Not every brand can afford paying one of the Kardashians six figures for a single social media post.

Often micro-influencers are going to provide a much better reach and engagement while keeping the costs down.

In this article, we are going to explore micro-influencers, what are their advantages, why they are effective, how to use them in a campaign, and how to avoid the most common mistakes. 

Strap on, here we go!

Understanding Micro-Influencers

First, we need to define what micro-influencers are and what makes them different from other influencers.

What Are Micro-Influencers?

The most common way to split influencers is based on their follower count.

• 1 M+: Mega influencers or Celebrities
• 100K to 1M: Macro influences
• 10K to 100K: Micro-influencers
• 1K to 10K: Nano-influencers

Micro-influencers are in the sweet spot where they are gaining a pretty sizable following but are still manageable for a more individualized and authentic approach and connection. 

Their content is still deeply connected to their niche and this is reflected in the audience that is likely to be highly segmented. 

The Power of Authenticity

Micro-influencers offer a great compromise between authenticity, content quality, and professionalism.

Their content is of good quality and shows their interests without being too polished as it often feels with bigger influencers.

This middle-ground situation provides the audience with good enjoyable content while still preserving a more authentic and connected experience.

Why Micro-Influencer Marketing Works?

But why not just partner with a larger influencer and get more eyeballs on the sponsored content? There is a myriad of reasons, here are the five main ones:

Niche Relevance

Many micro-influencers are “stuck” in the tier because the content they make is specialized and aimed towards a few particular interests.

They grow to be experts in their field and are highly regarded by the community around them but in many cases, the particular community they are part of is not large enough to make them grow over the micro-influencer level.

For marketers designing a campaign, this is extremely helpful since it allows them to target very detailed and segmented audiences.

High Engagement

Micro-influencers grow deep and organic connections with their audience. As a result, the audience is very involved and reactive to the influencer’s content.

Similarly, since the content is centered around a specific topic, many audience members keep endorsements and recommendations coming from micro-influencers in high regard.

Cost-Effectiveness

When considering their trusted nature, high engagement rates, and segmented reach micro-influencers offer a much more cost-effective approach to influencer marketing than larger influencers.

Enhanced Credibility

Micro-influencers base their success on being at the forefront of their field and bringing valuable information to their audience. 

Therefore, their audience trusts them and feels they are a reliable source of information. Comparatively larger influencers and celebrities’ area of expertise is less defined leading to them being seen as less reliable on specialized issues.

Implementing a Successful Micro-Influencer Campaign

Micro-influencers are amazing and all. But how can they be used in a marketing campaign?

Identifying the Right Influencers

First of all, it is important to find the influencers that match your campaign. Both form a content and values standpoint. 

But even more important is to have a good workflow that allows us to identify indicators of a potential partnership and to find creators at scale.

CreatorDB gives you the tools to find the right influencers and easily compare them, understand their strengths, and contact them.

Crafting a Compelling Campaign

Once the influencers have been chosen it is important to create a campaign that plays both the brand and the influencers’ strengths.

Follow these three guidelines to ace it:

Establishing Clear Objectives

It’s important to have in mind what is the campaign goal before starting to find influencers and discussing deliverables. 

This way it is possible to already have an idea of what kind of qualities are preferable in the influencers to partner with, and which kind of platforms are preferable. 

Leveraging Storytelling for Impact

Connect the creator’s story with the brand. This way the campaign will have more chances to resonate with the audience and leave a lasting impression.

Let the creator help in this phase, they are knowledgeable on how to create content for their audience.

Creative Freedom Yields Authenticity

Allow the creators to express themselves, and give their touch to the campaign. This way the campaign will feel more connected with the greater and play along the authenticity bond that the audience is already having with the micro-influencer.

Tracking and Measuring Results

While the campaign is running, make sure to have the goals with measurable metrics and keep track of those. 

Tracking the ongoing campaign allows you to know when it needs adjustments or optimization. This way is possible to take action before being fully committed to a suboptimal strategy.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls in Micro-Influencer Marketing

While there are plenty of upsides to using micro-influencers, there are also some risks that brands should be aware of to prevent them from becoming problems.

Overlooking Authenticity and Audience Relevance

Not all that shines is gold. It’s important to evaluate the sentiment around a creator, while most creators have audiences that truly enjoy their content and are dedicated to them, a few people built a following on what is called hate-watching.

By taking into consideration the sentiment around a creator’s posts, it is possible to understand if the audience is on board or just enjoying a trashcan fire.

Similarly, it is important to look at the audience’s interests and what they like to understand if they are a good fit for the brand. 

The audience’s interest in the campaign is paramount to its success.

Lack of Clear Communication and Expectation Setting

Many micro-influencers are not well prepared to deal with brands or may lack the experience of being part of a large marketing campaign. This can lead to difficulties in having clear communication or understanding of what is expected from them. 

It’s helpful for creators to establish an approval process and a framework for them to build their content.

Ignoring Guidelines and Disclosure Requirements

Countries are rapidly implementing regulations for influencer marketing, especially around the disclosure of sponsored posts. 

Some of these rules may be new and not yet known to the micro-influencers involved in the campaign. Is important to make sure to bring them up to speed. 

If needed you can consult our articles on regulations around influencer marketing and learn which one applies to your case.

Conclusion

Micro-influencers have a phenomenal potential that most brands could harvest to amplify their marketing efforts and reach new demographics. 

Due to their characteristics, they offer an incredible advantage over other channels and even other types of influencers. 

When they are employed correctly, micro-influencers are going to be a huge boost for any brand marketing.

