Influencer marketing is growing exponentially, and the market value could rise to $13.8 billion in 2021 and $15 billion in 2022 with no signs of slowing down.
Why? Since influencers can establish a bond with their followers by acting as trustworthy people. However, finding perfect influencers for your brand is not an easy task.
So how to pick influencers wisely for your affiliate business?
This post will give you a rundown of the influencer recruitment process to help you choose and work with the right influencers for your online business.
Let’s begin!
How to choose the right influencers?
Many factors lie behind the success of an influencer recruitment campaign you may ignore. This first part will reveal.
Influencer recruitment – Understand types of influencers.
There are many levels of influence with which you might choose to become your brand ambassador, depending on your business types and sizes.
Mega influencers (Celebrities)
On social media, those with over a million followers are celebrities, or in this case, you could refer to them as ‘mega-influencers’.
This influencer type is distinct in that it has amassed the most significant social media followings conceivable.
Mega influencers are your most superb choice if you want to reach a large public audience and gain significant exposure. However, they come at a super high cost. A single post may earn millions of dollars for them.
An example of mega influencers on Instagram is Kylie Jenner and Kendall Jenner, two gorgeous girls from the world-famous Kardashian-Jenner clan, who is the queen of social media. Each promotion post on Instagram will keep their fans eagerly buying the products.
Macro influencers
Macro influencers are those from 100K followers to 1 million followers. They include well-known bloggers, vloggers, podcasters, and social media sensations rising to prominence through the internet.
They are professionals at using social networks creatively and generating unique user-generated content that can improve brand awareness and exposure because they are frequently content providers.
Working with these sorts of social media influencers will still be expensive, but it will be less costly than working with a celebrity or well-known influencers.
An excellent example of a macro influencer is @caroline_hu, a digital creator.
Caroline made her name as an emerging fashion adopter on Instagram and talked about how she uses the platform to connect consumers and businesses.
Micro-influencers
This following of this sort of influencer runs from 1,000 to 100k followers; however, while their following is smaller, they are more involved in the influencer and their specialty.
Micro-influencers are for their subject-matter expertise; they often adhere to one issue and utilize their knowledge to establish thought leadership.
As a result, micro-influencers are considerably more successful at driving the action(s) your brand needs to accomplish the objectives of an influence marketing campaign.
Nano influencers
Finally, there are the Nano Influencers, who have 1k to 10k followers. They’re usually simple to contact, and if you’re a well-known brand, they could even be willing to trade services for exchanging services for products.
Criteria to consider for influencer recruitment
- Credibility
Are they culturally credible and aligned with brands that they work with?
The credibility of content authors in their niche or field is quite important. You should hire influencers who have a track record of success. Their content must also be consistent with the principles they profess to represent.
For a successful collaboration, reliability, honesty, and professionality are essential.
For example, your business is selling vegetarian products; if someone preaches vegetarian online yet collaborates with products made from beef meat could not be the best suitable for your hiring campaign.
That’s why before approaching an influencer, browse over their recent posts and see which businesses they’ve previously worked with to see if they’re a suitable fit for what you’re looking for.
- Engagement
Engagement rate = (likes + comments) / total number of the influencers’ followers
Between 1% and 3.5% = average/good engagement rate
From 3.5% to 6% = high engagement rate
Above 6% = very high engagement rate
When an influencer’s followers’ engagement rate is high, it shows they are paying attention and taking action. And it’s about a lot more than how many people like their posts or how many followers they have!
As a result, many businesses and Instagram agencies analyze engagement rates to determine which influencers are best.
For example, to figure out an influencer’s Instagram engagement rate, divide the number of likes and comments on their posts by the number of followers, then multiply by 100 to get a percentage.
- Followers
A number always has a story attached to it. Check to see whether an influencer’s audience matches the target demographic for your brand.
Suspicious accounts may be following a particular influencer. It’s also possible that their target audience is uninterested in the content they’ve produced, which should raise an apparent red signal.
Check to see whether and how the influencer engages with their target audience. If their account’s community management is non-existent, and their followers don’t participate in conversations, engagement throughout your campaign with that influencer may be poor as well.
