How to work with social media influencers – three tips from the experts
Love to reach a warm audience of new fans? Find out how to work with influencers with these three tips from the experts.
Social media influencers are an increasingly prevalent force in the world of digital marketing. With influencers impacting buying decisions across a broad range of different industries, more and more brands are looking to build valuable partnerships with social personalities.
If you’re thinking of adding social influencers to your next marketing campaign, now’s a great time to do it. The influencer marketing industry is expected to reach $10 billion by 2020, and that’s largely down to how effective influencer campaigns are.
A recent survey by MediaKix found that “89% of marketers say influencer marketing ROI is as good or better than other marketing channels.”
There’s no disputing the facts. Influencer marketing works. But in order to ensure that you get the best results from your next social campaign, it’s well worth taking the time to understand how best to work with social media influencers.
To help you, here are three tips from Billion Dollar Boy, an influencer marketing agency based in London and New York.
1) Understand your audience
A great understanding of your target demographic is key to any good marketing campaign, and influencer marketing is no different. Remember, you can’t expect to reach everyone, so before you begin working with social influencers, you need to have a clear understanding about who you’re actually wanting to influence.
This will ensure any collaboration with a chosen influencer will produce relevant content that is sure to appeal to your target consumers.
If need be, consider creating different buying personas and find out as much as you can about your current customer base. Look into new markets and think carefully about the personalities of the customers involved. What’s their average age? What will and what won’t resonate with them?
Ultimately, you want to understand what will engage their interest. After all, the more you know about your audience, the better equipped you’ll be when it comes to choosing your perfect influencers.
2) Set your budget
Influencer marketing can be tailored to any budget. With the choice between micro influencers, macro influencers and social media celebrities, there’s an influencer campaign to suit all business needs. Before you begin working with any influencers, however, be sure to set a budget and think carefully about your expectations from the campaign.
This means you should think about payment method as well. Whether a flat fee, commission based, or any other option, be sure that any agreement suits both the parties involved.
Remember, paying more money for an influencer with tonnes of followers doesn’t guarantee a successful collaboration. Of course some individuals will be more expensive to work with than others, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they will fit your requirements.
Before anything else, make sure the style, tone and type of content produced by the influencer will compliment your campaign and whatever it is you’re trying to convey with your brand. There are a huge number of options available for influencer campaigns of all budgets, and many of the most affordable influencers tend to bring in the best engagement rates.
3) Research relevant influencers
Top social influencers are frequently approached by many different brands, so be prepared for a little competition. If you want to stand out and make a good impression, it’s crucial that you get the relationship off to a great start.
Make sure you’ve done your research on the influencers you’d like to partner with before you first make contact. This involves taking the time to comb through your preferred influencers’ channels.
Keep in mind, you shouldn’t approach working with an influencer the same way as a normal sales pitch, so don’t jump straight in and start trying to gloat about yourself to them. Instead, it might be an idea to interact and engage with their content beforehand so they know you’re genuinely interested in them and their work.
Lastly, know what they stand for and look into any other brands they might currently be working with. This is a good way of ascertaining if you’re a brand they would be happy to partner alongside – a successful campaign is all the more possible if the influencer likes and uses whatever they’re endorsing.
Simply by doing a bit of groundwork and research into your influencer beforehand, you’re ensuring that you’ll be able to make a personal connection and start building a strong working relationship by the time you make contact.
Need more advice on working with influencers? Read these dos and don’ts for small businesses.
Working with social media influencers is easier than you may think
Working with social media influencers might seem a little daunting to begin with, but once you understand how best to manage these partnerships, you’ll soon see why so many brands are making influencer marketing one of their top priorities.
Simply by ensuring that you understand your audience, know your budget and choose influencers that are relevant to your business, you’ll surely be off to a great start. Additionally, you could always consider talking to a team at an influencer marketing agency if you would like to know more details about working with influencers.
This article was contributed by Billion Dollar Boy, an influencer marketing agency based in London and New York.
Photo by Amanda Vick