Analytics will fuel any of your marketing campaigns, and this is especially true regarding influencer marketing over Instagram, TikTok, or any social media. 

Influencer marketing shares many analytics with other forms of marketing but it also developed its own influencer analytics that especially captures the nuanced nature of influencer marketing.

Oftentimes people who have limited knowledge of influencer marketing see it as an area where the data are scarce and difficult to track.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Social media log any action and give the possibility to quantify almost every interaction with posts and content.

Why Analytics Matter in Influencer Marketing

Analytics are the backbone of any marketing campaign. 

When it comes to influencer marketing there are a myriad of analytics that become involved. Some are useful before the campaign, some are to be looked at during it, and others gain more importance afterward.

Different analytics can help different stages of the campaign process and is important to be able to master them all.

Key Metrics in Influencer Analytics

Three main areas should be clear when discussing influencers analytics: engagement, demographics, and conversions.

While many other analytics can be used at different points to gauge the viability and effectiveness of a campaign, these three should always be kept in consideration.

Engagement Rates: The Heartbeat of Influence

Engagement rate combines the interaction to a post(or a series of posts) received and puts it in proportion to the influencer’s following. This way is possible to gauge how committed and passionate is the influencer’s audience. 

Engagement rate is a more in-depth measure compared to followers count since it also takes into account the level of interaction the followers have with the creator.

Is also a more difficult measure to fake leading to an easier time to weed out malicious actors.

Audience Demographics: Unveiling Consumer Insights

One of the most advantageous things in influencer marketing is the possibility of really knowing the audience that is being reached. 

Social media platforms in many cases provide influencers with a breakdown of their following based on three main components: Gender, Location, and Age Groups.

Gender

Very simply, which percentage of the audience is male, and which ratio is female. Since in many online communities, males are the significant majority, gender can be expressed as % of females. If your products are explicitly targeting one gender, this is a critical metric to keep in mind.

Location

Where the audience is located. If your product requires shipping or localized versions, this is very important to keep in mind.

Age Groups

Age groups are often presented as a bar graph and show the distribution of an influencer audience by age. Generally, age groups are 13-18, 19-24, 25-30, 31-40, 41-50, 50-65, and 65+. Age data are particularly beneficial to evaluate the interests and income levels of an audience, but also combined with location and gender can be used to better understand if a creator audience fits your desired customer persona.

Conversion Tracking: From Awareness to Action

Conversions are the most direct way to track ROI in influencer marketing. 

It represents the number of people who bought your product directly from a given influencer or clicked on the link promoted. Conversions can be easily tracked by providing each influencer with personalized trackable links.

Choosing the Right Influencers: A Data-Driven Approach

Analytics are especially important when is time to pick the influencers for a campaign. 

Many of the metrics to look at in this phase are what make each influencer unique and are going to shape the results of the campaign.

Not all the analytics you want to look at in this phase are purely numeric: the kind of content and area of relevance is something of prime importance that needs to be evaluated qualitatively.

Other important factors in choosing influencers to partner with are: reach, the kind of engagement that the influencer is getting, and its various growth rates.

Relevance

To strike the right cords with the audience is not enough to craft a good influencer campaign, it’s especially important to pick the right content creators to partner with. 

Their content and values need to align with the brand and the collaboration should be enhancing both parts. 

To grasp the relevance of an influencer is important to look at the themes of its content and compare them with the interests of the target audience.  

Reach

Reach indicates two things: 

1. the actual reach: the number of unique users that see a post from an influencer
2. the potential reach: more like the expected number of people that would see a post. 

In the first case, social media provides influencers with reach data telling them how many people have seen or interacted with a post. Higher numbers generally translate into higher engagement. 

The second interpretation of reach is, crudely, just the number of followers an influencer has since you can expect that number of users to see their post.

Quality of Engagement

The engagement rate can be calculated in a few different ways depending on what matters for the campaign.

Commonly it uses the aggregated number of interactions divided by the followers to grasp the level of the response to an influencer post.

But certain campaigns may prefer one metric (for example comments) over another (for example shares). Tweaking the formula by weighting one interaction more than the other, or just excluding the markers that are not relevant is possible to obtain derivation of the engagement rate that reflects what are the campaign goals.

Growth Rate

The growth rate captures the pace at which an influencer’s following is growing and is generally calculated monthly but could also be done yearly or any other time frame.

A high growth rate can be highly beneficial to a marketing campaign since it means that even while partnering with the same influencer, the people seeing your sponsored content grow over time.

Measuring Campaign Effectiveness

Many of the influencers’ analytics can be used to predict or measure the effectiveness of a campaign.

Different metrics can be used to understand the impact of the campaign at different points.

Before the Campaign

It’s important to predict the effectiveness of a campaign even before it is launched.

While it will never be a 100% accurate prediction, it will give a ballpark about how the campaign will perform. 

Metrics like reach, engagement, and impressions can be estimated by looking at historical data from the same influencer for similar pieces of content. 

Such projections are useful for estimating the Cost Per Thousand (CPM) of the campaign. 

If the creators are compensated with a performance-based type of deal this is a viable way to estimate the expense.

How to calculate CPM

CPM-based payments are a common solution especially when it comes to YouTube integrations since views can be easily obtained and allow one to grasp the reach of the ad.

Calculating CPM is simple: is only needed the campaign cost and the number of impressions received. Dividing the cost of the campaign by the number of impressions will lead to knowing the cost of each single impression, which should be very low. Multiplying that result by 1000 will give the CPM or the cost for a thousand impressions.

Learn everything you need to know about CPM with our guide

During the Campaign

Social media’s fast-paced data turnover allows marketers to keep a constant eye on how a campaign is performing. 

