Working with influencers in today’s economy can positively impact social media marketing campaigns. Some may even go as far as to say that working with the right digital content creators is key to a successful marketing campaign.
Of course, by now, you should already know what the right influencer can do for your brand. Indeed, authentic, engaging, relevant, and well-matched influencers to your brand values and image can significantly impact your campaigns. However, you must note that you cannot be arbitrary in selecting and collaborating with the first influencer you see.
Finding the right influencers can be intimidating, considering you have an overwhelming set of options. To ensure you partner with a suitable influencer, there are several factors you need to keep in mind during your search.
More importantly, you need to look for signs indicating that the prospective influencer you are looking to partner with does not raise any red flags. Keeping all of the above in mind may seem daunting, but it helps you find the ideal influencer for your brand. Like how you would hire a web design company in the Philippines to improve the design, functionality, and user experience of your website or social media profiles.
Below is a list of factors to consider to find influencers with a strategic fit for your brand.
a.) Audience
Influencers are not jack-of-all-trades. Some are pros with live commerce; others are yet to master such. That said, you should be wary of an influencer that claims to be one. To be effective, influencers focus on producing niche content that their audience will love. You can readily notice this by what they post.
Choosing someone famous within your niche to take advantage of relevance through overlapping audiences. It is wise to determine this overlap when seeking influencers to collaborate with. As such, collaborating with influencers targeting the same or complementary audience is imperative, as this is a way to tap into a consumer pool already interested in your products and services. Additionally, by aligning with your messaging, the influencer’s campaign will bolster its impact, resulting in an equally impactful campaign.
b.) Values
It is crucial to be extremely careful when choosing who to associate your brand with. Remember that the influencers you choose will become your brand representative or ambassador. Your consumers will identify them with you. That said, avoid influencers who do not share your brand values or who have publicly shared their views that are considered controversial that may be detrimental to your brand’s image.
To ensure that you choose one that shares your values, it is recommended that you thoroughly research your prospective influencers. It’s essential to review their previous content before initiating any potential collaboration with them. Do the same with the shortlisted influencers’ public image.
c.) Reach
While influencers’ follower counts do not indicate their success, you must consider it in addition to the average reach and impressions each post receives. Doing this lets you gauge the potential exposure that your brand will gain. This will help you generate awareness or boost sales.
To have an idea of the influencer classification, below is a list of categories:
- Nano-influencers have less than 10K influencers,
- Micro-influencers have somewhere between 10K to 100K influencers,
- Mid-range influencers have anywhere between 100K-500K influencers, and
- Macro-influencers have more than 500K influencers.
Do not make the mistake of overlooking influencers with smaller followings. Emerging influencers are gaining popularity, and their followers are highly engaged, making them potential targets for your offerings.
There is no harm in hiring social media marketing in the Philippines and elsewhere to handle community management for the influencer as long as the interactions are organic and, thus, authentic. However, what you do not want is tapping the services of the influencers whose values are misaligned with your brands, regardless of how engaged they are with their respective communities.
d.) Engagement rate
Accumulating many followers is insufficient if an influencer’s audience does not interact with their content. Therefore, analyzing the posts and engaging with the comments section is essential before collaborating with an influencer. This will help you determine their followers’ authenticity and understand how their audience perceives the influencer’s content. For example, do their posts receive comments? Or does it look seemingly barren and empty? Of course, be on the lookout for spammy comments as well.
Another consideration is if the influencer takes time to engage with their audience and see if they respond to any comments left. If they do, that is an excellent sign your shortlisted influencer values community engagement. This will also benefit your potential marketing campaigns.
e.) Frequency
When considering an influencer, observe the frequency of their organic and sponsored posts. Then, take a look at their feed and analyze its content. If their social media profile is saturated with sponsored posts, it’s best to steer clear, as this can result in your campaign getting lost or drowned in the mix.
Collaborating with such influencers can also make their posts appear insincere, causing their followers to dismiss them as mere promotional tools. To avoid this, seek out influencers more selective with the brands they work with and prioritize those who create authentic, organic content.
Some influencers take their content creation seriously, to the extent of hiring SEO services in the Philippines to optimize the content they create for search engines. These are the type of influencers who know their strengths and weaknesses. They create high-quality content yet know that optimizing it is not their forte, so they invest in SEO Philippines provider.
To maintain their authenticity, successful influencers strike a balance between their regular and sponsored posts. Those with an overwhelming number of sponsorships may have questionable motives. However, you want to tap into your chosen influencer’s audience. The audience should take your marketing campaigns seriously if you want them to succeed.
