When TVs were the new cool thing, celebrity endorsements were the ultimate marketing strategy to get a brand the recognition it needed.

While times have changed and social media channels are now everyone’s favorite hangout, people are still influenced by celebrity/influencer endorsed brands, making influencer marketing an essential part of any branding strategy.

Through influencer marketing, small businesses and startups that cannot afford expensive advertising can increase awareness of their product or service.

Why is influencer marketing important?

People are increasingly spending more time on social media platforms for all their entertainment, news and social bonding needs. They’re also looking to leaders to educate them on the best options available, leading to a new brand of celebrities known as influencers. Products and services recommended by influencers are in high demand due to the trust factor that people associate with these influencers. All of this leads to an increasing focus on influencer marketing and building strategies that involve the same.

Influencers have been shown to increase awareness of your brand among their followers better than any form of advertising. Additionally, people tend to be more influenced by the decisions of their favorite content creators than celebrities because they are more relatable. Now that you understand why influencer marketing is essential, let’s look at how you can incorporate this into your marketing strategy!

Source: Unsplash

Where do you find the right influencer or partner for your brand?

There are thousands of companies and startups investing in influencer marketing every day. A few years ago, before influencer marketing wasn’t very well known, the only way to find the right influencer for your brand was to do your research, find the right hashtags on social media, and track down the influencer who was going to fits your niche.

But today, many agencies or platforms are making influencer marketing more accessible and less time-consuming. You can visit their websites and provide the information you want about your ideal influencer such as:

• Desired Platform – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, or Tumblr
• The number of followers you want – usually a range of followers, which also sets the minimum limit
• The destination where the influencer’s audience should be located/or the place you want to target
• Influencer engagement rate
• The desired niche that fits your company or startup
• The languages ​​they speak that you want to address

After entering the description, you will get a list of influencers that match your needs to analyze their profile. First, review the content they post and the engagement they have among their followers to identify the best influencer that is right for your brand. This step is crucial as some influencers tend to buy their followers, which is not the right practice. Most of their followers might be bots and fake accounts that will not bring you engagement nor help you grow.

What are the best platforms to find influencers?

Several websites can provide you with information and a list of suitable influencers. However, you need to find the right platform to get authentic influencers in your desired location. To get you started, our team has shortlisted some of the best platforms for finding and managing influencers for you.

• HYPRBrands – Built for marketers, this platform will help you and your business connect with the best influencer in your niche, helping you save time and effort.
• Heepsy- Helps you connect with an influencer on Instagram or YouTube.
• Grin.co – This is a creator management and affiliate marketing website that aims to create awareness. This site has everything in one place including tools and systems for calculating engagement and everything a brand needs.
• Fourstarzz – helpful for small to medium sized businesses and retailers to find the right influencers and audience in their niche

Source: Unsplash

What to think about when looking for influencers?

Like any other industry, the influencer industry has certain rules to remember before investing. Here are a few to watch out for

• Real Followers – When you find the perfect influencer through an agency, you don’t have to worry about their profile or engagement as you can hold the agency accountable for everything they do. If you still find one, be sure to check the followers and engagement. A real influencer account will have engagement where likes and comments are credible. This is not that difficult, but should be noted.
• Engagement Rate – Engagement is critical to the success of any campaign. Make sure the influencer’s engagement is good. The formula for calculating engagement is to add up the number of likes and comments on a recent post and divide that by the number of followers, giving their total engagement.
• Content Quality – Most influencers are popular because of their lifestyle, habits, or talents. If you’re looking for someone who could add value to your business, you need access to the content of their handles.
  A perfect selfie or photo of your dog won’t get your brand anywhere. Not accessing your influencer’s content can also create a negative brand image, which is not good in the long run.

Find the influencer that would be perfect to be the face of your brand!

Now that you know how to find the best influencer for your business, remember to keep your expectations up! Influencer marketing is a great way to build awareness of your brand and get people talking, but is it getting leads? Yes! But not always.

If you are a B2C business, then yes, the chances of getting more leads and increasing sales are possible. But if you are a B2B business owner, influencer marketing campaigns will increase your awareness but not direct leads.

To get more sales, you need to be patient and build a sales funnel that takes your prospect from a website visitor to a loyal customer forever.