Scott Cook, founder and CEO of Intuit, said: “A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer: it is what consumers tell each other. This is the concept behind the influencer phenomenon. In this article we explain how to find influencers for your strategy.

This shift in this balance of consumer brand power can, in part, be attributed to the high levels of engagement on social platforms. Peer recommendations play a much larger role in purchasing decisions and, as a result, the relevance of influencer marketing is growing. Given the importance of peer recommendations and the popularity of social media, a widely asked question for marketing teams is: how do you find your brand influencers?

To put this into perspective, influencers are social media users who have an established credibility and audience. These are users who can persuade others by virtue of their trustworthiness and authenticity. An influencer is not a brand evangelist, nor is he or she a brand advocate. These might be your biggest cheerleaders, but they do not have the power of credibility (e.g. follower scale) to extend messages far beyond their immediate circles.

In order to best understand and how to find influencers and in order to identify the best social influencers, it is necessary to consider the following.

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How to find your brand Influencer:

1. Your Influencer must be relevant to your customers

Every day there are millions of social media users posting pictures of the brands and products they love. At the highest level, you want to choose social influencers based on the niche content they produce, content that is very relevant to your brand. Basically, look for social media influencers in your vertical and make sure it’s a contextual fit. But to find your best influencers, you’ll need to go one step further. Ask yourself: who is this influencer’s audience? How does this influencer brand themselves? And does this align with my brand’s target customers and messaging? Customers follow influencers on social media because the influencer embodies a personal identity or lifestyle that reflects a higher-order value proposition for the follower. When choosing your influencers, make sure your brand and your influencer’s brand are aligned.

2. Your Influencer must appear authentic

The reason why consumers trust influencers is because they see them as genuine sources of information. Therefore, the more sponsored content an influencer publishes, the more their status is diluted. In essence, you want your influencer to appear authentic, not promotional, otherwise they lose their value. Influencers in crowded verticals can work with many brands and products. But the best ones do it discreetly. Authentic mention of a brand may be subtle, but it is much harder to hit for validation of your products to potential customers.   Keep this in mind when you are ready to leverage your influencers, even if you are the only brand your influencer works with, soft promotional touches drive the best results.

3. Your Influencer must be active and post frequently

The more active an influencer is on social media, the more popular your brand will be. There is a clear correlation between the frequency with which a blogger posts and the rate of return visitors. It often requires more returns to turn a potential customer into a customer. On the flipside, bloggers who do not post regularly see high follower turnover rates and fewer profile visitors. Look for indicators that your influencer is active on social media-monitors for the number of likes, comments and shares. The success of your brand’s reach depends on how effectively your influencers interact with their followers.

How to connect with your brand influencers:

Now that you have identified a list of potential brand influencers on social media, you need to develop these partnerships. To ensure a strong start to these relationships, follow these three tips to get started.

1. Reach directly your influencer

Brands often rely on the agencies they collaborate with to drive communication with influencers. However, 79% of social influencers would prefer brands to reach out directly to contacts (Augere, 2015). While it is tempting to define the model of your reach, it is better to customise each tone.

2. Knowing your influencer

Take the time to get to know your brand’s influencers so that you can better understand their following and what they are looking for from a partnership. Part of the outreach process is showing the influencer that your opportunity is relevant to their audience.

3. Don’t lose track of your Influencers

Create a spreadsheet to help you record the information of your influencers. Build a consistent way to keep track of your influencers’ contact information and avoid future embarrassing mistakes. Most of the time, you will be able to find your influencer’s contact information on their profile.

We now suggest you read the article on how to create an effective influencer marketing strategy.