Influencer marketing has been around for a while and is one of the most effective pillars of any brand’s marketing. With content creators and influencers engaging with their audiences on a deeper level today, now, more than ever is the perfect time for your brand to utilize influencers for your brand. Continue reading to learn why you should work with influencers and how you can find the influencers that best fit your brand.
Why consider partnering with an influencer
Collaborating with influencers is a great way to reach a new audience and grow your brand’s following. If you work with an influencer that fits your brand, it’s likely that their audience will resonate with what your brand offers. Some of those followers might not have come across your brand and wouldn’t otherwise, which will help your brand grow its following and gain more business.
By working with influencers, your brand can explore creating different kinds of content that your current audience can interact with or have more interest in. In addition, collaborating with a key influencer whose followers trust their judgment in products can help create a more positive brand image. If their following trusts the influencer’s recommendations and pushes your product, your brand will gain positive views.
Thai fitness influencer Mickey Nol, in collaboration with Lolë and Thailand Insider Canada
Things to keep in mind before searching for influencers to work with
While working with influencers is an excellent idea for your brand’s marketing strategy, the hard part is figuring out which influencers suit your brand. There are many influencers, and it can be overwhelming to find the perfect ones to partner up with. So before you dive into the vast sea of influencer options, ask yourself the following:
How big is your brand, and how much budget do you have to work with?
While working with some of the biggest influencers might be tempting, you must be realistic about whom you can partner with. While big-name influencers would help your brand reach many people and gain credibility, they also command high dollars to collaborate. If you have the budget to collaborate with an influencer with a big following, then go for it. However, using influencers with smaller followings can also be as effective if you have a small budget. Even if they have 10K-30K followers, most of their audience is probably more interested in the niche they create their content around.
Who is your target audience (demographic, kind of campaign you’re working with, social platform, etc.)?
Knowing your brand and whom they are targeting searches for influencers to collab with more accessible. For example, if you’re trying to market to the travel audience, find an influencer who creates content around travel. If your brand is a restaurant, find a foodie influencer. However, you should also consider the kind of campaign you are planning. For example, your tourism brand plans to run a fitness campaign that convinces people to use fitness gear and inspires travel to your location. In this instance, you can look for fitness and lifestyle influencers even though you are a tourism/travel brand.
Travel and fitness influencer Mia Kang, in the Trailblazer Thailand campaign for Thailand Insider
What kind of content do you want to create with the influencer?
When researching the influencers you want to partner with, ensure that their content aligns with the content you want them to make. For example, if you plan to run a campaign with Instagram Reels, ensure that the influencer has experience making Reels or TikToks. On the other hand, you might find an influencer who creates gorgeous content that fits your target audience, but they need Reels on their feed. One reason can be that their audience is not interested in Reels content, which means the content you’re planning might need to grasp them.
Answering these questions should help you figure out what kind of influencer you should work with and drastically narrow your influencer search.
Influencer Reel for The Halal Guys 100th Store Campaign
Ways to search for influencers
Now that you have a clear idea of the kind of influencer your brand should partner up with, it’s time to start searching for influencers. There are a couple of ways you can find influencers.
Searching on Social Media Platforms
This is the simplest and cheapest way to find the right influencer. You can search hashtags on platforms like Instagram or TikTok that are relevant to your brand and find relevant content. From there, you can find influencers who meet your criteria.
You can also search for influencers with big followings on those platforms, even if you can’t afford to work with them. On Instagram, the platform suggests accounts similar to the one you’re currently viewing. For example, suppose you found a foodie influencer in the United States with around 30K followers on Instagram. You can find other influencers with similar niches and followings from the ‘similar accounts’ section.
Using a Database
Suppose you are willing to spend a little money to find an influencer. In that case, a great alternative is to use one of the many influencer databases online. Databases have many influencers and useful information, like which industry they’re in or where they’re located. At ELMNTL, we’ve used databases like influence.co and IZEA to help us find influencers with specific criteria.
One piece of information you can get from databases that are key to figuring out which influencer to use is engagement numbers. Databases already have done the work for you and calculate an influencer’s engagement rate. It’s essential to ensure that the influencer you partner with has an audience that interacts with their content. If their audience doesn’t engage with the influencer’s content, then the content you want them to make will not help your brand’s goals. Depending on the database you use, they might have a feature that also shows how many of an influencer’s followers are fake. Figuring out the kind of audience an influencer has can help you make the right decision for your brand.
Overall, influencer marketing is something that your brand should consider in its marketing strategy if they haven’t already. So, if you are looking to run an influencer marketing campaign for your brand, contact us to get started today.
