We have all seen celebrities, sports stars, business tycoons, and a host of other hugely famous people touting out one or the other product. Influencers, as they are called, create a lot of impact on the buying habits of consumers. According to a study, 80% of consumers have bought something because of the recommendation of an influencer.
Nowadays, it is time for micro-influencers. People who are just like you and me, but have a huge following in some specific niche. It could be makeup, it could be art, or it could be music, among others.
The key is to find the right influencer for your business. That may seem an easy task, but it’s not. Talk to any digital marketer and they will tell you that finding just the right influencer, who has a lot of clout with your target audience, is a difficult job. Find the right influencer and you are on your way. Hire the wrong influencer, and you will see a major dip in your audience base and even sales.
Here’s how you can find the right influencer for your brand.
1- Use Industry-Related Hashtags
Social media is filled with hashtags. See any post on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, or any other social media platform and you will see that they use hashtags heavily. The first thing that you have to do is to find the social media platform that your target audience uses. Then look for the hashtags that people in your industry rely on the most. Make sure that you don’t use generic terms like #music, #cosmetics, #food, and others. Treat your hashtags like you treat your keywords. Once you have a list of hashtags, search for related terms to find out more. Check out the posts and stories for each hashtag and find out who is posting the most. This will give you the influencers in that niche.
2- Use Influencer Marketing Tools
A lot of digital marketing agencies use several tools to look for influencers. For example, if you work out of London and you have hired a digital agency in London UK, they will have the software and tools that can help them and you find relatable influencers. These tools can not only help you find them, but also help you market your brand, product, or service.
3- Use Search Engines
One of the easiest ways to search for influencers is to use a search engine. There’s no hassle and you will probably come back with a huge list of names and contact information. All you have to do is to search for ‘top beauty/fitness/music/etc. influencers on Instagram/Facebook/etc.’ and then search through the results. The one thing that you must do is to look at least at the top 10 search results. Most people just look at the first result and finalize their choices. When you look at 10 results, you will see some of the names popping up again and again. These are the people you want. Make sure that you check each influencer’s social media profile to see what type of content they share and what type of audience they have. Depending on your budget, you can work with either top-level influencers, micro-influencers, or mini-influencers. You can even choose to work with a mixture of them to create the best strategy.
4- Look at Your Competition
One way of discovering influencers in your niche is to look at your competitors. If they have a savvy marketing strategy, they will have worked with one or more influencers. This will give you a good idea of what type of influencer you need. If a lot of your competitors are using top-level influencers, you might want to try a micro-influencer and target their market. You will also be able to check if the collaboration between your competitor and the influencer was a success or not. Find out how many people engaged with their posts. This doesn’t mean that you have to choose the same influencers as your competitors. That looks a bit tacky and unauthentic.
5- Always Check the Engagements
If you use the above four steps, you will have a list of influencers ranging from top-level to the mini. So, how do you figure out which ones to approach? One of the things that you absolutely must do is to check out the number of people that follow them and the number of engagements that they regularly have. One of their posts might get millions of likes and then another one just gets a few dozen or hundred. Analysing their posts over a long period will give you the true picture of their level of influence. It will also tell you the demographic of the audience that regularly interacts with them.
One more thing that you need to check for is the influencer’s authenticity. They should have the audience’s trust. They should not be embroiled in some shady movement or business. Check out the businesses that they have worked with before.
Also, check the quality of content that they post. You do not want to hire an influencer that posts sub-level content. They might decrease the image of your brand. People might start taking you non-seriously.
Final Thoughts
Leveraging the power of influencer marketing can help your brand reach the next level. It could increase brand awareness as well as loyalty and generate more sales. The key is to find the influencer that connects with your target audience.
