Social media influencers have become the new celebrities, with millions of followers obsessively tracking their every post. Brands are naturally more interested in partnering with influencers to reach potential consumers. However, selecting the wrong influencer can derail an entire marketing campaign. Brands should carefully evaluate necessary criteria when choosing social media influencers for the rapidly growing $13.8 billion influencer marketing industry. Here are seven crucial factors to consider when choosing an influencer:
The Right Category
The most effective influencers specialize in topics like fashion, beauty, fitness, etc. Find an influencer whose expertise aligns with your brand’s products or services. You can use an influencer platform to help brands find the right influencers. Their audience will already be interested in what you’re selling. For example, consider collaborating with an influencer specializing in the skincare niche to boost sales for your new face serum. The influencer can effectively deliver the brand message to the audience and generate better product sales results.
Shared Brand Values
You’re hiring the influencer to represent your brand publicly. Ensure their values, public image, and online presence align with your company’s brand identity. Review their past content, social media posts, and general online footprint before partnering with them.
Good Audience Size
While follower counts shouldn’t be the determining factor, you want an influencer with a good fan base to maximize your campaign’s reach. Check their total following across all social media platforms. However, pay attention to micro-influencers with smaller but highly engaged audiences.
Authentic Audience Engagement
Having a massive following means little if fans don’t actively engage with the influencer’s content. Review the comments and reactions on their recent posts – are people leaving genuine, thoughtful feedback? Or is it a ghost town? You need an influencer whose audience actively participates and interacts.
Natural Content Balance
Be wary of influencers whose feeds are saturated with sponsored content. The ideal is a balanced mix of paid promotions and regular, personal posts. If it’s all ads, followers may start tuning out – including your campaign messaging.
Proven Content Creation Skills
What initially attracted you to that influencer? Likely, their exceptional content creation abilities – stunning visuals, compelling storytelling, engaging videos, etc. Ensure they maintain that same caliber of content quality when representing your brand.
Professionalism and Reliability
An influencer may seem perfect on paper, but your entire campaign could be undermined without professionalism and reliability. Seek out those with a proven track record of responsiveness, delivering on promises, consistent communication, and overall dependability.
Working with influencers is a significant investment for brands, both financially and in terms of resources. However, carefully evaluating these seven factors can help ensure you get maximum value from the partnership and that your message resonates effectively with the intended audience. Please don’t rush into an influencer collaboration without thoroughly checking their expertise and professional reliability. Also, check the influencer marketing platform pricing before running your campaign.
