The How-To Guide on Influencer Marketing

New influencers are gaining popularity daily, and they can be a really great way to promote your business. They’re always telling us we need this product to help our skin or this dress for our next wedding. But why is this type of marketing so beneficial to your business? Reputation and trust. When a consumer buys something they end up loving at the suggestion of an influencer, they will be more inclined to continue buying products that their favorite influencers recommend.

What is qualifies an influencer?

If you don’t know, an influencer is someone who has a platform. They come in all shapes and sizes, but let’s start with follower count.

Nano influencers have between 1K and 10K followers on their respective platforms. This size influencer is smaller, but their audiences are typically much more engaged. Up to 7x more engaged than mega influencers! Their followers are typically real people because bots are easier to spot on a nano influencer.

Micro influencers have between 10K and 100K followers on their respective platforms, and they spend a lot of time nurturing their audience. Generally a pretty niche bunch, these influencers won’t promote just anything. They typically have brand experience, so target this group when you want to reach a larger, but still specific audience.

Macro influencers have 100K to 1M followers, and typically have another platform for content creation like food blogs, Podcasts, or YouTube channels that contribute to their larger audience. This group is great to work with when you have a large budget for brand awareness.

Mega influencers have 1M or more followers; they are typically celebrities or other public figures. It’s best to only work with mega influencers when you have a large budget and need a high level of visibility.

Why does your brand need influencers?

Word of mouth. If you’ve read our other blogs, you know we recently covered a book called Contagious by Jonah Berger. In this book, he covers the S.T.E.P.P.S. to virality, and the first ‘S’ stands for social currency. In this principle, Berger references 3 ways to give your business or product social currency. They are “find inner remarkability, leverage game mechanics, and make people feel like insiders.” All three of these steps to social currency are ways to encourage word of mouth in consumers.

Research shows that consumers trust word of mouth recommendations than brands alone. That seems like a pretty obvious fact, but some brands don’t understand this concept. Consumers know that brands want to make money and they don’t care how they do it! But throw in a third-party recommendation, and the level of trust from the consumer increases.

How to determine if an influencer is right for your brand:

Context

The influencer brands and businesses need will vary depending on the influencer’s niche and audience. If you sell home furnishings or kitchen accessories, reach out to influencers who promote these things. Typically, it’s very obvious what niche influencers fall into; it may be in their bio or evident in the images they post/brands they’ve worked with before.

Some common influencer specialties include, but are not limited to: food, lifestyle, travel, fashion, sports, gaming, health & fitness, faith, family, and home decor.

Audience

Consider how an influencer’s audience will respond to your product. If you’re brand or business sells home goods, reach out to a lifestyle, family, or home decor influencer. Their followers are there to see home content and will be excited by new products & raving reviews.

Actionability

Lastly, focus on the influencer’s engagement to determine if their posts cause their audience to take action. A few ways to determine an influencer’s actionability are (1) engagement on posts, (2) if your product fits their style & niche, and (3) a matching asthetic.

Followers are an “opt-in” audience, meaning they choose to follow and read blogs, so being a contextual fit is essential.

How to find the right influencer for your business:

We focus on cold to warm outreach when we would like an influencer to work with one of our clients. This means reaching out to influencers via email & DM to set up an opportunity for collaboration.

How to start your influencer campaign:

Define budget:

As mentioned above, the size of the influencer’s audience & his/her past brand deals will determine whether or not the collaboration will be paid, on a commission basis, or simply product exchange. Determine what you’re willing to spend and stick to it! Consider ideas like 1 large, paid collaboration per year, 1 medium, paid collaboration per quarter, and 1 product exchange collaboration per month!

Define requirements:

Consider the type of content your brand or business needs.

For large, paid collaborations, require a blog post with backlinks, 2-4 slides on IG stores, an Instagram reel, and a static feed carousel post.

For medium, paid collaborations, require a blog post with backlinks, 2-4 slides on IG stories, and a static feed carousel post.

For product exchange collaborations, ask for 2-4 slides on IG stories and a static feed post.

Influencer marketing has been a huge part of our success in growing our clients’ Instagram following and increasing their sales. Are you interested in getting your brand connected with top influencers? Have questions about how to successfully integrate influencer marketing into your business model? Schedule a call with us!

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