- Post content
Browse an influencer’s postings before approaching them to see whether the content consistently uploaded is suitable for becoming your brand ambassador (your niche).
You’ll probably notice that some social media influencers project an online image that isn’t following yours. Examine an influencer’s previous postings to ensure that you won’t be caught off guard once your collaboration begins.
- Location
Geographic location is essential in deciding which influencers to work with, depending on your hiring goals and company size.
Consider if your recruiting strategy is taking a global or a local approach and whether the places you’re attempting to fill are regionally specialized. Is your ideal influencer willing to speak your language?
That’s why you may limit down your search for content creators by answering these questions.
# Use Influencer Research Tools to analyze
There are now tons of third-party tools such as Fohr Card, SocialBlade, Saral, and People Map that can help you with your influencer campaign!
People Map allows you to look for relevant influencers in your field and compare their average engagement rate and average likes per post, making it simple to assess an influencer’s reach:
Plus, with People Map, you can honestly narrow down your niche study and uncover active and involved people in your sector.
For example, if you’re a streetwear fashion brand, you might be able to identify an Instagram influencer that promotes streetwear trends.
You may save time and identify just the influencers who are most relevant to you and your business by using People Map’s search filters based on most used hashtags, follower count, caption, and bio keywords, and much more.
Do’s and Don’ts for influencer recruitment
Do: Hire influencers within your budget
Make sure you’re clear about your planned budget, regardless of the advertising bundle paper you’re given. There are several influences available at a wide variety of pricing depending on their types.
If you come across one that appears excellent but is too expensive, pass it up.
Consider which influencer types will be the best fit for your brand first, so deciding the price of influencer recruitment will be much easier.
Don’t: Unworthy influencers fee
Your influencers are well aware of their value. If you can’t match their current budget, ask this easy question: “For this campaign, we have a current budget of $X.” We appreciate that you are unable to provide your complete range of services, but what benefits might you provide for that price?”
Once you’ve figured out what they can do for your budget, decide if this is something you want to pursue. Most influencers will be happy to accept smaller payments if you ask for fewer conditions.
Do: Choose suitable influencers
When choosing an influencer to work with, you already know how vital analytics, audience demographics, and prior sponsorships are. However, there are a few more details to double-check.
Check out the content of an influencer before reaching out. As much as influencers would like to accept every pitch, some businesses provide items or services that aren’t aligned with their values. You’ll be able to remark particularly on the material you’ve viewed, which will increase the quality of your email outreach with the influencer.
Look at the tone of voice and style of the influencer first. Influencers that misuse emojis and do not adhere to your aesthetic standards might affect your business image if your brand is known for its clean design and discreet communication.
Don’t: Opt for quantity over quality
It’s a fallacy to believe that enlisting the help of an influencer is the final step in your marketing strategy. You can opt to collaborate with several influencers to either enhance the volume of your campaign or achieve specific targets inside the overall frame, depending on the goals you choose.
However, never forget to focus on quality more than quantity. Spending much money on hiring too many brand ambassadors does not equivalent to the success of your influencer marketing campaign.
Do: Contact influencers via email
The easiest way to contact influencers about a brand engagement is via email. You may find bloggers’ email addresses on their social media pages (typically in their bio) or contact pages. Influencers are notorious for being very forthcoming with their contact information.
If you can’t locate it, send them a direct message on the social media site where they seem most active and ask for it.
Because the first message you send to an influencer may make or break a partnership, it’s essential taking the time to make sure you’re reaching out accurately.
Here is some influencer email outreach template you can refer to.
Don’t: Contact them in comment sections
The comment section, or the comment part of any public post, is not the appropriate location to ask for a partnership offer. Public remarks are often forgotten, and they might provide you with free PR.
Not only that, but it detracts from the post’s original purpose. Probably, there was a call to action in the position that your remark didn’t address. Instead, be kind and use their email address.
Wrapping up
The guide outlined above provides a clear roadmap for the best influencers recruitment for your brand. Once you’ve found the right influencers, you’ll be able to reap the full benefits of influencer marketing for your business.
