Social media is one of the most important communication tools for businesses and consumers nowadays. It’s not only where consumers go for entertainment, but for researching new brands and product recommendations. A social agency can help brands develop bespoke strategies across social media and influencer marketing to ensure messaging is shown directly to audiences that will care, in a way that will resonate.
Influencers on social media have built their reputations to be considered experts within their chosen niches. Their audiences trust their opinions, and enjoy seeing snippets into their lives and taking the advice or tutorials the influencers offer. With so many influencers available in all types of niches, it can be overwhelming for brands to discover the best influencer partnerships for their campaigns and messaging.
So, what are some things you should look for in an influencer, as advised by a social agency?
The first, and one of the most important, is authenticity. Consumers demand authenticity nowadays, and actively reject ingenuine content from both influencers and brands. Consumers are savvy. They can tell when an influencer isn’t passionate about what they are promoting, or doesn’t believe in the messaging and values of the brand. The influencer you choose to work with should genuinely support and believe in your brand; the resulting content will be genuine and will resonate with their followers.
The second thing to look for is their audience demographics. It’s all good and well using influencer marketing, but what’s the point if you aren’t using an influencer whose audience is aligned with your own? By working with an influencer with an audience who is made up of your target audience; this way you can guarantee your content is being seen by those who are likely to take action, creating a stronger campaign.
The next consideration is engagement rate and reach. While having buckets of followers is great for brand awareness, having a high engagement rate is better for lasting campaign impact. You want to work with influencers whose audience actively engages with the content they post, going past likes to comments and shares. You should also make sure the influencer responds to their audience. This means they have created a community, which results in more loyal followers.
You should make sure the content your chosen influencer posts is of high quality and valuable. The content needs to align with your brief and tone of voice, include key messaging about the brand, campaign, or product, and be created at a high quality—whether this is a written, filmed, or photographed.
We’ve already mentioned the importance of authenticity, but another consideration is the frequency of other sponsored posts. If you’re scrolling through an influencer’s feed and realise every other post is sponsored, that’s not a good look. Your campaign could be lost in the noise, or not taken seriously and as a money-grab by the influencer—AKA inauthentic. It’s best to work with influencers who are selective about their partnerships.
When working with influencers, you are trusting them to create content on your behalf. To do this, you need to be able to rely on them. If an influencer is difficult to reach, or slow to respond, the likelihood they are reliable is slim. Campaign timelines are usually tight. You need to have influencers eager to create content within a given time frame to ensure there is enough time for various rounds of approval.
The final thing you should look for is the diversity in their content. In an ideal world, your influencer should have social accounts across multiple platforms. This means they can show your message to more people, who are still relevant.
