A guide to finding the right influencer that fits your brand values

Influencer marketing is quickly becoming the most important aspect of marketing for brands. The reason for its popularity is simple - consumers trust the influencers' opinions. Having an influencer positively talk about their products or services is the best kind of marketing a brand could receive. In a way, it's similar to word-of-mouth marketing, but on a global scale like never before.

Advertising through influencers on various social media platforms allows brands to hand-pick target audiences and extend the scope by tapping into new customers and improving brand awareness. But the real question is: How do you choose the right influencers for your campaign?

But before you start hunting for influencers, let’s actually explore the different types of influencers that you can choose to work with according to your business needs. 

Types of influencers

Influencers come in various shapes and sizes, starting from celebrities and industry experts to micro-influencers with smaller but highly engaged audiences. Each type has the power to transform your brand's presence and impact. But before diving into the formula for finding the right influencers for your brand, you need to be aware of the types of influencers out there.
 

1. Nano influencers (Follower count of 1000-10,000)

   These set of influencers have a closer connection with their audiences which means higher engagement rates. You can opt for nano influencers for your campaigns if what you are looking for is higher credibility and authentic reach on a restricted budget! They’ll be your superheroes!

2. Micro-influencers (Follower count of 10,000 – 100,000)

   Focusing on a specific niche, micro influencers are regarded as experts in their fields. They have a uniform audience. So if your focus as a brand is to connect with the target audience directly, you may consider working with a micro influencer.

3. Macro influencers (Follower count of 100,000 – 1 Million)

   Macro influencers may help you as a brand to target a wider audience. These professional social media creators have substantial followings and can provide extensive reach, increasing your brand's visibility across diverse demographics.

4. Mega influencers (Follower count of above 1 Million)

   These influencers are the celebrities of the social media world, with millions of followers. They have massive reach but may come with a hefty price tag. Think of movie stars, top athletes, or famous musicians!

Now that you are aware of the types of influencers, let’s go over the process of picking one.

Before you start your search

It is important to lay the groundwork before you start your influencer hunt. Establishing a strong foundation will help you ensure your influencer marketing strategy is focused and effective. Here are some key steps to consider before your forage:

a) Define your goals: 

Ask yourself, what do you want to achieve through your influencer campaign? This has to be your first question before you even begin to think about the influencer search. Clarifying your objective will help you streamline your search and help you choose the right metrics to track for the campaign. Here are a few goals to consider:

• Brand awareness: If increasing brand awareness is your goal, you should consider influencers with a diverse following like macro or mega influencers. They will help you reach new audiences and create a buzz for your brand.
• Boost engagement: Micro influencers are usually a great choice to opt for if your aim is to increase engagement for your brand. These influencers have a high engagement rate and have a closer relationship with their audiences.
• Increase sales: If your primary objective is to increase sales for your brand, consider working with influencers who can seamlessly integrate your product into their lifestyle and drive their followers to make a purchase.
• Promote a new product or service: Launching something new? Consider influencers that have the capabilities of generating excitement around your product and are skilled storytellers that help them create a narrative that resonates with the audience.
• Build brand loyalty: If you are considering building a deeper relationship with your existing customers, partnering with an influencer who aligns with your brand values might be a good option.

Fun fact: 64% of brands face challenges in choosing the right influencers. So be it increasing sales or increasing brand awareness or even if it is increasing engagement on the page, if your objective of influencer marketing is clear, your process of finding the correct influencer will be smoother.

b) Define your target audience:

After setting up your campaign goals, it's time to determine your target audience. Brands often overlook this step, which is vital for a successful influencer marketing campaign.

