How To Get Influencers to Grow Your Brand: Do’s, Don’ts and Expectations

What is an Influencer?

Influencers are active social media users who have established personal credibility with a large audience in a particular industry. They “influence” their followers by sharing their recommendations and reviews while maintaining authenticity in their personalities. 

What are the Benefits of Working with Influencers?

1. Ad blockers are starting to gain popularity as a means for users to control the number of ads they see on social media.

2. Influencers have a large following of users that you can tap into. The right influencer can help your business gain access to your target audience in a more authentic way. Consumers are 30% more likely to purchase your product if a non-celebrity influencer recommends it. Influencers establish a trust and authenticity with their followers and they can help shed light on your brand in a positive way.

3. Successful influencers are popular for a reason: because they know how to reach their audience and they know what works. Use their expertise to position your brand in the best way.

• 30% of consumers under 32 spend time on social media reading peer written content.

• 47% of US readers consult blogs to find new trends and ideas.

• 20% of women will consider buying products supported by their influencers.

source: digitalbrandinginstitute.com

How to Work with an Influencer – The Do’s:

Finding the right influencer for your brand takes a bit of research. Start by searching for the people in your industry who have a lot of engagement with their users. Your instinct might be to go after the person who has the most followers, but try to resist doing so as the amount of traction their posts get is more important than just the follower count. It is also important to find someone who you feel is genuine. Someone who is all about selling themselves is less likely to have a promising group of followers.

Once you have found the people you would like to work with, reach out to them. It is important when doing this that you approach them the right way. You can start by complimenting them on their content, share any similar interests you may have or even suggest different ways of increasing exposure by sharing their content or sharing quotes from them on your platforms. It is key here to be genuine in your outreach. Influencers would be beneficial to your brand and they may not need for you to share their content, but offering to do so creates a mutually valuable dynamic.

Next, you’ll have to show your potential influencers what the value is of what you’re trying to sell. They need to believe in your product as much as you do so that if they recommend it to their followers, it comes from a genuine place. You also need to make sure they have an understanding and a mutual belief in why their users would want this product too. How would this product benefit their own followers? After all, influencers are a brand too and they want to maintain being an authentic voice for their followers. It is not beneficial to them to recommend something that is off-brand.

The Don’ts:

Be aware of the potential for fake influencer accounts out there. A fake influencer account might look like they have a lot of followers, but they won’t have a lot of posts and they won’t have a consistent number of likes on their posts. Unfortunately, we live in a world where people can purchase fake followers to boost their follower count and can use stock images as if they were their own authentic generated content. It is also equally important to set up a deal with your chosen influencers ahead of time that includes a contract. An influencer cannot guarantee a direct response rate from their followers; however, setting up terms of your relationship ahead of time will set expectations of what content is generated by them, and you won’t get a surprise invoice from them after you thought you paid them already in free product.

Expectations:

Social media is all about exposure and brand awareness. Working with influencers can grow your brand’s reach in an authentic way. A genuine product review and feature from an influencer can establish a level of trust associated with your brand and attract the interest of their users. Keep in mind, it is unrealistic to expect that working with an influencer means you will automatically receive an instant set of built-in new followers for your brand and an instant boost in sales. It is still up to you to continue generating your own content that further supports this level of trust so users are more likely to purchase your product or service.

Conclusion:

Working with influencers, the right ones for your brand, can only benefit your brand’s social media presence. It’s like getting great product or service reviews from a good friend you trust but with a lot more exposure. That is something you cannot compare to a simple paid advertisement that lacks authenticity. Take the time to do the research to find the best people who will complement and grow your brand.

Sources: Entrepreneur.com, digitalbrandinginstitute.com