumer network. You turn friends into company spokespeople who advocate for your business. The big question is how can you maximize the return on this influencer marketing investment?
Here are some best practices from a marketing consultant to maximize your return:
1. Find influencers inside your sphere and outside your sphere
For example, marketers at a furniture manufacturing company should check out interior design blogs, fashion blogs, DIY blogs and even construction blogs to find discussion overlaps. Yes you want to bring in the big names as influencers, but you want the up and coming audience that has to be the first to pioneer a cool idea or topic. These people are the must-have audience and their competitors are good targets for your network as well. Don't target only the people with massive networks. Be sure you focus on people with smaller networks, as they tend to have a bigger influence with their audience.
2. Reward the Influencers
Everyone likes the red carpet treatment so this is no different. This is a strategy to recognize and reward the strong players in your social media circles. Maybe they get the first shot at new product offerings or an exclusive on new content. You may even give them free demos of your products or services. You may want their input or feedback on new products before they roll out nationally so they get to try them first. People like to feel that they have an impact and this is a way to make them feel special. You can have influencer marketing the influencer re-post, re-tweet, and like posts and products for a bigger social media blitz. Most influencers have many offers from other brand so it's important to keep the influencers engaged with great content and topics along with consistent rewards.
3. Make it Personal
There must be a personal connection and it's sort of like establishing a relationship with a high-powered editor. They generally have a lot of passion about what they write as well as having a good knowledge about the industry. You can try to engage with them on their terms or in their world and not make it all about your product and brand. Give them mentions in return as they will appreciate being discussed amongst other industry influencers. Make sure your product or brand has relevance to the influencer's interest.
The influence and influencers are always evolving, but great relationships are always great for bringing in new sales revenues. There are several software tools and measurement tools that can be implemented for tracking the performance of these strategies.