Calculating the engagement rate and keeping track of the conversions identifies different content performances and how they impact the campaign.

Brand mentions are also an important part of the in-campaign monitoring that every brand should be doing. 

They can be calculated as how often a company is directly tagged in posts and comments on social media. 

But it’s often important to also keep track of reviews and articles on other platforms. By periodically checking for brand mentions, it’s easy to keep in touch with how the public perceives the company. It allows one to break through the bubble that may have been built around your accounts by the sponsored content.

After the Campaign

Once the campaign has wrapped up, there are many useful analytics that can be collected and used to understand the impact.

Earned Media Value (EMV) estimates the word of mouth generated by any influencer post. It starts from engagement and quantifies the value of the content created in your brand community.

The adjustable variable is going to be what you are tracking: Impressions, Likes, Comments, and so on.

Similarly, the Click Through Rate is a simple way to understand how effective a sponsored post is to bring a viewer to go further than the post and click the link.

Finally, a well-thought-out campaign is going to bring interest to the brand-owned channels. 

Growing a following on the accounts directly controlled by the brand is going to bring more people within their reach and help with further marketing efforts.

Therefore, comparing following and engagement with the brand account before and after the influencer campaign is an extra analytic to keep in consideration.

Conclusion

Keeping track of the right analytics at the right time is going to make a huge difference for any influencer campaign.

While originally influencer marketing was seen as a shady and difficult-to-track approach to marketing in the current state of social media is very easy to keep in check all the parameters that matter.

Introduction

Social media are the main tool to discover and research new products and services. And influencer marketing is necessary for brands that want to establish themselves. While crafting and executing influencer marketing campaigns is quite simple contacting and partnering with influencers can be hard and complicated, at least the first few times. 

In this article, we will present 7 tips for you to partner with influencers confidently and with a valuable offer for both parties.

Influencer marketing campaign workflow

Campaign Ideation

Influencer marketing campaigns are born out of the drawing table of a brand or an agency. Starting by individuating an area that would need improvements, often sales or brand awareness. The team will come up with a strategy to tackle the issue that involves collaborating with influencers. The strategy should also outline what are the KPIs that mark its success. 

Creator research and outreach

Identifying the right influencers is going to be the next step. It can be done fast and accurately with tools like CreatorDB’s Advanced Search.

After having shortlisted a few potential influencers to collaborate with comes the outreach phase. The campaign idea is pitched to them and it can develop into a negotiation around compensation and objectives. 

Campaign execution

Once an agreement has been reached is time for the content creators to prepare the deliverables for the campaign. This moment generally includes a series of revisions of the content from the brand or agency in order to make sure the content fits with the brand image.

When the content is satisfying for all the parties it gets published and comes the time to track the campaign. 

Goal tracking

Monitoring results and engagement in order to evaluate KPIs accomplishment.

Based on the content performances many brands will start considering certain influencers for long-term collaborations. 

How to create a killer influencer marketing campaign?

In a sense influencer marketing campaigns truly embody McLuhan’s famous phrase “The medium is the message”. Because they connect customers, and brands through influencers these campaigns need to take into account the specificities of each influencer. 

Differently from every other advertising medium-influencer have their own preferences and style. And they should all be taken into account when deciding about the collaboration.

The unique style of a creator should never be seen as a detriment to the campaign but as a strength to empower the message.

If a brand understands the unicity and potential of the creators they are partnering with they can easily incorporate it into their influencer marketing campaign. Creating a more engaging and captivating experience for potential customers.

Why partnering with influencers can be difficult

Influencers per se are not difficult to find, just looking at the discovery page of Instagram you may see tens of them. But finding the right ones for a brand is a more complicated task. Following numbers are not enough, there is a need for a convergence of values, fields of expertise, and much more. 

And after having found the right ones, many influencers may be reluctant to partner with a brand that they are not sure they can trust. They are going to present it to their audience and one wrong collaboration can break the trust that is established between them.

1 – Find common values and interests

When partnering with influencers, the first aspect to look at is shared values.

Before considering partnering with any influencer a brand should do its due diligence. Look at the content the influencer has created. Have an idea of their style and tone, and evaluate how it fits with the brand image. 

By getting familiar with the creator’s content is also possible to individuate common values and interests. Having overlapping interests is a great starter for collaboration. 

Once the common points are found be mindful to include them in the pitch and explain how they are important for the campaign, this is going to make the partnership feel the fruit of a common vision.

2 – Collaborate with experts

Prominent members of an industry or experts on a specific matter are often also influencers that have created a following around themselves. By partnering with them, it is possible to foster a deep relationship between thought leadership and the brand.

Sponsoring industry-related events, papers, and research is a longly-established practice that can help to bring a brand’s name to the forefront. 

Similarly, this can be done on social media through partnerships with industry leaders and experts. 

Organizing virtual panels and roundtables is a great way to offer not only brand exposure but also influencers the possibility to present their expertise and network. 

While unconventional, it offers the possibility to present the brand as dedicated to the furthering of the industry and wanting to engage in serious discussions.

3 – Include social value

Leaving a positive impact is always a great incentive. Connecting a campaign to a tangible and positive impact in the real world is going to provide ulterior incentives to the content creators to participate.

Showing interest and support for causes a creator sides with is going to create a more favorable image in the minds of the creator and its audience.

4 – Make a compelling offer

Content creators and influencers, as many others don’t want to work for free. Be sure to be respectful of their time and craft by offering fair compensation for their job.

Many expect content creators to work in exchange for free products or services, and while it is true in some cases it is not the norm.