Know your target audience based on their age, demographics, interests, locations, and more, which will ensure your campaign reaches the right audience. You can use audience insights, available on Hypothesis, to make sure your influencers’ audiences match your target audience. This will help you identify potential influencers for your brand.

c) Establish creator personas:

Once the goals and target audience are defined, you exactly know what to expect from the influencer. Hence the next crucial step becomes creating the influencer personas. This involves, identifying the characteristics of the influencer such as niche, audience size, authenticity etc. While doing this you might also want to consider looking at the past collaborations done by the influencer to understand how they incorporate sponsored content into their strategy. 

By creating detailed influencer personas, you can streamline your influencer search and ensure you’re partnering with individuals who perfectly match your brand’s needs and campaign objectives. This strategic approach will help maximize the impact of your influencer marketing efforts.

d) Know your budget:

Influencer marketing has quickly evolved into an industry within itself. So it only makes sense that their rates tend to vary, depending on multiple factors like:

- the geographical markets within which they work
- the size of their communities
- the business impact they're able to promise brands

So, you're bound to find creators who charge within all ranges. Setting your influencer marketing budget based on the influencers you want to work with might lead you down a winding road. Therefore, it is wise to establish a clear budget upfront and then seek out influencers who fit within that financial framework. Here are a few tips on how to do it:

1. Determine your overall marketing budget.
2. Allocate budget based on campaign goals.
3. Consider influencer budget based on the category of influencer tiers.
4. Consider additional costs that might come up.

e) Treat each platform differently:

Don't pick one influencer for multiple platforms. Influencers are present on various platforms, but that doesn't mean their engagement and conversion rate with their community are the same across all platforms. Understand the right influencer for the right platform based on where they have the strongest engagement. Here is how to approach it:
 

1. Platform-wise engagement: Analyse the influencer’s reach and engagement on the different platforms and choose the influencers based on where their audience is most active and engaged.
    
2. Content suitability: You might have one or two channels that you want to focus on for your marketing campaign. It might be a good idea to choose the platform first and ensure that the influencer’s content style is aligning with the platform’s strength. For example, Instagram is best for short and engaging clips, YouTube excels with long video forms, and Twitter works best for concise and impactful messages.
    
3. Top creators: Recognize that each platform has its own set of top creators who have mastered the nuances of that specific channel. You can collaborate with the high-performing creators from these channels if they are aligned with your messaging.
   This tailored approach ensures that your message resonates effectively with the right audience in the most impactful manner.

How to find the right influencers for your brand

There are different ways to choose the right influencers for your brand. Let's dive into the methods for selecting influencers that will help your brand shine:

1. Social media: 
   Social media is a great place to look for influencers if you use the correct method. Hashtags are your friends here! By using relevant hashtags that are related to your brand or niche, you can land on the most popular posts under those hashtags. You can check the accounts that have posted this content and see if these profiles fit your brand’s requirements. Additionally, it also makes sense to look at the engagement generated on these posts. This is a manual process and could be time-consuming, but if you start planning early, you might end up with the soulmate for your brand.
    

2. Search engines:
   Google has an answer to everything! Try this: Go to Google and type: site:instagram.com "food bloggers in India"
   This is what we found after this search:
   

   Cool way to find relevant influencers for your brand right? You’re welcome!
   
   This will not only show you top influencers but also their handles for you to conveniently look up their profiles! You can try different keywords and see the results for yourself.
    

3. Use AI-powered tools: 
   The most efficient way to look for an influencer for your brand is by using an AI-enhanced influencer marketing tool that can seamlessly help you find the right influencer. These tools offer multiple features that can make this process pain free for you. Consider Hypothesis for instance, it offers you 25+ filters to narrow down your search (link top influencer marketing tools here) and helps you land the best-suited influencer for your brand from a database of 210M+ profiles. This automated search engine minimises human interventions, thus making the process of choosing influencers simple and precise. It also provides valuable insights into influencer’s performance metrics that can help you make data-driven decisions.

Influencer marketing has become an integral part of brand marketing strategies. However, choosing the right influencer plays a crucial role here. So, take your time, do your research, and find the perfect influencer to amplify your brand message.