Working with influencers to grow your brand

Influencers can help you grow your audience.  

If you’re struggling to find new ways to make meaningful connections with new and existing audiences, you should consider working with influencers.  

With the rise of social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok, There’s no denying the fact that we’re living in the age of the influencer. 

While there are certainly brands and influencers that don’t do everything in the most ethical ways, when done professionally, influencer marketing is a terrific avenue to make connections, new fans, and increase your brand’s reach.    

If you’re thinking of running an influencer marketing campaign, we’ve put together a few tips you should follow before working with influencers. 

Do your homework

Before entering into any professional relationships, it is your responsibility to do your homework and make sure your business is protected. Think about your hiring process. When you’re considering a potential hire, you most likely read a cover letter, hold more than one interview, and check references. You should take a similar approach to working with influencers.

As a general rule, make sure you check the following: 

• Do a quick audit of their social media presence
• Make sure they haven’t previously worked with any of your competitors
• Verify their followers? Many people inflate their audience by buying followers. 
• Compare all their social media pages. What they do on Facebook may not be to the same standard as what they do on Twitter. 

Just like an influencer should do their research on your brand, it’s on you to make sure your values align and there’s nothing in this new relationship that has the potential to damage your image. 

Make sure you measure results

The impact of an influencer marketing campaign can be difficult to measure. And that’s why you need to make sure you have processes in place to track results. Working with influencers is still evolving, and it can be hard to measure results. To be perfectly honest, a perfect method of tracking and measuring influencer campaigns doesn’t exist. For instance, on a blog you can have trackable links and measure audiences, but there are less options on Snapchat and Instagram. Branded hashtags are a fantastic way to keep a track on the effectiveness of your influencer campaigns.

We have found that if you measure everything (sales, social conversations, Amazon page views, retail sales, search volume, etc.) you will find some interesting correlations and results. These will allow you to optimise and prioritise and prove the campaign’s value to your finance department.

Does your influencer actually like your product?

On the surface, many people are extremely sceptical of working with influencers and influencers in general. If you are considering running an influencer marketing campaign, not only do you need to choose someone who aligns with your brand’s values, but you need to make sure they actually like your product. Anyone can endorse a product, but if that endorsement isn’t genuine, people will be able to tell. 

Don’t be too controlling

If you’re working with influencers, regardless of their size, they’ll likely have a style and a brand image of their own. Instead of trying to control exactly what your influencer is posting, what it looks like, and when it gets posted, let the process be as collaborative as possible. While it’s important for what your influencer is posting to be on brand for your business, you need to remember that they need to protect their own image, too.  

Don’t put all your budget into the same influencer

When we think of working with influencers, our minds tend to go straight to the biggest names with the largest follower counts. While working with an influencer with millions of followers, it’s an incredibly expensive route to go down, and it may not even be the best option for your brand.

It’s important to remember that there are varying levels of influencer. Depending on what you’re trying to achieve with your campaign, you might not need an influencer with a massive following. If you’re just starting out in the world of influencer marketing, try starting small before reaching for the stars.   

Need help with your own influencer campaigns? Check out our Working with Influencers webinar.