Compensation for influencers can follow a few different models: 

• Flat rate, where the total price is established beforehand and performances are not going to affect it.
• Results-based, which can use indicators like views and likes multiplied for a flat rate to price the content the base of its achievement.
• Commission-based, the creator is going to receive a percentage for each sale that is directly traceable to them.
• A mixed rate is generally configurated as a flat rate plus a results bonus for the reaching of certain levels on the likes, views, or conversions.

Monetary incentives are the most direct and obvious but in certain cases focusing on other perks can also be powerful motivators. 

Exclusive access to products, custom modifications, and other similar approaches can be very enticing for creators in your industry.

5 – Creative Content Synergy

Don’t limit yourself to integrations or standard content formats. Each creator has their own voice and a way to express themselves and integrate them into your marketing campaign.

By proposing ideas that are fitting the influencer content style is going to be more likely to be accepted and to have delivered a campaign that is truly effective.

Combining the influencer’s style with the brand goals is going to deliver a campaign that resonates authentic and genuine.

6 – Long-Term Relationship Building

The possibility of long-term collaboration is going to show dedication and support to the influencers involved

While many companies prefer one-off collaboration, the real value of influencers is in the long game. Showing true interest in partnering with them, not just for brief access to their audience, is going to be a great signal about your brand’s commitment.

Developing long-lasting relationships is not only cheaper but is also a strong signal to the audience of those influencers. It shows commitment to the collaboration beyond immediate sales and support for the creator’s values.

Not every influencer a brand partners with should become brand ambassador, but there should be a clear idea of what would constitute a good candidate.

7 – Staying open about expectations and deliverables.

Content creators may have ideas about how to deliver your message in the best possible way.

They know their audience better than anyone else and their whole career is based on creating content that resonates with them. 

By discussing expectations and deliverables details is possible to obtain concepts that better fit the specifics of a creator’s audience.

It can also be a very important part of how KPIs are identified and calculated.

Conclusion

Influencer marketing is a powerful tool that can help most brands to establish themselves. To do it correctly is important to consider the influencers themselves for what they are: people passionate about certain topics and able to gain attention around them. 

Finding influencers with common values, including a social value in the campaign, and establishing a content strategy that is mindful of their unique characteristics are great steps to make it easier for an influencer to accept a partnership and see the value also for themselves in it. 

A fair remuneration, the possibility of long-term relationships, and openness to inputs on the campaign results and contents are all aspects that will help to have good and healthy connections that not only promote sales but also boost the brand image.

In today’s digital landscape, influencer marketing has become a powerful tool for brands to connect with their target audience. But the content created and shared by influencers live on their social media pages and soon gets buried by new posts. That’s where the idea to repurpose influencer content comes into play. By repackaging and reusing existing content, brands can maximize their investment, boost their reach, and engage their audience in innovative ways. In this article, we explore the art of repurposing influencer content and how it can revolutionize your marketing strategy.

Influencer content is any piece of media that is shared by an influencer online: photos, videos, podcasts, and much more. But when considering repurposing influencer content we are only taking into consideration the content that has been created for a collaboration with your brand. These are sponsored content and include mentions of your brand and products. While repurposing content is a fairly common practice is important to be clear with the influencers you work with that you plan to repurpose the content when pitching the collaboration to them.

Why repurpose influencer content

Repurposing influencer content allows your brand to bring a multichannel approach to influencer marketing, enhance your brand’s social proof and simplify your marketing content creation process.

Influencer content mainly lives in social media and because of the nature of social media its life cycle is going to be quite short. While the short half-life is more than enough to generate results in terms of brand awareness, sales, and trust-building efforts it also means that there needs to always be new content being created to keep the campaign going. But this is not true for other marketing channels: testimonials on your websites, paid advertising and case studies can be created out of influencer-generated content and will allow you to expand the reach of the influencer content out of social media and into your own channels.

Repurposing influencer content should be a part of your marketing plan before starting an influencer marketing campaign, this way you would be able to best decide which kind of content you need the most and how to allocate your budget. In order to find the best fit for your campaign needs you can consider using an influencer marketing platform, like CreatorDB, that would make smoother and quicker the process of identifying potential influencers and evaluating their content.

Strategies to repurpose influencer content

When repurposing influencer content, it’s essential to consider the unique characteristics and requirements of each social media platform. By optimizing content for specific channels, you can ensure maximum engagement and reach with your target audience.

One key aspect of tailoring content for different channels is understanding the nuances of each platform. For example, Instagram is highly visual and emphasizes captivating images and short videos. On the other hand, Twitter is known for its concise and punchy messages. By recognizing these differences, you can modify influencer content to align with the preferences and expectations of each platform’s user base.

To effectively repurpose influencer videos, consider extracting shorter clips or highlights that are well-suited for platforms like Instagram or TikTok. These platforms thrive on bite-sized, attention-grabbing content. Additionally, you can transcribe the video’s key points or create short captions to accompany the visuals, making it more accessible and engaging.

When it comes to repurposing images, consider adapting them for various social media platforms. For instance, an influencer’s high-quality photo can be shared on Instagram, but it can also be turned into an eye-catching visual quote or meme for Twitter or Pinterest.

By repackaging images in different formats, you can leverage their visual appeal across multiple channels, attracting new audiences and increasing the content’s lifespan.

Furthermore, repurposing influencer captions is an effective strategy for creating engaging written content. Captions often contain valuable insights, stories, or tips that resonate with the audience. You can transform these captions into blog posts, LinkedIn articles, or even microblogs on platforms like Tumblr or Medium.

This way, you extend the reach of the influencer’s message and provide valuable content for different channels.

