Influencer marketing is already worth over $13 billion in 2021 and growing fast. Influencers can help your brand tap into new markets and reach a wider audience.
However, finding the right ones is not as simple as it sounds.
There are a lot of things you need to consider when searching for the best influencers. From their audience size and engagement rate to their ability to create quality content, you must ensure they are a good fit for your brand.
This guide will show you everything you need to know to find the perfect influencers to grow your brand.
Hiring an influencer can be tricky. It takes a lot of time to properly vet an influencer and ensure they're the right person for your brand. Here is a step-by-step process to ensure you get the best influencer for your next campaign.
What are you looking to achieve with your influencer marketing campaign? This is an important question before beginning your search for an influencer. Defining your goals will help you determine the type of person you should look for and what kind of content they should be creating.
Here are some things to consider when setting your campaign goals:
Once you understand what it is you hope to accomplish, finding an influencer will be much easier.
When defining your goals, you should keep the following in mind:
Don't set impossible objectives that no one could hope to achieve. When setting numerical targets, make sure they're specific and measurable so you'll be able to tell if you've hit them or not.
Keep your goals aligned with your organization's broader goals to ensure that your influencer marketing campaign is making a real impact.
See what other businesses in your industry are doing and try to set goals to help you stay ahead of the curve.
Examples of goals for influencer marketing campaigns include:
Make sure you clearly define your goals to track if you have reached them or not. If not, don't be afraid to adjust your digital marketing strategy.
Your target audience is the group of people who you want to reach with your influencer marketing campaign. Determining your target audience before starting your campaign is important because it will help you choose the right influencers to work with and create content that resonates with your audience.
For example, let's say you're a clothing brand targeting millennial women. Your target audience would be females between 18 and 34 who live in urban areas and are interested in fashion and trends. To reach this audience, you would work with digital influencers with a similar aesthetic to your brand and create content that appeals to their interests.
Defining your target audience before reaching out to influencers will help you create more strategic and effective partnerships.
When budgeting for an influencer marketing campaign, be sure to have a clear understanding of what your goals are. Without this, you may overspend
on unnecessary aspects.
When planning an influencer marketing campaign, keep these tips in mind:
Be sure to allocate enough resources to your influencer marketing campaign to make it work, but set a realistic budget for your campaign and stick to it. This will help ensure that you don't overspend.
If you have a smaller budget, go after smaller influencers that show signs of growth and high engagement with their audience. Starting a relationship with a micro-influencer can help your brand as you both continue to grow.
Don't just go with the first influencer you find. Instead, reach out to a few different people and get quotes from each. This will help ensure you get a fair price for the services rendered.
Get an idea of how much influencers typically charge for their services so you can create a realistic budget. Rates can vary depending on reach, engagement, and audience demographics.
Aside from fees charged by influencers, there may be other costs associated with an influencer marketing campaign, such as content creation and advertising. Make sure you clearly understand what's included in the fees charged by influencers and make adjustments if necessary to accommodate other costs.
Unexpected costs can always come up, so having a little wiggle room in your budget in emergencies is essential.
When allocating your marketing budget, it's important to be mindful of how much you spend on each strategy component. Influencer marketing can be a great way to reach new audiences and build brand awareness, but it's essential to be strategic about it.
Once you have decided on the budget for your influencer marketing campaign, it's time to choose the platform on which you want to create the campaign. Each social media platform has its user base, with different demographic distribution and audience interests.
The most popular social media platforms for influencer marketing are YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. However, there are many other platforms out there that can be just as effective, depending on your goals.
After considering these factors, it's time to produce content for your chosen platforms. Remember to focus on quality over quantity; don't be afraid to experiment until you find what works best for you and your audience.
An influencer marketing campaign brief ensures that everyone involved understands the objectives, goals, and expectations.
A well-written campaign brief should:
When creating a brief for your campaign, be sure to include the following elements:
A well-crafted social media influencer campaign can be an extremely effective way to reach a large and engaged audience. Creating a detailed brief can help ensure that your campaign successfully achieves its objectives.
