You’re thinking about starting an influencer marketing campaign. But you don’t know what to look for when choosing influencers. You don’t have to worry.
This is why you might be interested in getting into the industry. Don’t rush, careful planning will get you the best results. Continue reading for more information.
Locating influencers
Before you can begin to analyze the influencer profiles, it is important to first locate them. Here are some tips to help you do this. There are three main methods to search for influencers. The choice of which one you choose depends on your goals as well as your budget.
Manually
You can start by doing a manual Google search directly on the platform you are trying to launch a campaign. This is a good option for your search but can be difficult to analyze profiles.
It is entirely free and you have complete control over the results. The downside is that this can be very time-consuming, especially when you’re looking for multiple influencers.
These are just a few ways to make your search easier.
- Look through your comments
- your likes
- your followers
- And your brand mentions and tags
Manual analysis is easier on some platforms than others. For example, it is possible on Instagram, although time consuming. Yet, for TikTok influencers, it will be a lot more of a struggle without an influencer marketing platform to help.
Marketing platform for influencers
A platform that allows you to connect with influencers is the best option for launching influencer campaigns. Many platforms offer different pricing plans and often include a free option. These make them affordable for everyone.
Heepsy is an influencer marketing platform that allows you to search for influencers according to your campaign. You can filter by location, category and demographics. By being able quickly to narrow down your search, you can save time and labour for your business.
An advantage of an influencer marketing platform? The ability to analyze profiles in depth and create lists to compare influencer stats. More on this in a moment.
Agency
You can also hire an agency that will manage your influencer campaign. However, agencies can produce exceptional influencer campaigns but this comes with a cost. This is worth considering if you have a substantial budget.
This approach has the downside that your brand is not involved in the process.
Analysis of influencer profiles is crucial
Now that you’ve learned the top ways to find influencers let’s dive into how to analyze their profiles. This step is perhaps the most important for your campaign. The best way to make your campaign stand apart is to find the right influencers for your brand. This includes finding the right influencers for your brand, matching them up with your audience and aligning their values and mission.
These examples are based on data collected by some Instagram users.
Follower growth
First, it is important to look at how followers have grown over time. It’s not necessary to track followers, but it’s worth looking at how the influencer’s followers have changed over time.
Keep an eye out for a steady rise in followers. There shouldn’t be any sudden rises or drops in followers. This could signal a buying of followers.
This can sometimes be due to content that requires you to follow it in order to win a giveaway. This is why you should investigate it.
Engagement rates
Engagement rates is the next stat that I suggest you examine. This is a crucial stat when it comes to influencer-marketing, because this will indicate how interested an audience has in the content of an influencer. While reach might be a priority, it doesn’t mean that consumers will be interested in the product being promoted.
It is important to seek out influencers who have high engagement rates. This will signify a healthy relationship between the influencers’ followers. The influencer’s followers will be more inclined to trust their comments and opinions.
Comments and Likes
Analyzing comments and likes to an influencer’s posts is another way of establishing the audience’s interest. You can see the types of comments on each type of post. Do they sound natural? Are they asking questions about products? Are they creating fan accounts?
This allows you to see if an influencer is involved in purchasing comments or likes. An influencer marketing platform allows you to see the likes and comments ratio. If they have a significant difference in comments and likes, it could be an indication that the influencer has bought them.
Audience demographics
You should consider matching the audience of influencers to your target audience when planning your campaigns. It doesn’t matter if you sell skincare products; it is best to get them promoted to people who are interested in beauty and skin care.
Heepsy allows you to access demographic information like location, age range, and language. Even though an influencer may not be from a particular demographic or group, it doesn’t necessarily mean that their audience won’t be. Make sure you check this data!
Audience insights
Finally, it is important to assess the authenticity metrics of influencer profiles. It will be especially difficult to do this without an influencer platform. However, it is possible to be alert for the potential suspicious traits we have already discussed.
Heepsy can help you assess the authenticity of your audience. You can see an estimated percentage of suspicious followings. These accounts could be suspicious or appear to have the usual online bot behaviours.
Take Away
If you take anything away from this article it is the importance to thoroughly analyze influencer profiles in order to achieve the highest success rate for your campaign. You can still create great campaigns using traditional marketing platforms, but I recommend them for their cost effectiveness and time efficiency.
Read More: How to give your small-sized business an advantage over your competitors
For more information on influencer marketing, check out the resources available at Heepsy, such as our free influencer contract template!