To illustrate the effectiveness of tailoring content for different channels, let’s consider an example. Suppose an influencer creates a video tutorial on YouTube showcasing a new makeup technique. To repurpose this content, you can extract short clips demonstrating key steps and create a visually appealing montage for Instagram. Simultaneously, you can repurpose the influencer’s detailed explanation in the video as a blog post, incorporating additional tips and product recommendations.

By repackaging the content to suit the strengths of each platform, you can effectively engage audiences across multiple channels.

By tailoring influencer content to the specific requirements and preferences of different social media platforms, you can optimize its impact and reach. The key is to recognize the unique characteristics of each channel and adapt the content accordingly. Through thoughtful repurposing, you can unlock new opportunities for audience engagement and expand your brand’s online presence.

How to repurpose influencer content

There are no limits on how to repurpose influencer content but most commonly it gets used to post on the brand’s own channels, create paid ads, graphics for your website, starting point for case studies, and reviews.

Reposting in owned channels

You can share the content influencers created around your brand and products on your own channel this way you will obtain double promotion and will help to drive interest and attention to your owned platforms. You could post it as it is or combine various pieces of content to create something new.

Use it for paid ads

Repurposing influencer content for paid ads can be an excellent strategy to grab your potential customer’s attention and stand out of the crowd. Also if your influencer marketing campaign involves multiple creators it will allow you to have multiple creatives at the same time and not tire your audience with always the same ad.

Use it as graphics for your website

Influencers are experts in crafting astonishing pictures or video visuals so it makes perfect sense to recycle them to populate your own website. Once again the larger your influencer marketing campaign the more content you will have for your website and the more often you can change the look accordingly to themed campaigns you may be running

Case studies

You can use especially interesting pieces of influencer content to create case studies that highlight specific aspects of your marketing or your products. While it distances a bit from the traditional way of marketing consumer products it can be very beneficial to grab the attention of more dedicated customers a further build trust and brand loyalty.

Reviews

Influencer content is a great source of reviews and testimonials for your brand and products, you may want to start embedding posts and videos that are particularly flattering of your products on your website homepage.

Best practices

To be sure to not run into any conflict with the influencers that created the content, remember that the long-term value of an influencer is much higher than the short-term one, and use the content in a manner that is relevant you should always follow these three simple directions:
Get permission from the influencer before you repurpose their content. This is especially important if you plan to use the content in a way that is different from how it was originally created.
Make sure the content is still relevant to your brand and target audience. Don’t just repurpose content for the sake of it. Make sure it’s still relevant to your brand and will resonate with your target audience.
Give credit to the influencer. When you repurpose influencer content, be sure to give credit to the influencer who created it. This is a good way to show your appreciation for their work and build relationships with them.

Conclusion

Influencer marketing alone, with its ability to specifically target selected niches and establish brand trust and recognition, already brings numerous benefits to anyone that decides to add it to their marketing basket. But without repurposing the influencers’ content is almost as if half the benefits are left at the table: while you gained direct exposure to the influencers’ audience you have passed on improving your own marketing channels.

This is why is important to discuss influencer content repurposing when establishing relationships with the influencers and then have a plan on how to use the content created would that be just reposting it on your own social media or using it to strengthen social proof on your website.

In today’s digital world, influencer marketing has become a powerful tool for businesses to reach and engage with their target audience. By collaborating with influential individuals who have a solid following on social media platforms, brands can effectively promote their products or services and increase their brand awareness.

However, identifying the right influencers and managing influencer campaigns can take time for businesses, especially those who need experience in this field. Influencer marketing platforms offer companies a streamlined way to manage their campaigns and connect with relevant influencers.

In this article, we will explore the benefits of using influencer marketing platforms, popular platforms available, tips for choosing the right platform for your business, and how to run a successful influencer marketing campaign with a platform. Whether new to influencer marketing or looking to improve your current strategy, this article will provide valuable insights and practical advice to help you boost your influencer marketing campaigns and achieve your business goals.

Why choose an influencer marketing platform

Influencer marketing platforms offer several benefits to businesses looking to implement influencer marketing campaigns. These platforms provide businesses access to an extensive, structured network of influencers on various social media platforms.

The benefit of having access to an extensive network of influencers is that businesses can streamline and simplify their discovery and evaluation process since they get access to advanced search tools to discern better which creators align best with the brand’s values and the campaign goals. Effectively evaluating and selecting influencers ensures that the influencer’s audience will likely be interested in the brand’s products or services, resulting in higher engagement rates and conversions. Influencer marketing platforms typically can be filtered based on criteria such as niche, location, engagement rate, and audience demographics.

Furthermore, influencer marketing platforms offer tools for measuring campaign performance. These tools enable businesses to track metrics such as engagement rates, reach, and conversions, providing companies with valuable insights into the effectiveness of their campaigns. Tracking campaign performances in an influencer marketing campaign for a business is as important as targeting the right audience or choosing a matching influencer.

By understanding how the campaign is processed, brands can adapt their strategy in real-time and increase its effectiveness. This flexibility and adaptability will allow a company to improve its ROI and exploit emerging opportunities.

One of the main advantages of influencer marketing is its ability to generate a higher ROI compared to traditional advertising methods. Influencer marketing campaigns typically have a higher engagement rate than traditional advertising campaigns since influencers have built trust and credibility with their audience. Additionally, since influencer marketing campaigns often target a specific audience, they have a higher chance of converting into sales.

Influencer marketing platforms offer businesses a streamlined way to connect with influencers and manage influencer campaigns. With access to many influencers, tools for measuring campaign performance, and highly effective search tools, influencer marketing platforms are valuable for businesses looking to leverage the power of influencer marketing to reach their target audience.

