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While it may be tempting to use the first influencer you find, they absolutely must fit the brand – consumers will be able to tell if a brand has gone for the first person they come across. Gen-Z in particular (the largest group of consumers that marketers are usually gearing their campaigns towards!) have particularly high standards and have no trouble in spotting a disingenuous campaign. If a brand gets a reputation for this, it can be a hard one to shake off! After all, relevance is probably the most important element for any campaign and reaching the right audience is absolutely crucial.
This is probably the first step when finding influencers to work with because, if the audience doesn’t align with your brand, you won’t be getting very far when it comes to conversions! Audience research will allow you to understand your potential customers, ultimately making you more effective in delivering your digital marketing strategy through catering to their needs. Audience research can also inform your branding, markets, price point, customer service needs, as well as your organic and paid strategy. Sounds pretty important, right? And, as for the influencers themselves, this is hugely important, too. A background check on influencers can help ensure the influencer is who they say they are and can help understand their relevance to your campaign. Most importantly, though, these checks will give you insights into influencers’ values and beliefs – double checking their brand aligns with yours. As previously mentioned, younger generations in particular can spot it from a mile away if they don’t!
Trust and relationships are considerations that are always at the forefront when it comes to debating whether a brand should work with an influencer instead of investing in other types of advertisement. We are, of course, big believers in influencer marketing, and believe partnerships with influencers are a huge reason for the success of campaigns that are done in this way. Building long standing and established partnerships with influencers can make this even more effective! If a company’s relationship with an influencer is authentic, there’s a much higher chance that they’ll become genuine fans of the products you offer them (leading to even better promotion!). Besides, having a solid relationship with influencers can also pave the way for you to connect with other relevant influencers. Not only can they help you find new leads, but they could even introduce you to other businesses and influencers in the industry!
We’re big believers in this. Mid or Micro Influencers with a smaller fan base should never be overlooked! They tend to have a more engaged following, so are able to enable brands to reach their target audience more effectively. This is because a mid or micro influencer serves more niche audiences, so can be beneficial to a brand as they provide access to a smaller subset of a targeted demographic interested in your business. What’s more, because of their smaller audience size, influencers with a smaller following will inevitably charge less – making them much more affordable partnerships for brands.
You’ve heard us say this before, and we’ll say it again! In fact, this is the ethos that our company was fundamentally created for. Influencers are people, not campaigns, and should always be treated as such! We found that far too many companies treated influencers like cash-cows and essentially forgot to treat them like human beings. If companies take the traditional approach of giving the influencers they’re working with a rigid brief and have little personal interaction with them, they’ll get the job done, but that’s about it. Also, it’s inevitable that this lack of commitment will come across in the campaign. With such little brand loyalty, this will dissuade them from working with your company again (and we don’t blame them!), making your life a lot harder the next time you need to find influencers for your campaign. Put bluntly, make sure they care about your brand by showing you actually care about them.