The competition in the world of business is becoming stronger every day, no matter what kind of niche you are in. Add the fact that the average customer is also evolving, and you have quite a mountain to climb.
When everything seems lost, social media should be the thing to turn to, especially these days. It is filled with great opportunities, namely influencers – people who have hundreds of thousands of followers.
How they grew the audience is of no importance. If you decide to work with one, you will need to figure out some things beforehand. The following article might not be the complete guide to getting started with influencer marketing, but the tips below should still be of great use.
Have Clear Goals
Do not begin your campaign without having a clear vision of things that you expect to happen. Setting goals will make the whole thing more effective.
Your purpose for contacting influencers will depend on the type of business you do. Certain influencers will be of more use if you want to increase sales, others will do wonders for improving social media presence.
Target Audience
Having no idea who your target audience is will diminish the effectiveness and you could potentially end up wasting a lot of time and money. Age, location, interests, and other demographics are crucial.
Not having this information makes it very difficult to find the right influencer. In some cases, it might be straight-up impossible.
Smaller Communities
Another rule of thumb for less-established brands would be talking with influencers who are not too popular. It is much easier to get them to cooperate. Moreover, if you are working with a very specific niche, it is more crucial to target a very specific audience. By working with a specific kind of influencer for your niche brand, you’ll be more likely to match the interests of potential consumers in this group. In order to gain their trust and have the perception you’re a reputable brand in this niche, it’s worth looking to secure your TikTok followers via Twicsy or a similar service for other social media platforms. This way, influencers can work to advertise your products to a specific audience, who then turn to see your social media accounts have a large following, which can make you appear more reputable and a more notable player in this specific market.
Look for influencers on social media, Reddit, and Quora. LinkedIn is also a good option.
A Thorough Research
You will be investing quite a lot of resources. Therefore, you need to be certain that the influencer will not be a waste of your time.
It does not take a lot of effort to really research them. Since pretty much everyone is on social media, you can see their history with a few clicks of a button. Not to mention googling for reviews and whether there was any involvement with shady business.
The Audience of the Influencer
It is quite easy to understand the audience you are working with. In other words, if you have been on social media, you should be aware of what your followers are. On the other hand, having such information about influencer’s audience is not that you can access so easily.
Look at the demographics in the comment section. Is it mostly male or female commenters, or is it mixed? Does it look like these users are from English-speaking countries? It is another part of your research, but it should still not be neglected.
Do Not Engage Directly
After you have located a potential candidate, you will need to butter up to him. One of the best ways to do that is by actively participating on social media channels of the said influencers.
Leave comments, share the content, mention their posts on your website, throw in a good word here and there, and before you know it, he or she might be the one to contact you.
Writing a Proposal
It should be a professionally-written letter with all the details. It is more than likely that this influencer receives a lot of inquiries every day, and discard most of them. You need to stand out, and nothing beats a good offer.
Reciprocity
You have to think about reciprocity if you want to end up striking a decent deal. And this does not necessarily have to be the question of money. There are other ways to return the favor for a shoutout or a guest post. The most common ones would be:
- Inviting him or her as a guest on your podcast.
- Inviting him or her to your company’s event.
- Suggesting to co-author something together.
The sweeter your offer is, the more likely you are to strike a partnership deal.
Don’t Expect Perfect Things
It is quite easy to end up disappointed because you get rejected or simply ignored. And even if you are able to get the help of the influencer, it is still possible that the end result will end up disappointing you.
Do not get discouraged if this happens. Rome was not built in a day. You need to keep trying and testing things out before you land on something firm.
Conclusion
To conclude, if you are serious about getting some help from an influencer to boost your brand, follow the tips mentioned above. It will take time before you get the hang of all important details, but as long as you are willing to go through trial and error, things will work out in your favor.