How to choose the right influencer marketing platform

When choosing which influencer marketing platform to use is important to consider business needs and budget, campaign objectives, and influencer discovery tools that are offered, metrics tracked, and analytics collected. Is also important to check the vastity of their database and the freshness of the data that you can access.

Firstly, identify your business needs and budget. Determine your campaign objectives, target audience, and the features you require from an influencer marketing platform. Consider factors such as campaign management, analytics, influencer discovery, and content collaboration. Assess your budget and determine how much you’re willing to invest in the platform’s services.

Once you know your needs is time to understand how you can fulfill them. Round up as many platforms as possible and start going through their website to learn their features. Most influencer marketing platforms offer search filters, but not all search filters are the same. Using the metrics that matter to you can make the difference between a smooth experience and a rough time. Also, consider if the platform will provide the creators’ contact information to let you start collaborating immediately.

What metrics the platform tracks will also be an essential part of the decision process: some platforms provide more extensive coverage of creator analytics. In some cases, they can also put it in context by grouping creators into categories and evaluating them with their content category. After assessing each platform offering, you should prioritize those platforms that provide features that align with your campaign objectives.

Reach out and ask for a demo. Once you select a few viable candidates that fill most of your boxes about features and pricing is time to see in action how they perform. Sometimes, you can apply for a trial on the platform website or ask their salesperson for a demonstration. They will be able to explain to you how best their platform can fit your needs and how to use it effectively.

Lastly, consider scalability and future growth. As your business grows, your influencer marketing needs may evolve. Choose a platform that can accommodate your future requirements, such as more extensive influencer networks, advanced analytics, or particular metrics searchable. Selecting a platform that can scale your business and support your long-term influencer marketing strategies is essential.

By carefully considering these factors and conducting thorough research, you can choose the right influencer marketing platform that aligns with your business goals, budget, and target audience. Remember, the platform you select will play a significant role in the success of your influencer marketing campaigns, so take the time to make an informed decision.

Tips for a successful influencer marketing campaign using a platform

Define your goals and targets, choose the influencers that fit your brand, craft a compelling campaign message, and monitor the campaign performances.

Firstly, it is crucial to define your campaign goals and target audience. I know we talked about it already, but is that important. Clearly outline the objectives you want to achieve through your influencer marketing campaign, whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, or generating sales. And not only the objective but also the metrics to evaluate to objective is accomplished.

Understanding your target audience is equally important. Identify their demographics, interests, and preferences to find influencers who can effectively reach and engage with this audience.

Choosing the right influencers for your brand is another critical aspect. Look for influencers whose values, content style, and audience align with your brand. Consider their engagement rates, audience demographics, and authenticity.

Many influencer marketing platforms offer search filters that allow you to narrow down your options based on specific criteria. Take the time to research and vet potential influencers to ensure they are a good fit for your campaign.

Crafting a compelling campaign message and content is essential for capturing the attention and interest of your target audience.

Collaborate with influencers to develop content seamlessly integrating your brand message while aligning with their unique voice and style. Encourage creativity and authenticity to make the content relatable and engaging.

Additionally, consider the platform’s guidelines and restrictions to ensure compliance and maximize the impact of your campaign.

Monitoring campaign performance and making necessary adjustments are crucial to optimize your influencer marketing campaign. Leverage the platform’s analytics and reporting tools to track key metrics such as reach, engagement, and conversions.

Analyze the data to gain insights into what’s working and what can be improved. Adjust your campaign strategy, whether tweaking the messaging, targeting different influencers, or exploring new content formats. Monitoring and adapting your campaign based on performance data is vital for maximizing its effectiveness.

In addition to these tips, fostering good communication and collaboration with influencers is essential. Maintain clear and open lines of communication, providing timely feedback and addressing any questions or concerns they may have. Building solid relationships with influencers can lead to more authentic and impactful content that resonates with their audience.

Conclusion

In conclusion, influencer marketing platforms offer myriad benefits for businesses seeking to leverage the power of influencers in their marketing campaigns. These platforms provide access to a vast network of influencers, streamline communication and campaign management, offer tools for measuring campaign performance, and often result in increased return on investment (ROI) compared to traditional advertising methods.

By utilizing influencer marketing platforms, businesses can tap into a pool of influencers who align with their brand values and have a relevant and engaged audience. These platforms simplify discovering and connecting with influencers and tracking campaign progress. The tools for measuring campaign performance enable businesses to gain valuable insights and make data-driven decisions to optimize their influencer marketing strategies.

Looking ahead, the future of influencer marketing is promising. As social media continues to evolve and influencers become increasingly influential, the role of influencer marketing platforms is likely to expand. These platforms will continue to provide innovative tools and features to enhance the effectiveness of influencer marketing campaigns.

Businesses that stay abreast of emerging trends and leverage the capabilities of influencer marketing platforms will be well-positioned to maximize their impact and reach their marketing goals.

In summary, influencer marketing platforms have revolutionized how businesses engage with influencers and run influencer marketing campaigns. The benefits they offer are undeniable. By choosing the right platform and implementing effective strategies, companies can harness the power of influencers to connect with their target audience, boost brand awareness, and drive meaningful results in the digital landscape.

In today’s digital age, influencer marketing has become an increasingly popular and effective way for brands to promote their products and services to a broader audience. Influencer marketing involves collaborating with influential individuals on social media platforms, such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, to promote products or services to their followers.

The use of influencer marketing has been steadily growing over the years, with 89% of marketers reporting that the ROI from influencer marketing is comparable to or better than other marketing channels.

