How to: work with influencers

Why Social Media / Influencer Marketing?

You may already be using influencers. You may have heard of using influencers and not really be sure about whether you should use them or why you should be using them? However, if you have a product selling brand (and even if you have a service-based brand) you should be considering using influencers to boost your visibility. The simple reason to answer the question why? Is to reach your target market.

For example 47% of 18-24-year-olds using ad blockers. This means that traditional advertising and ad marketing may not be getting through to your market audience.

92% of customers trust recommendations from strangers. This means that if others are talking about your product then your audience is more likely to be influenced to buy your product, particularly if you are recommended at multiple touchpoints in their circle of influence. A simple “shout out” if made by the right influencers can get you in front of your target audience.

Working with influencers is also a straightforward way of reaching a bigger audience and encouraging organic growth and engagement.

Step 1: Plan

Start by planning out your strategy for Influencer Marketing. The more you plan – the more successful your Influencer Marketing Strategy should be. There are a number of things that you need to be thinking about when planning out your strategy. You need to be thinking about what will work best for you. your brand, your market, and your voice/values.

• Micro vs Major Influencers

What type of influencers do you want to use? Micro Influencers are smaller influencers but have a committed and loyal following (under 10k) with a high-engagement. While Major Influencers are celebs/household names and influencers who have followers in the region of tens of thousands or millions. Major Influencers are likely to be more selective about who they work with and you will be likely to have to approach them through an agency, whereas micro influencers are more likely to be regular people just like you.

Your strategy may cover a mix of both types of influencers – but it is important to remember that your choice of influencer should be based on your product, your target audience and what you are wanting to achieve.

Further Reading: Micro Influencers vs Macro Influencers

• Focus on engagement rather than followers

It is important that you focus on looking at a potential influencer’s engagement – not just the number of followers that they have. Are they engaging with their audience? Are they getting likes and comments on their posts? Or is it fake? Check that their engagement matches their followers.

Tools like the Instagram Audit Tool can help you with analysis of an influencer’s engagement.

• Different Product Categories have different influencers

Different product (and service) categories have different influencers, usually with an overlap of less than 15%, Therefore is is important to do your research and work out which influencers are right for you and if you are right for them. For them to even begin to consider working with you you have to be relevant/suitable for them to work with.

• Think about their Audience

When looking for potential influencers don’t forget to look at their audiences. Are they your target audience? Does their audience align with yours? Is their audience likely to be interested in your product or service? Are they likely to align with your values / USP?

• Plan 2-3 months ahead

It is important to remember that most influencers will have their diaries/schedule planned out in advance. Most will work 2-3 months ahead if not more – so keep this in mind when you are planning and when you are approaching them.

• Research, Research, Research!

You can never do too much research. So research them and their social media feeds. Make sure you are following them and their team and that you use this to help you plan your strategy.

Step 2: Reach Out

Once you have identified your potential influencers and you have done your research the next step is to reach out.

• What is your budget?

Before you reach out to influencers – make sure you know what your budget is. If you are approach Macro/Major Influencers and going through their management team/agency it is likely that they will expect any collaboration to be paid for. They will also expect to have more creative control. If you are going for Micro Influencers some may be willing to do it for free while others will expect to be paid for the collaboration – after all, they are a business too.

If you can’t pay for a collaboration, another option will be to send a product for free and hope that they feature/mention it. If you are sending them something for free take the time and effort to personalise it for them and make it as tailored as possible. For example, you might do something in their favourite colour and include a hand-written note. Even if you are including the costs of sending free products you can do a cost analysis of if you would make the costs back.

• Be consistent and engage with their content

As mentioned above you should be following the influencer before your approach them. Be consistent and engage with their content so that you are on their radar. Not only this you should also be following their assistants and team members etc. If their individual team members don’t have that many followers, they are likely to click through and check out your profile and are more likely to remember you. This means that you contact will have started already.

• Approach the influencer as an equal, a fellow business person

Respect the influencer as a fellow business person, respect them and their time. If you are sending them something for free don’t automatically expect something and even if you are paying them respect their own creative process. Over 63% of influencers say the top reason for not wanting to work with a brand again is because the brand was far too controlling of the content.

If you are sending them something – drop them a simple message if a micro-influencer or send via their agent/manager if they are successful enough to have one.

Step 3: Build Sustainable Relationships

If you are sending them stuff, be authentic and on brand. As mentioned earlier, make sure you and your brand align with theirs. Personalise goodies and make your interactions personal, don’t do carbon copy interactions or collaborations with everyone. Make it personal and special.

Remember there is a real potential for a long lasting relationship. Get off on the right foot and work together in the right way and you could be working with a particular influencer for years. Also don’t forget to share, promote, thank and like. Share their work and content (particularly if you are getting unpaid promotions from them).

Finally, don’t forget them once the campaign is over, check in with them at regular intervals. This is, of course, easier with micro influencers, but you shouldn’t just end your interactions when the campaign is over, continue to build your relationship with them.

Step 4: Track and Analyse

It is not always easy to track and analyse. If the influencer has not linked to you specifically, it can be hard to track. However, there are some things you can do to make it easier.

• Google Analytics

A great place to start is with google analytics. You can use google analytics to seek traffic and conversion if you set it up to track links.

• Social Platform Specific Analytics

If you don’t use google analytics (or even if you do) the analytics on social media platforms can also give you a steer on your traffic and where it is coming from.

• Discount Codes

If you are giving discounts/offers to people that are coming your way from a particular influencer give them a special discount code so you can check who is using what code to buy your products.

• How did you hear about us

You can also use feedback forms to ask your customers “how did you hear about us”. If you pre-set the options in a drop-down with your known influencers /sources then it makes it easy for your audience.

Of course, you won’t be able to track everyone and many of your customers will have been touched by multiple touch points and this will make it almost impossible to identify the right source.