Now that you have a campaign brief ready for your next influencer marketing campaign, it's time to find the right influencers. The best way to do this is by identifying relevant influencers and content creators in your niche.
To narrow your search to find a potential influencer, ask yourself:
Here are some ideas to help you find the right influencers for your campaign.
Several platforms connect brands with influencers, such as Upfluence and Klear. These platforms make finding the right influencer for your niche easier by letting you filter results according to a category, social media platform, location, and price range.
You can also start by searching for your target keywords to see which influencers have already spoken about those topics. You should see some of these influencers engaging in conversations with their followers as marketers do. This shows they are active and willing to communicate.
If you're not finding the right fit or want to leave it to the experts, some agencies and social media managers can help you find the right influencers. While working with an influencer marketing agency is the most expensive route, it guarantees results and is a good option for brands without enough in-house resources.
Finding an influencer that matches your brand's values, has proven results working with agencies on past campaigns, and is popular among your target audience is essential.
These marketplaces provide a vast database of social influencers in several niches and offer tools to automate your outreach. An influencer marketplace can make finding the right influencer easier by including specific details such as location, reach, engagement rate, audience demographics, etc.
You can use several search operators on most social media platforms to help you find influencers who talk about your industry. This can be as simple as typing in the name of your industry, followed by 'blog' or 'blogger'. You can also use tools like Buzzsumo to help you build a list.
It's vital to vet the influencers before you contact them to ensure that the influencers are a good fit for your brand. Here's what you should look for:
● Size of the audience
● Engagement levels with the audience (likes, shares, comments, etc.)
● The type of content they create and share
● Their values and their approach to marketing
● Their willingness to promote other brands
● The type of audience they appeal to
Vetting your influencers list will help you determine whether or not they will be a valuable asset to your marketing campaign.
For example, suppose you are looking to promote a new line of sustainable clothing. In that case, you will want to ensure that the social media influencers on your list are interested in eco-friendly fashion and have a large following of people who are also interested in sustainability.
Now that you have shortlisted influencers, it is time to start reaching out and building relationships with them. The first step is finding their contact details, but this can be easier said than done.
Here are a few tips on how to find the correct contact details for your outreach.
Many influencers are marketers and list their contact information in their bio section on various social media platforms. So, start by checking Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Pinterest.
If you still can't find the influencer's contact information after checking all their social media accounts, try searching for it on Google. Use an advanced search operator such as "site:linkedin.com intitle:their name" or "email**@**. ", which should help you find the influencer's LinkedIn profile or email address.
You can also try using an email finder tool like Hunter. Enter the website URL where you think the person works, and it will give you a list of all the email addresses associated with that domain. You can also use their browser extension to find emails of webpages you visit.
If the influencer has a website, check for an email address there. You can also read through the site to better understand what they do and how they could be relevant to your brand.
Once you find contact details for an influencer, it's time to reach out!
Reach out to influencers with a highly personalized email pitch. The subject line should be clear and to the point.
You should include the following details in your pitch:
You don't want to waste their time, so get straight to the point. Make it as easy as possible for influencers to respond by only asking one question in your email. Be sure there is a prominent call to action where they can reply if interested.
Your goal is to show that you understand their work, why their audience would care about your product or service, and how it could benefit them.
Tips to craft a solid influencer outreach email pitch:
Be sure to thank the influencer for their time and mention that you look forward to hearing back from them soon.
Hey [Name],
I came across your blog while researching influencers in the travel niche. Your post on [topic] was helpful, and I love your writing style!
We've recently launched a new product we think you and your readers would love [Product]. It's designed to help people like you [benefit here].
I was wondering if you'd be interested in reviewing our product for your blog? Please let me know if this sounds like something you might be interested in. Thanks so much for taking the time to read my message, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Thanks,
[your name]
💡 If you need help with crafting a professional email pitch, consider Copy.ai. It's an AI-powered copywriting software that can help you write great email pitches in seconds.
It's crucial to confirm payment terms with influencers before you start. If you are paying by the hour, discuss the hourly rate and how long an average blog post takes to write. This will ensure no surprises on either side when it comes to payment. If you pay per post, negotiate the word count and the number of images for each post.
