AÂ study by LINQIAÂ found that 63% of marketers work with influencers on every campaign. Given the rapid growth of Instagram and other social media channels, it can be expected that that number has only grown since the study in 2017.
The study also found that 92% of marketers who used influencers, found them to be effective.
It’s clear that influencer marketing is a powerful and effective strategy that can reap many benefits for your campaign or promoted product. But the tricky part is, how do you know what influencer to seek out for your brand?
With influencers on the rise and media personalities ready and willing to be given the keys to a promotional car in return for some social media posts, it’s a large pool to pick from when looking for someone to promote your brand.
This is process broken down into two parts. Firstly, knowing your audience. And then, knowing your brand’s values and aligning them with your chosen influencers.
Know your audience
The first thing you need to access is your audience. Having an influencer who doesn’t care about or align with their aspirations is just going to be wasted money. For example, if you’re a wellness brand, you don’t want someone who doesn’t care about healthy living. Or, if you’re a burger shop, you probably don’t want a vegan blogger promoting your product.
You need to know what value your audience is after and who they’re listening to. Ask yourself: what space do they exist within? Then, you can find what influencers are also in that space. Is your audience more on Facebook or Instagram? Do they watch videos, read long-form content or just want an image? There’s no point finding an influencer who likes to write long form content if your audience only consumes short-form, image-based content.
Before you look for an influencer, get deep with your audience and their behaviour first.
Know your values
Once you’ve got a good understanding of your brand’s audience, you need to look specifically at your brand’s values and who you want to align with based off them. It’s vital to the success of the promotion or campaign, that the brand you’re aligning with has values that match up with your own corporate ones.
For example, if one of your company’s core values is sustainability, you want to make sure you’re picking an influencer who cares about the environmental and their personal contribution to sustainable living.
When you choose to work with an influencer, the public associates that influencer’s messaging with your brand, so you want to make sure their beliefs and morals are in line with your own.
Having an influencer promote your product in sustainability one day and then endorses fast fashion the next, is going to reflects poorly on your company and choice of partnership.
Influencing marketing can be highly effective and a great strategy, especially when reach and awareness is what you really need to give your brand some momentum. However, finding who you should reach out to can be tough. So, get to know your audience and get to know the values of your company and those of the influencer you want to engage with. It’ll narrow down your search and make the whole process a whole lot easier.
