In my last blog, I wrote about the effectiveness of Influencer Marketing in Video Games, but it will not be useful for your business if you do not approach it correctly. I want to use this blog to help you implement Influencer Marketing into your strategy. 

Target Market Goals

Before we can start to look at influencers, it is essential to determine your target audience. When you do this, you will know their demographics and will better be able to reach them. Knowing your target audience will tell you where they are and, therefore, where to spend money.

For example, if your target audience is between the ages of 13-17, you would be better off using an Influencer on Instagram than on Facebook. Why? According to SproutSocial, this age group is 21% more likely to be active on Instagram. After you have determined where your audience is, it is time to find an Influencer on that platform.

Make a list of possible candidates

Now I know that nobody is perfect, Miley Cyrus told us that, but during this process of choosing an influencer, it is crucial to be nitpicky. In your mind, start to picture your ideal influencer. What do they look like? What do they do? Are they funny? An Influencer is a person that will be representing your brand, so they must look and act the part! What we have started doing for our clients at Exothermic is creating a Google Sheet with important information about influencers like:

• Name
• Where they live? (country-wise)
• Main Channel/Platform
• Industry
• All of their social media links
• Platform Statistics (number of followers, views, engagement rates, how often they post – data pulled on a specific date)
• Contact Info

Investigate them

I am not saying that you should hire Tom Selleck to follow these people around IRL, but what I am saying is that you need to be watching your potential Influencers closely. What is the tone that they use on social media? Is it negative? Keep reminding yourself that you are entrusting someone with your brand, and you want that represented adequately. For example, if an Influencer has said some things that were bad for PR, it is probably a good idea to find a different influencer (no worries there are a lot). 

Do they connect with your brand?

You want to find someone that can show a genuine passion for your company. Therefore having a large audience is not the only qualifier. It would be more beneficial to find a smaller audience that will convert than a broader audience that won’t. Find an influencer that is active in your niche!

How to engage with the influencers

Now that you have selected the influencers you would like to work with; it is time to reach out. You can do this by sending them an email or direct messaging them on the platform that you want them to use. Start a conversation! Do not just DM an influencer and say, “How much for a post?” Show that you have done your homework and use this conversation to learn more.  

1. 1. Introduce yourself and your business. Now is the time when you instill passion in your company. Why would they want to work with your brand? 
   2. Request data from the influencer. Before you hire an influencer, you want to see how they have done in the past. Can you show me an example of a campaign similar to this one and how your audience preformed? What was the engagement rate on this type of post?
   3. Price. It is essential to understand that you are paying for a service. This person has the audience they do because of their time and personality. You are paying for time in front of their audience. It is beneficial for you to go into the proposal negotiations with a price range in mind. Buffer has an article about the cost of influencer marketing. In the article, they give an estimate of how much you will be paying:

• Instagram – $10 per 1,000 followers
• YouTube – $20 per 1,000 subscribers
• Snapchat – $10 per 1,000 followers

If you do not want to do this yourself, there are influencer marketing agencies with the experience of acting as the middleman between the business and the Influencer.

And an important thing to note – if you do engage directly with influencers in your marketing, make sure you protect yourself. Make sure you (and your influencers) know the rules on disclosures. Treat them as a contractor and set payment terms. It’s important that both sides are legally safe in this exchange.

(Even just giving a game away for free can require disclosure!)

As we have seen, influencer marketing can be effective. Doing your homework and treating the Influencer with the respect that you would want are things that will automatically set you apart.  Implementing the steps above going forward will help your business get the most out of your marketing strategy.