How to Find Influencers For Your Brand

How to find influencers for social media marketing campaigns.

Finding the right influencer is 100% dependent on your brand. In order to find influencers who fit well with your brand, do the following:

(1) Set your campaign goal beforehand

(2) Define your target audience early on

(3) Decide on your category

(4) Establish a campaign schedule

(5) Know what you can pay influencers

(6) Find influencers with healthy metrics

(7) Stay true to your brand’s tonal and visual identity

1. Set your campaign goal beforehand.

First thing first: know what you want to get out of your influencer marketing campaign. Your objective will guide all the other decisions you make, so it must be clear. Some of the common goals in influencer marketing campaigns are boosting brand awareness, driving brand engagement, or augmenting sales.

In addition to your goal, establish key performance indicators (or KPIs) that allow you to measure your progress. For example, if your goal is brand awareness, one of your KPIs could be impressions, or the number of times that your campaign’s content is displayed on screen.

2. Define your target audience early on.

Like with any marketing strategy, an influencer campaign needs a target audience. Who do you want to reach with this campaign? Who is likely to be intrigued by your brand and its products?

When defining your target audience, think about their age and gender, as well as their location online and offline. Consider what language they speak, and the best tone of voice to communicate with them. Finally, think about what they're interested in and what niches they may inhabit online.

3. Decide the category of your brand.

How would you categorize your brand? A fashion label? A beauty company? A tech startup? You will have to find influencers in the same category, so make sure you clearly understand what you’re looking for.

Moreover, don’t limit yourself to just one specific category, especially if you’re using an influencer marketing platform. For instance, if you’re looking for a sports influencer, try searching for fitness, basketball, football, or a few other specific sports, too.

4. Establish a campaign schedule.

Plot out your campaign from launch to finish. Establish any deadlines for influencers so that you can tell them upfront. This ensures you’ll find influencers who can keep up with the publishing pace you need to meet your goals.

5. Know what you can pay influencers.

The incentive you can offer directly impacts what type of influencers you can collaborate with. For example, you won’t be able to work with an influencer who has 1M followers if you can only pay them $200. So before you can find influencers for your brand, you have to know what you can pay them.

6. Find influencers with healthy metrics.

Any brand should try to avoid fake influencers. Therefore, analyze influencers’ profiles before reaching out to them for a collaboration.

Check out key performance-driven metrics, like:

- Number of followers

- Follower growth over time

- Engagement rate

- Audience demographics

- Audience authenticity

- Performance of past branded content

Look for irregularities in the data, like sudden spikes in follower growth, extremely low or high engagement, and low authenticity scores. These could be signs that the influencer used fraudulent practices, like buying fake followers, to make their profile more impressive.

And to learn more about detecting and avoiding fake followers, read Chapter 2.2 of our influencer marketing guide.

7. Find influencers who align with your brand’s tonal and visual identity.

It’s enough to tick all the other boxes on this list. In addition to helping you achieve your campaign goals and having healthy metrics, an influencer has to fit with the look and feel of your brand.

In order to get the most out of influencer marketing, influencers should uphold and represent your brand’s values. If you make a point to promote yourself as a racially inclusive brand, strategize your influencer collaborations to show that. If your brand is built on sustainable materials and eco-friendly practices, the influencers you choose to work with should also hold those ideals in high regard.

Additionally, influencers should reflect the style or vibe of your brand. If your company makes minimalist clothes in muted tones, don’t go for an influencer who has an over-the-top, kitschy style. You don’t want to leave the audience confused, or worse, thinking that the only thing your brand and the influencer have in common is the collaboration agreement.

Conclusion

When it comes to how to find influencers for your brand, everything relates back to you. Keep your campaign objectives and limits in mind, vet influencers’ metrics and their audiences, and stay true to what makes your brand unique.