Influencer marketing has become an increasingly popular strategy for businesses looking to reach new audiences and increase brand awareness. By partnering with influencers, brands can tap into their followers and leverage their influence to promote their products or services.
However, not all influencers are created equal, and finding the right ones for your brand can be challenging. In this article, we’ll explore the do’s and don’ts of finding influencers for your brand.
Influencer marketing involves partnering with individuals with a significant social media following to promote your brand or product. Influencer marketing has become popular because it can help businesses reach a wider audience and build consumer trust.
Finding the right influencers to work with is vital to ensure the best results.
Why brands should find influencers
By partnering with influencers, brands can tap into their audience and leverage their influence to drive brand awareness, engagement, and sales. Furthermore, influencers are highly estimated in their field, and partnering with the right influencers helps improve brand perception and recognition.
Influencers make it possible to reach a highly targeted audience.
By working with influencers with a strong following in your target market or demographic, you can reach potential customers more likely to be interested in your brand and products than with any other advertising channel.
In addition, influencer marketing allows you to create more authentic and engaging content that resonates with your target audience, as influencers have built trust and rapport with their followers over time.
Another benefit of influencer marketing is its cost-effectiveness.
While traditional advertising can be expensive and often ineffective, influencer marketing can provide a high return on investment (ROI) at a relatively low cost.
By working with micro-influencers or niche influencers, brands can reach a highly engaged audience at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising methods.
How to get in contact with influencers
To find and get in contact with influencers, there are four main suggestions:
- conduct organic searches
- use influencer search tools
- look into niche communities
- analyze relevant influencers’ metrics
To start, contact them through professional channels, an email preferable. It is unlikely that they will take seriously someone just sliding into their DMs. But if they have no email available, go for that DM.
When pitching the partnership, grab their attention and clarify that you know who they are and value their work. No generic email that feels copied and pasted. Introduce your product and make clear why they are a good fit for it.
Contextualize it in the campaign they will be part of. If you want to improve your game when contacting influencers, read our 5-step guide.
When using CreatorDB’s advanced search getting in contact with influencers is simple and immediate:
From the home page head to the advanced search section.
Once in there, you can set all the parameters that you need to find the perfect influencer for your campaign: content category, language, audience size, engagement rate, and much more can be used to easily narrow down the list of potential matches.
You will obtain a list of content creators that are going to fit your parameters. clicking on them will open their detailed profile to allow you further analysis.
In the first tab once opening a creator profile you will see an overview, at the bottom of it you can find their email address. Clicking on “View creator email” will reveal the email and allow you to directly get in contact with the influencer. Not all creators have an available email.
The do’s
Conduct organic searches
Conducting organic searches is a simple but effective way to find influencers for your brand. By using search engines like Google or social media platforms like Instagram, you can look for individuals who are relevant to your industry or niche.
You can use keywords related to your product or service to find influencers that have content connected to it already.
When conducting organic searches, your keywords must be specific to ensure you find the right influencers.
For example, if you’re looking for influencers in the beauty industry, you might search for keywords like “beauty bloggers” or “makeup tutorials.” Using the correct keywords will help you find influencers specifically focused on beauty who are more likely to fit your brand.
Organic searches are a great starting point to see if there are communities and KOLs related to your product on the platforms you are interested in. But they will be sub-optimal in individuating specific candidates for a collaboration other than the most notable names.
Use influencer search tools
Using influencer search tools and platforms is another effective way to find influencers for your brand. These tools and platforms are designed to help you discover influencers who fit your brand well based on specific criteria such as location, interests, and audience demographics.
For example, CreatorDB allows you to search for influencers based on criteria such as audience characteristics, content niches, and following’s size. You can also gain valuable insights into an influencer’s profile and audience through the platform, making evaluating whether an influencer fits your brand easier.
For example, you can view an influencer’s engagement rate, follower growth, and audience demographics to determine whether their followers will likely be interested in your product or service.
Influencer search tools are more advanced and sophisticated than organic searches and will retrieve quicker and better results. These tools are a must-have for any brand that is serious about their influencer marketing efforts.
Consider niche platforms and communities
Researching niche platforms and organic communities is another effective way to find influencers for your brand. Niche platforms and communities focus on specific interests, hobbies, or topics. These communities can be valuable for finding influencers with a dedicated following within a particular niche.
For example, if you’re looking for influencers in the fitness industry, research fitness communities outside social media like BodyBuilding.com. These communities have members passionate about fitness and follow influencers who share their interests.
Within these communities, you can find users that have grown their reputation over the years and may be happy to sponsor your products.
While not influencers in the strict sense of the word, prominent forum members are, to some extent, the grandfathers of modern influencers and can help your marketing campaign, especially if you are targeting a more insular and less mainstream community.
Analyze influencer metrics
Analyzing influencer metrics is crucial to finding the right influencer for your brand collaboration. It’s essential to look beyond the number of followers an influencer has and consider other key metrics that can help you determine the influencer’s value to your brand.
Learn everything you need to know about all the metrics that matter in our Analytics 101.
One important metric to consider is the engagement rate. An influencer’s engagement rate indicates how active their followers are and how likely they are to engage with your brand.
Look for influencers with high engagement rates, as they are more likely to drive engagement and conversions for your brand.
