What is influencer marketing?
Put simply, influencers are people who promote your products for you online. You can only reach so many people through your own social media accounts without paying for ads. This is why teaming up with an influencer is a sure-fire way to maximise your reach. Sometimes, influencers are happy to promote your business in exchange for free product. Other times, they charge per post or story. These details need to be agreed upon before you send a product (more info below).
For influencer marketing to be effective, you need to ensure that the influencer speaks to your ideal audience (aka potential customers). It doesn’t really matter if someone has a thousand followers or a million, as long as the people who follow them are engaged and interested.
What can influencers bring to the table?
Now you know what an influencer is, here’s why we think you should work with them:
A fresh perspective
If you pick the right influencer, they’re part of your audience too. Which means they look at your product from a customer’s perspective. For example, they might mention a feature you never thought to highlight, or style your product with an outfit you didn’t think of.
Credibility
A genuine influencer will have a loyal and authentic following. By using your products publicly and sharing why they think like them, they’ll introduce your brand to an audience who trusts and listens to their opinions. This, in turn, creates credibility for your business.
How to find the right influencers for your brand
Finding an influencer for your brand is much more than just selecting someone with a large following.
Your influencer needs to be the right fit. Their interests need to align with your customers’ and your brand’s key messages. It is vital that when approaching an influencer, you are looking past the number of followers and instead focus on whether they can increase your engagement, following and sales because your product is relevant to their followers.
Where to look for relevant influencers
You can use influencers on just about any online platform: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, SnapChat – you name it.
There are different ways to approach this task, but we’re big believers in tools that make life easier. Go check out the following:
If you prefer a more DIY approach, go to your platform of choice and head to the search bar. Start by looking up some hashtags (or keywords) that are relevant to your brand. For example, if you create ceramics you could search for “homewares blogger”, or similarly in the fashion industry, you could search “fashion blogger”.
Follow some accounts and watch them for a few weeks to gauge whether they might be the right fit. Look for people who show up daily, post long captions, get genuine comments on their posts and take the time to respond to them properly (conversation is genuine engagement).
Another good way to find potential influencers is by taking a look at your own followers or those of your competitors.
Tip:
If you come across an account with 400,000 followers, but only 19 likes and no comments on posts (or obviously fake ones), all your alarm bells should start jingling. This “influencer” has most likely bought their followers.
How to team up with influencers
1. Set your goals
Once you’ve decided on a few influencers, it’s time to reach out.
But first, think about your goals. What are you hoping to achieve from partnering with influencers? E.g.:
- Exposure
- Followers
- Sales
- Testimonials
- Promote a giveaway
Next, think about what you can offer in exchange for them helping you reach your goals. E.g.:
- Free product
- Cross-promotion
- Money
You can have different agreements with different influencers. It all depends on what you are both comfortable with. Just remember to respect however an influencer decides to run their business (yes, being an influencer is running a business). Having an agreement in writing is crucial, don’t leave anything up for interpretation. You need to be clear on deliverables, expectations and compensation. This is to protect you both.
2. Send a message
Reach out to an influencer you’d like to work with and say hello, either via email or direct message.
Don’t worry too much about what to say. Simply let them know who you are, what your business is all about and what you’re looking for.
We highly recommend you write a customised message – the more personal, the better. Or at the very least, make sure you don’t send out a blanket message with the wrong name or some [insert name here] fill-in-the-blanks. If you’re going to ask that they represent your brand in a genuine way, you should also make a genuine effort.
Tip: Once you have come to an agreement, send your products in pretty packaging to give them the full unboxing experience.
3. Create content with your influencer
It can be useful to provide influencer guidelines to ensure content stays on brand for reposting, however in order for your influencer’s content to be genuine, it is important to allow creative freedom. This is why it can be great to explore creating content with your influencer. Chances are, they have done it before and will have loads of ideas of how to cross promote both of your identities.
4. Follow up
Once your influencer has fulfilled their part of the agreements, firstly thank them and then ask them to share their thoughts on your product. Feedback is super important in developing and refining products, so make sure you welcome both positive comments and some suggestions for improvement. Who knows, you might collect a great review or even gain a new loyal customer.
Don’t be afraid to experiment across social media platforms and try different ways of collaborating with your influencers. There’s more than one way to win.