While influencer marketing can be a powerful tool for brands to reach their target audience and drive sales, executing successful campaigns requires a significant investment of time, resources, and developing expertise in the field. 

Influencer marketing agencies specialize in creating and managing influencer marketing campaigns for brands. These agencies have the knowledge and resources to identify the right influencers, develop effective campaigns, manage influencer relationships, and measure campaign effectiveness.

Influencer marketing agencies are crucial in helping brands execute successful influencer marketing campaigns.

By outsourcing the management of influencer campaigns to a specialized agency, brands can save time and resources and ensure that their campaigns flow efficiently and effectively.

In the following sections of this article, we will dive deeper into the services offered by influencer marketing agencies, why brands should consider using an agency, and how to choose the right agency for your brand.

What is an influencer marketing agency?

An influencer marketing agency is a company that specializes in creating and managing influencer marketing campaigns on behalf of brands. These agencies bring together a team of experts knowledgeable about the latest trends and best practices in influencer marketing.

By leveraging their expertise and resources, they help brands create and execute influencer marketing campaigns tailored to their needs and goals.

What do influencer marketing agencies do?

Influencer marketing agencies offer various services to help brands create successful influencer campaigns. They identify and select influencers who align with the brand’s target audience and goals.

Agencies create engaging campaigns with clear objectives, manage influencer relationships, and measure campaign effectiveness to make data-driven decisions for future campaigns.

By handling the logistics of influencer campaigns, agencies allow brands to focus on other aspects of their business while still benefiting from the impact of influencer marketing.

Identifying and selecting influencers

One of the primary services that influencer marketing agencies offer is identifying and selecting the right influencers to collaborate with.

This involves analyzing the influencer’s audience, engagement rates, and overall reach to ensure they align with the brand’s target audience and goals.

By partnering with influencers with a loyal and engaged following, brands can ensure their campaigns reach the right audience and drive meaningful results.

Creating influencer marketing campaigns

Influencer marketing agencies also work with brands to create engaging and effective influencer marketing campaigns. This involves developing a strategy, determining the proper content format, and setting clear objectives and goals for the campaign. By taking a strategic approach to influencer marketing, these agencies help brands create impactful, memorable campaigns that drive results.

Managing influencer relationships

Once the influencers are selected, the agency manages the communication and relationship between the influencer and the brand, including negotiating contracts, setting deadlines, and ensuring that the content aligns with the brand’s messaging. Taking care of the logistics of influencer campaigns, agencies allow brands to focus on other aspects of their business while still reaping the benefits of influencer marketing.

Measuring campaign effectiveness

Finally, influencer marketing agencies track and analyze the performance of influencer campaigns to determine their effectiveness and make data-driven decisions for future campaigns. They track engagement rates, impressions, and conversions to understand how the campaign resonates with the target audience. Agencies can optimize campaigns in real-time to ensure maximum impact by continuously monitoring and analyzing campaign performance.

In summary, influencer marketing agencies bring together a team of experts who specialize in identifying the right influencers, creating impactful campaigns, managing relationships, and measuring campaign effectiveness. By outsourcing influencer marketing to a specialized agency, brands can ensure that their campaigns run efficiently and effectively while maximizing the return on their investment.

Why use an influencer marketing agency?

Partnering with an influencer marketing agency can benefit brands looking to execute successful influencer marketing campaigns. They provide access to expertise, efficient use of time and resources, and increased ROI.

Access to expertise

Influencer marketing agencies bring together a team of experts who deeply understand the industry, from identifying the right influencers to creating effective campaigns and measuring campaign effectiveness. By leveraging their expertise, agencies can tackle specific needs better and more efficiently than when done by inexperienced marketers.

Efficient use of time and resources

Executing an influencer marketing campaign can be a time-consuming and resource-intensive process. By partnering with an influencer marketing agency, brands can save time and resources on managing the logistics of influencer campaigns and allow brands to focus on other aspects of their business while reaping the benefits of influencer marketing.

Increased ROI

Influencer marketing agencies can help brands maximize their return on investment by creating effective and efficient campaigns. By leveraging their expertise, agencies can identify the most effective strategies for reaching the target audience, negotiating fair rates with influencers, and measuring campaign success to ensure maximum impact.

In conclusion, partnering with an influencer marketing agency can help brands access the expertise, time, resources, and increased ROI they need to execute successful influencer marketing campaigns. Ultimately, the decision to partner with an influencer marketing agency should start from the brand’s specific needs and goals, as well as its internal resources and capabilities.

How to choose an influencer marketing agency

Partnering with the right influencer marketing agency can make all the difference in the success of your campaigns. But is important to consider factors like industry experience, reputation, service offered, and your budget.

Factors to consider

Industry experience

Some influencer marketing agencies specialize in a particular industry, often gaming, fitness, or fashion. Make sure their area of expertise connects to your campaign. If the agency is not as industry-specific, you can still ask them for case studies or works they did with other clients that can relate to your area of interest.

Reputation

A strong reputation is a good indicator of an agency’s ability to deliver results. Look for agencies with a track record of success and positive reviews from past clients. You can ask them directly, check social media for mentions, or their websites for documents like case studies that will showcase their results and introduce you to their working method.

Services offered

Some influencer marketing agencies may specialize in different services, from influencer identification and outreach to campaign strategy and measurement. Choosing an agency that offers all the services you need to execute your campaign successfully is crucial.

Budget

Influencer marketing agency fees can vary widely depending on the scope of services offered and the agency’s level of expertise. Choosing an agency that fits your budget while still delivering the quality of work you need is essential.

