Influencer marketing has become one of the fastest growing digital marketing strategies over the past few years. Working with social media influencers allows brands to tap into their engaged follower base to promote products. However, finding the right influencers to partner with can be challenging. This blog post will provide tips on how to identify relevant influencers for your brand and establish connections with them.
Identify Your Goals and Target Audience
Before searching for influencers, clearly define your goals and target audience. Ask yourself questions like:
- What are the objectives you want to achieve via influencer marketing (raise brand awareness, increase sales, etc.)?
- Who is your ideal customer persona? What demographics and interests define them?•
- What topics or content types perform well for your target audience?
Having clear answers will help narrow your search when looking for relevant influencers. Ensure there is good alignment between an influencer’s follower base and your targets. Connect with marketing agency packages to boost your business.
Leverage Influencer Marketing Platforms
Influencer marketing platforms like Upfluence, Julius, and AspireIQ maintain influencer databases that can facilitate your search. Most provide advanced filtering options by audience demographics, content topics, engagement rates, etc. Some also give influencer performance metrics like average views, clicks and conversions.
Reviewing these statistics will help assess if an influencer reaches your ideal audience and delivers valuable results for brands. Shortlist influencers who regularly create content aligned with your brand and campaign goals.
Search social media and Forums
Look beyond just numbers. Spend time going through potential influencers’ media feeds and community forums to understand the type of content they create and their true talents. Observe how well they connect with their following and what makes their audience engaged.
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Many micro or nano influencers can deliver better conversions than macro influencers with bigger reach. Their focused niche following implies more trust in their recommendations.
Connect at Relevant Events
Industry expos, conferences and networking events are great places to personally meet potential influencers instead of cold contacting them online. Start casual conversations to get acquainted and gauge fit. Share backgrounds, discuss content ideas, and leave them with a good impression. A personalized and authentic approach goes a long way.
Follow Up After Initial Outreach
When reaching out to an influencer you wish to collaborate with, avoid using templatized emails. Add a personal touch explaining why you specifically identified them. Share campaign specifics like timelines, deliverables, logistics etc. upfront.
Post the initial contact, focus on relationship building. Like and comment on their posts. Share their content if relevant. Be helpful by providing assets, connecting contacts or sharing industry insights. A genuine connection is key for long term partnerships.
Offer Compelling Incentives
Along with your brand’s reach and credibility, showcase how the partnership will benefit them both financially and in terms of reach/exposure. Understand what motivates them most – often it is a good cause they advocate. Highlight opportunities for the influencer to create bespoke and creative content they feel passionately about.
Be Flexible and Give Them Control
Influencer marketing succeeds best when creators have the flexibility to showcase their talents and use their own voice. Avoid dictating rigid promotional content that feels fake and forced. The final creative approach must appeal both to the influencer’s followers and your brand style. Finding the right balance may require some back-and-forth communication and compromise.
Track Performance and Optimize
Agree on success metrics and reporting processes upfront to attribute campaign results to the influencer content. Many platforms allow adding trackable links and UTM codes to measure clicks/conversions. Study performance data to determine ideal partnership models for future campaigns.
Closing Thoughts
When executed strategically, influencer marketing can deliver impressive ROI compared to some traditional digital marketing channels. It requires thorough research and relationship building to find creators genuinely excited to endorse your brand. With the right incentives and creative freedom, influencers become powerful brand advocates driving real impact across multiple campaigns. Approach potential partners thoughtfully and stay mutually invested in each other’s success.
This covers the key steps for brands to identify and establish rewarding influencer marketing partnerships. Let me know if you would like me to elaborate on any specific aspect in more detail.
