After we discussed what Influencer marketing is and how to become an influencer, there is one burning question left to answer. How can you find the right influencer for your brand and maximise your ROI? You are really lucky for reading this post, not only because I'm going to give you some really good tips, but also because you can now download a list of 100 US and UK Influencers for free! I did that specially for you!
Where do I find Influencers?
As we said before, influencers are several types and usually divided by platforms. Just like I did in my list! You have the bloggers, the social influencers - on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest and the vloggers, who usually focus on their YouTube channel.
Step n.1 for you when looking for a suitable influencer would be finding out where your target audience spends the most time. Do they like reading articles? Or would they prefer scrolling down their Instagram feed for some fresh content? Perhaps they don't have no time for dulling and just like to watch a good video that gives them information, know-how or some sort of other content that they consider valuable. Once you know where your target audience is concentrated, you can start looking for influencers who are active and popular on that platform.
How to choose the right influencer?
If you have already checked the list you would have seen that on each platform there are many different influencers. You need to choose the niche or topic that is closest to your business. For example, if you are a cleaning company, you can connect with home & garden or family lifestyle influencers. If you are a restaurant or a cafe, you could work with a lifestyle or food influencer. The possibilities are endless. You just need to think outside of the box.
How do I know they are really good?
Now that you know where to look for an influencer and what topics should they cover, you need to do your due diligence. In the case of social influencers, it is pretty easy. For Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, look at the number of followers as a starting
point. Anything above a 1.5k followers has potential to bring you results. Remember, nano influencers are a growing trend in 2019! The bigger the number, the more chances you have to get a high return of investment. Having said that, of course, influencers with large social numbers will charge you more.
The followers number is just one thing you should be looking at, though! Engagement rates are much more important. Some people are cheeky enough to buy fake followers and pretend like they are supper popular, but because their followers aren't actually real, the engagement rates under their publications are very low. That's how an account with 50k followers gets only 100-200 likes and 20 comments. Beware of such "influencers", they are NOT good for your business. A fair percentage for the followers-engagement ratio is 10%-20%.
When it comes to YouTubers, again you need to look at the subscribers, the views of the last 3-4 videos, as well as the likes and comments.
For bloggers it's a little trickier. Not every good influencer will display number of visits on their website or get hundreds of comments or shares. So, what do we do in such a scenario? We contact the blogger directly and ask for their blog stats - unique monthly/weekly visits, user's time spent on website, bounce rate and number of shares or reactions from readers if these are not displayed on the blog. What you should be looking for is more than 2k monthly viewers, no less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds average time spent on the site by users and bounce rate lower than 80%. If the blogger can demonstrate lots of social shares or comments that's a huge bonus.
How do I contact an Influencer and how much would it cost me?
You can contact bloggers directly on their website. Many of them even have a "Work with Me" section, which they've created just for you. Message them politely, complementing their blog and express your interest in working with them. Depending on how popular and established they are, they could agree on a free collaboration with you, meaning you have to send them some of your products for free and they will write about them. The more experienced and famous influencers normally have different packages for brand advertisement - it could be a blog post (or a few), as well as a post on a social media channel where they are active. Essentially, you will be able to negotiate so both parties are happy.
It's pretty similar with social influencers and YouTubers, too. You can just send them a direct message on the platform and enquire about their services or discuss possible ways of working together.
If you've decided to try influencer marketing to grow your business and you are the shy type, you must change your type. You could land an amazing deal that won't cost you a fortune (and sometimes no money at all! ) but if you don't ask, you shall not be given.
I hope you've already got your hands on my specially curated list of 100 US and UK Influencers. I spent days sourcing all these amazing guys and girls who would be happy to work with you. If you haven't yet, I really don't know what you are waiting for. Get it here now, completely free!
