In today’s world, influencers have a huge, well, influence over what consumers purchase and how they view brands’ reputations. They mean big business in terms of brand awareness and revenue. With this in mind, it only makes sense to pursue influencers who are right for your mission, values, and goals. But what makes sense to the influencers you’re courting?
Let’s take a look!
1. Your Brand’s Bio
Your social bio often reveals some things your brand stands for or is entirely against. If you want someone to be an ambassador for a cause you support, you need to advertise that in your social bios.
It’s important to ensure your values align with the influencers you’re trying to work with. For instance, if you’re a beef farmer, it wouldn’t make sense to court a vegan influencer as an ambassador for your brand. Chances are, your bio would steer them away from your steer anyway, but it’s important to understand that this alignment is also essential in less obvious cases.
Influencers will check out your bio and likely read recent posts to see what stuff you talk about and who you are as a brand. This reveals a lot about what your company believes in and whether they should work with your business.
2. Social Stats
Influencers are influencers for a reason — they make a splash with consumers and want to be involved in big projects that give them name recognition.
When approaching a potential influencer, arm yourself with social stats that will help sway them in your direction as they decide about the next brand to endorse.
Here are a few stats you might want to include in your proposal:
- How many social media followers do you have?
- How many posts do you publish weekly or monthly?
- How many authentic stories do you have in your content?
- What numbers can you point to that show engagement between your followers and your brand?
- What kind of high-quality images or videos do you provide in your content?
- What are your goals in terms of audience growth and engagement?
The more numbers and examples you can build under your belt, the more likely an influencer will be to hear you out during the proposition process.
3. Audience Demographics
Audience demographics are just as crucial as social stats. You don’t want to talk to a 23-year-old male fitness instructor if your target demographic is 73-year-old ladies who like to knit (obviously not a good fit).
Your influencers are going to want to know who your people are. Are they primarily male or mostly female? What age range do they fall into? Is there a certain amount of income you can discern from the data you’re provided?
Any demographic data you can have on hand will help you better align with the right influencers for this (and future) influencer campaign.
4. Examples of Past Work
Have you worked with an influencer in the past? If so, be prepared to showcase those campaigns and the stats that came with them. Your future partner will want to see what kind of engagement you got from those efforts. They’ll want to see what type of content that influencer created and ask questions about your thoughts regarding the final product.
If you haven’t previously worked with an influencer, be prepared to show prospects your current and past digital efforts in the marketing sphere. What does your social status look like right now? What kinds of content are you currently producing? What’s worked well in the past, and where can you identify areas of opportunity?
5. Professionalism
Influencers are business people, and they expect to be treated as such. If you set meetings, treat them like any other client or customer; show up on time, have a plan ready, and be prepared.
Influencers want to be treated well when they choose to endorse a brand. After all, the right influencer will bring traffic, engagement, awareness, and, hopefully, conversions to your brand.
6. Personalization
Influencers want to be part of campaigns that are created especially for them. That means they need to be personalized to the skills and interests of the influencers you’re approaching.
They will likely walk away if you approach someone with a canned template. Come to the table showing that you’ve done your research and understand how your brand could best team up with the influencers you’re trying to work with.
Need Help with Influencers?
Zero Gravity Marketing is here to help you! Our well-connected team of social media gurus is happy to help you create an influencer strategy that’s perfect for your brand. We look forward to hearing from you!