Another key metric to consider is audience demographics. It’s crucial to ensure that an influencer’s followers match your target audience, as this will increase the likelihood of them being interested in your product or service.
Look for influencers whose followers align with your target audience regarding age, gender, location, and interests.
Finally, consider the influencer’s overall brand fit and whether their values and messaging align with your brand. By reviewing their content, previous collaborations, and general online presence, you can evaluate how good of a fit they are.
By using CreatorDB you can easily find each creator’s metrics and compare them in the blink of an eye. CreatorDB’s profiles are structured to give you all you need:
First, you will see the creator’s overview with information about the content creator YouTube channel
Along with this first introduction, you can find an overview of the main analytics for the content creator other social media.
Further down can be found performance metrics, audience demographics, related channels, and a detailed overview of the YouTube channel including the expected CPM.
Further down can be found all the recent videos, with a detailed breakdown of their achievement and the most recent sponsors of the channel.
A complete analysis of the other creator’s social media can be also found showing engagement rates, growth, and much more.
Lastly, all the analytics are combined in charts to give an overview of how the influencer has performed in the past and what’s the current trajectory.
The don’ts
Don’t solely focus on the number of followers
One common mistake brands make when searching for influencers is solely focusing on the influencer’s number of followers. While it may seem like a high follower count equates to a high level of influence, this isn’t always the case.
It’s important to remember that tactics such as buying followers or using bots artificially inflate followers’ numbers, and they are cheaper than growing other metrics calculated over time.
Instead of solely focusing on follower count, it’s important to consider other metrics that are more indicative of an influencer’s value to your brand. Engagement rate, for example, is a more accurate measure of an influencer’s ability to drive engagement and conversions.
An influencer with a smaller but highly engaged audience may be more valuable to your brand than an influencer with a large but disengaged audience.
Additionally, it’s essential to consider the influencer’s overall brand fit and whether their values and messaging align with your brand.
Focusing solely on follower count can lead to collaborations with influencers who may not be the best fit for your brand, resulting in a disconnect between your brand and the influencer’s audience.
By considering a range of metrics and evaluating the influencer’s overall brand fit, you can ensure that your collaborations are more effective and meaningful for both your brand and the influencer.
Don’t ignore engagement rates
One important metric to consider when evaluating influencers is their engagement rate. Engagement rate refers to the percentage of an influencer’s followers actively engaging with their content through likes, comments, shares, and other interactions.
High engagement rates indicate an influencer’s ability to connect with and influence their audience. Low engagement rates indicate that an influencer’s audience is disengaged or not highly interested in their content.
Engagement rates are a more accurate measure of an influencer’s value to your brand when compared to followers count. An influencer with a smaller but highly engaged following may be more valuable to your brand than an influencer with a large but disengaged following. High engagement rates can lead to increased visibility for your brand, as well as higher levels of engagement and conversions.
It’s essential to keep in mind that engagement rates can vary widely depending on the influencer’s niche, industry, and audience demographics.
For example, an influencer with a highly engaged audience of niche enthusiasts may have a lower overall engagement rate than an influencer with a larger but less engaged audience in a more general niche.
By analyzing engagement rates alongside other metrics, such as audience demographics and brand fit, you can ensure that you find the right influencer for your brand’s specific needs and goals.
Don’t forget about authenticity
Authenticity is a crucial factor to consider when evaluating potential influencers for your brand. Consumers are increasingly savvy regarding influencer marketing and can quickly spot when an influencer’s content is inauthentic or insincere. By working with authentic influencers who genuinely believe in and support your brand, you can create a more genuine and meaningful connection with your target audience.
One way to spot authentic influencers is to look for those who align with your brand values and mission.
For example, suppose your brand is committed to sustainability and environmentalism. Working with influencers who share those values can help reinforce your brand’s message and create a more authentic connection with your audience. In addition to sharing your values, look for influencers who have a genuine interest in and affinity for your brand and products.
Another way to ensure authenticity is to watch out for fake influencers.
Unfortunately, influencer marketing has also led to fake influencers who use fake followers, likes, and comments to appear more influential than they actually are. To avoid being duped by counterfeit influencers, look for red flags such as sudden spikes in followers or engagement, a lack of engagement from their followers, or a mismatch between their engagement and follower count.
By prioritizing authenticity in your search for influencers, you can create a more genuine and effective influencer marketing campaign that resonates with your target audience.
Conclusion
In conclusion, finding the right influencers for your brand requires careful research, evaluation, and consideration. By following the do’s and don’ts outlined in this article, you can create a successful influencer marketing campaign that reaches your target audience and drives actual results for your brand.
It’s important to conduct organic searches, use influencer search tools, and consider niche platforms and communities to find influencers that align with your brand values and mission.
Additionally, analyzing key metrics such as engagement rate and audience demographics can help you evaluate the effectiveness of potential influencers.
Remember, it’s about more than just the number of followers an influencer has – micro-influencers with a smaller but highly engaged audience can be just as effective, if not more so, than macro-influencers with more significant but less engaged audiences.
And above all, authenticity is crucial in creating a genuine and meaningful connection with your target audience.
By keeping these tips in mind and prioritizing authenticity, you can find the right influencers to help you achieve your marketing goals and build lasting customer relationships.
