How to Choose the Right Influencers for Your Brand

Influencer marketing is booming and brands have nearly unlimited choices of partners. With options between nano, micro, and macro influencers, how can you confidently choose the right influencers to partner with?

As is the case for all strategic media plans, the starting point needs to be your business objective. Is reach and valuable brand awareness the ultimate goal? Or are lower funnel objectives like conversions, sales, subscriptions, or leads the primary factor of success for your influencer campaign?

Use Macro Influencers To Drive Mass Awareness

Macro influencers have a massive reach and are defined by having a following of more than 1 million followers. While a brand will likely see hundreds of thousands of impressions from influencers at this tier, bigger is not always better. With higher follower counts comes higher costs per post as well as a broader audience, which may not be as closely aligned to your target audience.

Another thing to consider is timing. These influencers are in high demand with various partnership opportunities, which may mean longer lead times for your brand. However, if a brand is looking to reach as many people as possible in a more authentic way, you should “double tap” into the macro influencer investment.

Work With Micro And Nano Influencers To Drive Action

Micro and nano influencers have more limited reach at less than 50,000 and less than 10,000 followers respectively. These creators tend to be a great fit for brands seeking conversions from a more niche target audience. Opportunities for longer term partnerships and whitelisting is a greater possibility with this tier of influencer due to their motivation to grow their own page and exposure.

Micro and nano creators are known by their followers for their trust and expertise. 88% of people say it’s important for influencers to be authentic and genuinely care about their interests. Micro influencers also have over a 20% higher conversion rate that can help brands boost their e-commerce sales, which is great for brands seeking to grow that channel.

Align On The 3 R’s Of Influencer Marketing

Before crafting your strategy, consider the three R’s of influencer: relevance, reach, resonance.

• Relevance: Does your content and product portfolio match the influencer’s personal brand and their audience’s interests?
• Reach: How large is their followership? Is it aligned with the reach needed to achieve your business goals?
• Resonance: How strong is the creator’s rapport and trust with their followership? Do they truly influence their audience to act, share and buy?

Allow Creators To Be Authentic

Celebrity sponsorships are a long-standing staple in advertising. However, users are getting more perceptive to misleading advertising and ingenuine messaging. Finding creators that align organically with your brand and are able to influence their following is a great solution that brings us all back to a critical component of advertising – word of mouth. 90% of consumers view micro influencers as credible, believable & knowledgeable. So, let them be that authentic, believable voice to speak on behalf of your brand.

Allow your influencers to be creators, not actors. Let them “create a TikTok, not an ad” or “create a reel, not an ad” – whatever the channel may be. Creators are storytellers and social media experts. They have their thumb on the pulse of digital trends and social media. You are paying them for their partnership, advocacy, and messaging expertise. You will be more likely to see results from this contract if you allow them to speak to their followers in a way that will drive not only eyes, but also action.

Measure The Impact Of Influencer Marketing

As marketers, we understand that authenticity is important, but we also want to tie back to meaningful metrics. Using discount codes or affiliate links is a win-win for brands and influencers as it shows your commitment to the partnership and also allows for backend tracking of actions taken by their followers. This can be a popular method to engage an influencer by giving a special perk to the audience they have worked hard to cultivate and maintain.

Key Takeaways

As you begin strategizing on influencer initiatives, be sure to:

• Know your “why”: Determine your goals and brand voice up front. Align with creators who meet your brand standards using the 3 R’s.
• Hand over the creative reins: Allow creators to make authentic content that is not overly scripted. Learn from their social expertise and the community they have cultivated.
• Measure success beyond likes: Use UTMs to track the number of conversions an influencer drives. Assigning unique links to influencers provides more insight on their direct impact to your bottom line.

With these three steps, you will be able to confidently choose the right influencers to make a real impact on your brand.

Recommended Reading

• Three Reasons Your Performance Media Agency Should Handle Your Influencer Strategy and Execution
• Debunking Influencer Marketing Myths
• Why Influencers are Relevant for Nearly Every Industry