Influencers rule social media because they have the one thing that marketers strive to build with their audience: trust. Local bloggers, celebrities, and industry leaders are authorities in their niche with followers who trust their opinion. In fact, according to the Digital Marketing Institute, three-quarters of consumers trust opinions they find on social media to help them make purchasing decisions.
We know from our why your brand needs a social influencer post that influencers can increase your brand’s awareness, conversion, and exposure—but where exactly do you find these influencers, and how do you determine which ones are the best fit?
The best place to find influencers may be right under your nose. Actually, they may already be following you. If you want to find influencers who are passionate about your brand, take a look at who is following you or talking about your brand on social media. There are tools that are either free with limited features or paid with a free trial, such as FollowerWonk, which you can use to analyze your followers and see who has the most social authority or influence.
With tools like Buzzsumo, you can search for hashtags and keywords, and target by location, to find subject matter experts in your region who may be interested in your brand.
Analyzing your followers is an easy way to find influencers who are a natural fit for your brand, and it’s something we do for our clients, including Ottawa’s favourite bagel shop, Kettlemans Bagel. As their social media agency, we pay close attention to who’s following and talking about them on social media so we can build relationships and coordinate mutually beneficial collaborations and giveaways.
Another option you have to find influencers is websites, such as #paid or NARCITY, that connect brands to influencers/bloggers who are open to paid brand partnerships. Through #paid, you can search for influencers by theme (fitness, lifestyle, etc.), location, follower-size and more. We leveraged #paid for a campaign for the Canadian Paralympics Committee that challenged Canadians to try to keep up with the athletes through a series of hardcore training videos.
To recruit local parent bloggers to generate content for Calypso Theme Water Park about their family experiences and state-of-the-art rides, we reached out to blogger groups, such as Yummy Mummy Club and SavvyMom. First, we put together a list of criteria for the types of bloggers we were looking for—including their location and follower-size. Next, we contacted the different blogger groups through their website or email, communicated what we were trying to achieve, and asked for rate cards. Once we were matched with suitable bloggers and vetted them, we created a blogger kit with key messages and organized an event inviting them to enjoy the day at Calypso with a free family pass, in exchange for writing content about the park. (They were also paid their rate/fee).
There are subscription apps, such as Node, that for a small monthly fee can help connect your brand with influencers who are willing to promote your business in exchange for free product or services. This can be useful if you own a start-up and are trying to gain traction on social media without spending thousands of dollars.
If you’d like to broaden your search, there are many other tools you can use to find influencers:
- Awario – A social listening tool you can use to find influencers by monitoring keywords
- SocialRank – Influencer discovery platform, offers a free Instagram influencer search tool
- TruFan by SocialRank – Tools for finding and analyzing your audience
- Traackr – A data-driven influencer marketing platform
- Tribe Dynamics – An expansive influencer database with over 120,000 content creators
- Upfluence – An influencer network with access to 3M+ profiles
Once you have a good list of potential influencers, the next step is to do your research to determine if the influencers are a good fit for your brand. Ask yourself:
- Do their values line up with the core values of your brand?
- Is their audience a reflection of who you would want to follow your brand?
- Do they cover controversial topics that may hurt your brand’s reputation?
- Is it a low risk or a high risk partnership?
After you’ve vetted your influencers, it’s time to reach out to them. If you are using a paid service website, they will make the connection for you. If you are reaching out organically, you can do so discreetly in an email or a private message on social media. Remember that influencers get tons of notifications and emails so you may need to be creative in your approach. Determine what you can offer to the influencer and how you will get their attention.
At Acart, we connect our clients to influential people all the time. Whether you want to boost your brand’s social media engagements, increase web traffic, sell products or services, or promote an initiative—our team can help with it all. Get in touch with us today to find out how we can help you reach your business objectives.