5 Tips for Working with Social Media Influencers

If you are looking for a boost to your social media marketing, activate consumers, and reach new audiences, working with a social media influencer can liven up your marketing campaigns. A social media influencer is well known to a particular audience and possesses the ability to steer their followers to take action. Think “popular” but not necessarily “celebrity.”

To work with an influencer, you first need to identify the right one to promote your brand. The goal behind influencer marketing is to enlist a higher profile individual to post about or talk about your product in a way that is authentic to their brand, complementary to your brand, and more engaging than traditional digital marketing.

Here are five tips to consider as you embark on a social media influencer marketing campaign.

1. Pick Based on Audience

Know your ideal customer and look for social media influencers who attract a similar audience if you want to reach more of the same. Ask potential influencers for both demographic and psychographic data on their following. A professional influencer will know not only the gender, age and location of their audience but also online shopping habits and other personal interests.

2. Pick Based on Platform

Influencers can be popular and influential on several social networks, but typically they are more influential on a main one. The top social networks for influencer marketing are Instagram and Instagram Stories, YouTube, and Facebook, although each influencer may have sway on other platforms including Twitter, Pinterest, TikTok, and even Snapchat.

If you are looking to attract more of the same type of customer, stick to influencers who are popular on your main social network. If you’re looking to expand your prospects to a different demographic, find an influencer on the social network that most appeals to that audience.

Keep in mind if you’re mostly using Facebook to market your business but your ideal influencer is big on Instagram, you’ll need to determine if your goal is to grow your Instagram following or if you are going to develop a campaign that drives traffic from Instagram to your Facebook Page. Another option is to drive consumers directly to your online store or some other site where they can take action such as entering a contest or responding to a survey.

3. Pick Based on Engagement

When looking for a social media influencer to promote your product, service or brand, don’t immediately gravitate toward people with high follower numbers. Instead, go for the ones who get higher engagement. Look for frequent interactions with their audience.

Ask influencers for their engagement and conversion numbers, not “reach.” Reach is more of a made-up number, a multiple of followers instead of actual connections. More successful influencer relationships depend on an influencer’s followers actively engaging, responding, and acting on their recommendations.

4. Collaborate on Direction

Work closely with your Influencer to come up with campaigns that are on-target for their audience as well as for your brand. You know your brand, but they should know their audience and what would be most appealing to them. Your social media influencer marketing campaigns should not be cookie cutter. Be flexible enough to fit into an influencer’s conversations while still maintaining the integrity of your brand.

5. Determine the Call to Action

Every social media influencer campaign should have a clear and strong call to action or an obvious way for an influencer’s audience to find you, engage with you, or otherwise connect with you. One obvious call to action is to buy a product. Many influencers are open to using affiliate links to receive a commission on each sale they generate from their marketing efforts in addition to their marketing fees.

Getting to a sale in social media marketing can take time, even with the help of an influencer. Do not discount the value of the brand awareness you will receive working with a social media influencer.

Expect to pay anywhere from a few hundred dollars for a mention, product placement, or post to several thousand or more. If you are a local business, work with a local influencer who is well liked and known in your region. Local influencers may not have millions of followers, but their influence could still drive awareness and sales and their fees may be more affordable than a nationally recognized influencer. A social media influencer should be a trusted partner invested in the success of your marketing campaigns. Pick wisely and leverage their influence with care.