6 Ways To Find The Perfect Influencer

So, you know you want to integrate influencer marketing into your digital marketing plan to market your brand, to connect with target customers and leverage social proof. But how do you go about finding the perfect collaborator?

Before we share 6 ways to help find influencers, it is important to consider how to qualify influencers.

Influencer and Content Creator Qualification Checklist

Influencer qualification is not about collaborating with the person with the largest following or a strong engagement rate, there are several factors that must be considered when qualifying influencers and content creators as part of an influencer marketing strategy. Here is our influencer qualification checklist we use across client campaigns:

· Campaign budget available

· Amount of followers: Nano, Micro, mid-Macro or Macro. Are followers authentic?

· Are they already brand fans?

· Are they authentic and true to themselves? Audiences dislike nothing more than unauthentic brand partnerships.

· Age – is the influencer themselves the brand’s target audience, considering key demographics?

· Audience Demographics – are their community aligned with the brand’s target audiences?

· Aligning with commercial objectives & customer journey considerations – which influencer/content style is required for each stage, this may

· Platform – which platforms do they have a community eg. Instagram and TikTok

· Is there content Inspirational, Educative and/or Entertaining?

· Content format – eg. are they comfortable with creating Instagram Reels

· Content style – eg. Are they comfortable creating voiceovers or talking to camera?

· Niche – do they focus on a specific topic, eg. Wine or recipes

· Engaged Community – are their community actively engaging with their content, in particular comments, we would consider ‘average engagement rate’ to benchmark qualification

· Are they nurturing their community – eg. Actively responding to comments

· SEO – does the influencer create search optimised social content?

· Flexibility – some influencers are more flexible than others, considering their commitments with other brands

· Industry experience eg. Do they have experience working with alcohol or early-life nutrition brands

· Economy/industry considerations and legislations

· Brand campaign requirement eg. Specific sports team fan

1. Partnering with Brand Fans.

Considering genuine brand fans is a great way to build natural and authentic relationships, that are likely to last long-term. Audiences can see through inauthentic or ‘paid-to-say’ collaborations, so having a genuine brand fan on board is a breath of fresh air. As well as being great for new and relevant content, ideas and perspectives!

This could be an influencer who you have worked with before on a Paid collaboration. It could even be a potential collaborator who you have previously gifted, or who regularly posts high quality content tagging or featuring your brand. Maybe it’s someone who is supportive of your organic content, always liking, commenting and sharing.

If you are a new brand, or launching a new product or service, we would recommend gifting or allowing the influencer to try it out first, to decipher whether they are a fan or not, to encourage authentic partnerships.

2. ‘Suggested for you’ on Instagram

You see the little ‘Suggested for you’ section on Instagram, just under a collaborator’s or brand’s bios? Yep, this may seem too good to be true, but it can really be a simple and quick way to scope out some like-minded influencers who may not have been on your radar before.

3. Good old fashioned research!

We’re not impartial to a bit of digging! Googling press or news articles. Research on the platforms your campaign will be on - whether that’s TikTok or Instagram – through hashtags, key words. Or simply a good scroll! Social pages, such as TV/radio, local awards. Tagged photos in like-minded brands. The better your research, the better the brand fit.

4. Building Boards

What do you do when you’re scrolling and coming across all these amazing content creators and potential collaborators? Save them to relevant boards on Instagram! This is a blessing if you work across multiple brands, product varietals and , different campaigns.

5. Partner with Influencer Marketing Agency

Working with an agency specialising in Influencer Marketing to help navigate qualification of influencers, ensuring you get value for your budget and developing campaigns with your commercial results in mind. Influencer marketing is a service we specialise in, across paid collaborations, brand ambassadorships, gifting and advertising campaigns.

6. Connect with Talent Agencies

Talent agencies represent influencers and content creators across multiple platforms and niches. It’s great to have key contacts at these agencies, who you can easily reach out to, and who can help you match your brand or campaign to the perfect collaborator. They know the talent personally and will only suggest an authentic match.

However, we would recommend having a clear brief in place regarding qualification requirements. Industry awareness is required to gauge value-for-money and developing KPIs to set benchmarks for return-on-investment.

Some talent agencies we work with on a regular basis include: Versify, The Collaborations Agency, Andrea Roche, and 23 the agency.

Before you know it, you’ll have qualified influencers and it’s time for Influencer outreach and briefing.

Head over to our Frequently Asked Questions to find out more on Influencer marketing. Or drop us an email ali@partthreedigital, we’d love to hear from you!