I never in a million years thought I would have to write this kind of article again. But every day, I get an email from PR person trying to get me to cover their client. Every. Day. None of these people have realized that I’m not even an influencer, and my audience has nothing in common with their client. It’s… something…
I received one today, and I was within an inch of replying back that I was interested. And then just ride it until they realized they screwed up. But I’m busy and have better things to do. In other words, I can’t wait until I’m bored enough when I receive one of these. It’s gonna be a good time.
But we probably should move on from my questionable idea of a good time.
How can you prevent people like me from wasting your time? And more importantly, how can you protect your brand? Let’s take a look at some of the things you should be researching.
Niche
Before you contact an influencer, you should have a good idea of what they post about. And if your brand has no connection to it, then you should move onto something else.
This seems like common sense, but the amount of emails I get asking me to write about the most random stuff tells me otherwise.
Just looking at keywords is not enough. You need to go to their chosen platform and really look at what the content is. Keyword research has taught me that what I think a keyword might mean can be completely different than what someone else thinks it means. So you can’t skip looking at the actual content behind that keyword.
A lack of time is the most likely culprit here. It can be daunting when you have an upcoming campaign that needs like ten influencers to be successful. So cutting corners can feel like the logical next step. That will end up making you seem like spam to potential influencers. And you chance having an influencer who is a very bad fit for your brand.
So don’t wait until you need them. Start getting to know potential influencer content before you need them to create for you. When there is no upcoming campaign, make sure you are looking at a couple influencers a week. Get a feel for their content and whether it would ever fit your brand.
Audience
There can be many different audiences within a niche. For example, if you are looking for a mom influencer, you have to break that down further. Do you want them to have a working mom audience? Or maybe a stay-at-home audience? Are they DIYers? Or are they the anti-DIYers? Nailing down the audience for your brand and knowing who you are going after will answer a lot of those questions.
Take a look at their engagement and confirm that their content is attracting the kind of audience you want. Yes, you can ask an influencer for more information on this, but having an idea of their audience before you engage with them will make sure neither of you waste your time in the long-term.
Does this seem like a lot of work before you even engage the influencer? Yes. But like I said before, if you spread this work over a long period of time, checking engagement of influencers will make your life easier when a campaign does come along. And it helps you to make sure you’re not getting someone whose only engagement is from engagement circles or otherwise faked. That will save your brand a whole lot of money you might have spent on an influencer who won’t give you anything back.
Voice
Not every voice is for every brand. Someone who uses a whole lot of foul language without a full grasp of grammar? Probably not for any brand I have worked with. Or even someone who needs luxurious everything? I can’t think of a brand I would put them with either.
Read what they write and listen to what they say. And then listen to how they say and write it. Is it something you can align your brand with? Even if the audience and content is otherwise perfect, you might have to say no.
Your brand reputation is more important than the audience any influencer might bring. You don’t want to get stuck in a situation where you alienated your existing audience just because you wanted to stretch to try something new. Does this mean that you should never try anything new with your brand? No. It’s more like know the values you and your audience hold true, and make sure the voice of any influencers does not contradict that.
Size of audience
Larger is better, right? Nope. The larger the audience, the less likely they are to take action. A lot of that is because those with large audiences tend to take a lot of brand deals, so their audience is almost trained to ignore those posts.
On the other hand, influencers at the mid-level and lower don’t get that many brand deals. So the ones that they have mean more to both them and their audience. You’ll likely get a higher level of content from them and more action taken from their audience. In other words, your budget will go much further.
It seems counterintuitive, but large influencers just aren’t for everyone. Yes, there are always exceptions to the rule, but I just wouldn’t count on it. Especially when many influencers expect large amounts of money, you really have to be sure that your budget is going to the right people who will get you the most business.
If you wonder if a particular influencer will work for you after you’ve checked out who they are and who their audience is, talk to them. They should be able to provide you analytics, including how much business they have brought to other brands. If they can’t do that, it’s best to move on. There are a lot of influencers in the world. You don’t have to be stuck with one who doesn’t fit what you want.
How are you researching influencers? What are you looking for?