How To Find The Right Influencers For Your Brand

Social media is the easiest way to start growing your influencer marketing by searching for macro-influencers that will genuinely promote your brand and fit the aesthetic that your brand has created. Macro influencers are just one of the many types of influencers. Still, they will be easier to contact and create relationships with than a mega influencer that doesn’t need to promote a brand to be influential and relevant. Here are just a few tips on how to start growing your influencer marketing program and how to weed out those that will hinder your search for authentic representation on social media. 

Search For Keywords Or Hashtags

To utilize social media and their algorithms, influencers utilize hashtags that are most common within their niche to gain a following and to rank higher when other users search particular hashtags.

When looking for influencers that will accurately represent your brand and fit within your niche, search for hashtags or keywords that relate to your area of interest. You will also want to find out what hashtags influencers are using so that you can narrow down your search to find the right influencers for you based on if their keywords match your own. 

What's Your Demographic?

Knowing your audience is important when it comes to finding the right social media influencers for your brand. Are your consumers sporty, girly, lifestyle-focused, environmentally conscious, or college students?

These are all questions you have to ask yourself before looking for someone who will genuinely promote your product. Your initiatives need to align for the relationship to be authentic.

For example, if you are looking for athletic ambassadors or influencers, start by looking at college athletes from top-ranking schools with a large following. This way, they aren't so big within their field that they are still looking for growth, and you both will be able to profit from the relationship by gaining followers and engagement. 

Another easy way to find influencers that fit your demographic is to look at who is tagging you in their posts. People who are already familiar with your brand and talking about it to their following are the place to start since they already know your product and will be more willing to work with you because of this.

Promote Brand Ambassador Searches On All Socials

If you are looking for brand ambassadors, be honest and send out searches for those interested in working with you. You can set the guidelines in which the influencers would operate, and this would give you a chance to screen your applicants for things like following, aesthetic, authenticity, and personality. 

Using apps like Instagram and TikTok to send out a search would be most influential due to those social media platforms receiving high levels of engagement from both followers and other users. Their algorithms are based on your interest, so if your niche helps you land on similar profiles, this is an effective way to market yourself.

You can also use ambassador marketing software like BrandChamp.IO to help you manage your ambassadors, the rewards you give them for working with you, and your ROI (return on investment) with the analytics you evaluate after ambassador campaigns end. 

Is Their Following Legitimate?

Buying followers is nothing new for those that want to build their influence fast without putting in all the work it takes to build a following.

There are some telltale signs of what makes a legitimate follower like profile pictures, the number of posts on the account, and how up to date the account seems. So, if you can see that your influencer has a lot of questionable followers, you can assume those are just bot accounts that are filling in their following number. 

According to the Digital Branding Institute, these are the key things to check for on a legitimate influencers account:

  • A verification badge.
  • A solid account history that shows consistent and original posts.
  • Proof of organic audience growth over time.
  • A history of quality posts.
  • High engagement on their posts.
  • An engaging and complete Instagram profile.
  • Examples of successful past campaigns, partnerships, and sponsorships.
  • A history of promoting products and brands in a way that is consistent with your brand values.
  • They conduct themselves online in a way that would reflect well on your digital brand.

Summary

Once you find the influencers and ambassadors that work for you and your brand, build lasting relationships with them. Having these relationships will allow you to return to them for any campaigns or initiatives you might have for promoting your brand via social media. You will both understand the expectations and guidelines of the agreed-upon content.

Find more information and tips on how to find influencers for your brand at shanebarker.com.

For more tips, advice, and strategies on all things marketing and branding, check out the rest of Power Move Marketing's blogs.

 

Author: Piper Blake

 

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