Setting expectations and deliverables upfront can prevent problems later on.
For example, if you simply ask someone to "write a couple of blog posts" and they only write one, you might be disappointed. However, if your agreement states they need to write two blog posts weekly, what you expect from them is clear.
Overall, setting expectations is key to a successful influencer marketing campaign. You can avoid misunderstandings later by being clear about what you want from the start.
The next step is to sign a contract. A contract ensures that both parties clearly understand what is expected of them and the consequences if they do not hold up their end of the bargain. Legal counsel should review the agreement to ensure that all of your bases are covered.
It's important to remember that you don't only need a contract when it comes to paying influencers for their posts; it is equally important when offering free products in exchange for promotion.
Here are some tips for drafting a successful contract:
With these tips in mind, you should be well on drafting a successful contract that will help ensure your next influencer marketing campaign is a success!
Collaborating on content development allows you to ensure that the final product meets your standards and represents your brand in the way you want.
Additionally, collaborating with an influencer can help give you insights into their audience and what type of content they respond well to, which can be valuable information for future campaigns. Finally, working together on content creation will help build a relationship between you and the influencer that could prove beneficial down the line.
Here are some tips for collaborating on content development with influencers effectively.
Influencers and content creators can have different workflows and methods for content creation. Be sure to set clear guidelines regarding the requirements of your campaign at the outset so that you are both on the same page. This will ultimately make it easier to collaborate on content development.
Whether you already have a specific idea in mind or want to leave the creative process up to the influencer, providing examples of content you like will help her understand your vision.
You can do this by identifying similar brands that are creating compelling content or by highlighting pieces of content from within your brand that aligns with your campaign objectives.
It is necessary to create a content development timeline and adhere to it to avoid disruptions or delays. This way, both of you will know what to do and when to do it.
Even with the best-laid plans, things can sometimes go off track. Try to be as flexible as possible regarding deadlines and content requirements when this happens. After all, the goal is ultimately to produce high-quality content that meets your objectives.
It is essential to check in with the influencer throughout the campaign to ensure that everything is on track. This will give you time to make any changes or adjustments needed before it's too late.
If possible, provide data from previous campaigns to show how your brand has been successful with other influencers.
Once the campaign has started, you'll want to ensure that the influencer delivers content that aligns with what was agreed upon. This is important for two reasons. First, it ensures that you're getting the deliverables that influencers promised. Second, it helps to protect your brand's image and reputation.
If an influencer posts something that doesn't align with your brand's values or message, it could reflect poorly on your company. That's why validating the content they're posting throughout the campaign is important. Some tips include:
Doing these things will help ensure that you end up with high-quality content that accurately promotes your brand and speaks to your target audience.
It's important to track results to ensure that your influencer marketing campaigns are effective. This will allow you to see what's working and what isn't to adjust your influencer marketing strategy accordingly.
You can track a few different metrics, but some of the most important ones include engagement rate, reach, and conversion rate.
Engagement rate measures how often people who see your content interact with it. A high engagement rate means that people like what they're seeing and are more likely to convert into customers or take the desired action.
Reach is the number of people who see your content. An extensive reach is great for brand exposure, but it's less valuable if those people aren't engaging with your content.
Conversion rate measures how many people take the desired action after seeing your content, whether signing up for your email list, buying a product, or getting a free trial. A high conversion rate means people like what they see and are more likely to take the desired action.
The most important metric is the one that ties directly to your business goals. The reach will be more important than the conversion rate if you're trying to increase brand awareness.
However, the conversion rate will be critical if you sell products or services online.
Engagement rates can also be helpful for understanding which types of content resonate best with your audience so you can create more of it in the future.
Now that you know all the elements of launching a successful influencer marketing campaign, it's time to start!
If you're new to influencer marketing, start small and focus on a single campaign. You can expand your efforts as you get the hang of it and start seeing results. Managing multiple campaigns at once can be tricky as there are so many moving parts, but with time and practice, it will become second nature.
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