Influencer Marketing?

Who are influencers?

So, as some of you may have noticed by now, social media has become quite the phenomenon. Influencers are basically individuals, or sometimes brands who have made a name for themselves in a particular niche on social media platforms. These folks usually occupy a certain space on channel like youtube, instagram, facebook, twitter etc. They usually have quite a following in a certain area like fashion, home decor, cooking, the outdoor industry etc. Once someone has built a significant following on a particular platform they now become the targets of brands to engage them in a relationship that often includes free products and or financial compensation in exchange for them to help promote their products to their followers.

How does it work?

Influencer campaigns work by getting the individual to use, wear or incorporate their products into their posts, mentions, videos etc. There is usually an arrangement in terms of the amount of posts they will do for the product, amount of mentions etc. By having individuals who have gained an organic following for their content, marketers can leverage their “influence” with their followers to draw more attention to their product.

The main advantage of this form of marketing over traditional advertising or paid social campaigns is that the recomendation of the product is coming from someone outside of the organizatoin, someone who has gained a loyal following and has the ability to promote the product in a non promotional type of way. Of course you think your product is great, but it means more coming from other people. In fact the best campaigns are the ones where the ads do not look like ads at all.

Of course larger brands, marketing agencies and PR firms are all over this space. However, smaller brands and businesses can take advantage of this as well.

How to find an incluencer to work with…

If you think this form of markeitng may be beneficial to you or your clients you will first need to identify individuals in your space who have a sizeable following. Most brands look for users with more than 50,000 followers or subscribers, larger brands are looking for folks over 100,000 and up. Start by searching hashtags related to your industry or product line, or youtube searches relevant to your field. Begin to compile a list of potential influencers, look to see if they have good post engagement (likes, shares, comments etc.). Once you have identified potential influencers to work with, gameplan a strategy that you think might be beneficial in terms of compensation, amount of posts, free products etc. Then contact those influencers and see if they would be interested in collaborating.