Questions to ask when evaluating agencies

When evaluating influencer marketing agencies, here are some questions to ask:

By asking these questions and considering the factors outlined above, you can make an informed decision about which influencer marketing agency is the best fit for your brand’s needs and goals.

Conclusion

In conclusion, influencer marketing agencies can be the angular stone of a successful influencer marketing campaign, especially for those companies that prefer a more hands-off approach. Partnering with an agency offers benefits such as access to expertise, efficient use of time and resources, and increased ROI. Choosing the right agency is crucial to the success of your campaigns. You should consider factors such as industry experience, reputation, client references, services offered, and budget. By asking the right questions, brands can find an agency that understands their needs and can deliver results. Influencer marketing is valuable for brands looking to connect with their target audience and should be considered part of their marketing strategy.

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:

1. conduct organic searches
2. use influencer search tools
3. look into niche communities
4. 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.

Influencer marketing is here to stay; if you haven’t started using it yet, you may miss out on many potential clients. But starting can be very difficult, especially if you have to design the campaign, establish connections and build relations with many influencers. For these reasons, you may be looking to ask for the help of an influencer marketing agency.

Influencer marketing agency advantages

They will take care of most of the job:

• Identifying the right influencers
• Identify important KPIs and how to achieve them 
• Manage the campaign, ensuring that the influencer knows the goals and what kind of messaging should be followed.
• Track and measure the results of your campaign

Using the services of an influencer marketing agency would lean on people with a long history of expertise and experience in the field. They would streamline your individuation, acquisition, and tracking time while delivering content that aligns with your requirements and standards.

How to choose an influencer marketing agency

To pick the right agency for your needs is important to keep in mind Localization, Areas of Expertise, and evaluate their Track Record, Previous Campaigns, Communication Methods, Creativity Inputs, Goal and Timeline Setting, Quality Controls, and Reporting mechanisms they have in place.

1. Localization

Many marketing agencies specialize in the area they are located in. In contrast, others prefer to go international, like CreatorDB, and have teams able to deliver campaigns across the globe.

While English is typically enough to go by in a business setting, many influencers may not be comfortable with it or would prefer to communicate in their native language. Accommodating them will translate into much less friction and misunderstandings when briefing them about the campaign goals.

Therefore is essential to identify marketing agencies that can operate in the market you are targeting.

2. Area of expertise

Some agencies only work with fashion and beauty brands; others specialize in gaming or luxury branding. But don’t get too set on finding an agency that works only in your field: sometimes a narrow focus is dangerous and leads to delivering “standard” campaigns that may lack personalization and authenticity in favor of the standard way to do things.

3. Track record

Check with who they worked previously and how they are doing now. At this point, consider contacting the agency and asking for examples of previous campaigns if you include an idea of what you want so that they can provide you with something relevant and not just a campaign that was successful for them but irrelevant for you.

4. Previous campaigns

As they say in finance: “Past records are not indicative of future performances,” but they can help to understand how things will go. If you contacted the agency and obtained some examples of their previous works, now is the time to compare it to your original idea.

Here you should keep an open mind and not look for a copy of what you are looking for but just a hint at the agency’s capabilities and results.

5. Communication

At this point, you must contact the agency and get a feeling of how to interact with them: do they reply fast? Do they understand what you are looking for? Are they interested in the case?

These are all things you should consider when choosing since you don’t want to pick a sloppy agency set in its way and has no interest in what you want.

Starting a direct communication will give you the feeling of how they manage their clients, what care they put into their interactions, and if they are passionate about your project.

6. Creativity

Once you start communicating with the agency and explain your idea and what you expect from the partnership, you will likely get a reply containing their side of the story. While only part of the campaign, this should already give you an idea of what they can do and how they would tackle your case.

Here you can start noticing if they are just going along with what you say or bringing their weight into it. It is important to remember that you are not using them to find a series of “yes men,” but you want to access their knowledge and expertise.

So be open to their suggestions and evaluate them without being dogmatic.

7. Goal setting

Marketing campaigns need to have goals.

Possibly SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound) goals.

When communicating with an agency, start considering how they will achieve the results: do they have a clear idea of what you want? Are they establishing metrics to go by to reach your final goal? Are these goals realistic considering budget and time?

8. Timeline

While already a part of goal setting, establishing a timeline of operation is one of the most important steps when dealing with an agency. Especially if your influencer marketing campaign is time sensitive, like, in connection to a holiday or a product launch, you want to have a clear view of how the agency team is going to manage the time.

9. Quality control

Influencers and content creators are human beings, and all humans are prone to bring their interpretation to their tasks.

Creativity can be highly beneficial if the creator truly understands and shares your campaign vision, but the case of a misunderstanding or different ideas can translate into a disaster.

That’s why it is crucial to have in place a failsafe mechanism: generally, it translates into a final check on the content from the agency and your company before it goes live.

10. Reporting

While the agency will be doing all the heavy lifting concerning contacting and managing influencers, you should still be able to keep an eye on what is happening. Therefore, ask for periodic updates on the campaign. While it would not require you to micromanage the campaign itself would let you know if all the steps taken are going in the direction you wanted.

To make your life easier and ace your next influencer marketing campaign we prepared an easy cheatsheet you can download here

If you are interested in hiring an influencer marketing agency to run your campaign why not take a look at what CreatorDB has to offer? 

• We provide services in 10 of the most spoken languages in the world.
• Our people are experts in a wide variety of fields from gaming to fashion and much more.
• We worked with many know brands all over the globe.
• Our campaigns are always tailored to the client’s needs and we pride ourselves on offering top-of-the-line customer care.

Talk with us and we will provide you with a custom solution for all your influencer marketing needs.