Posted on: March 16, 2021
By Bailey Dunphy
Rating an influencer is critical for brands choosing influencers as a method to promote their products or services. It is important for brands to choose influencers who fit the brand’s image and message. If there is a lack of centricity between the brand and influencer, the audience will pick up on it. This could lead to a brand being negatively affected. A great way to combat this potential problem is to lay out a plan and determine what exactly you are looking to accomplish in your influencer partnership. Brands should take into consideration the following:
- Influencer’s Social Media Content – When choosing influencers to promote your brand or business, you must first look at the type of content the influencer creates. It is important for businesses to find engaging content that aligns with their marketing goals. Looking at the influencer’s content also involves finding out which social media sites they use and their posting frequency. A good influencer should post consistently throughout the week. Five or more posts per week and per site is a good number to look for in potential influencer partners.
- Influencer’s Followers – Brands should investigate the followers of their target influencer. Are the influencer’s followers engaging consistently with their posts? What is the average number of likes? What is the average number of comments? Are followers sharing the influencer’s content? You should be looking for active community engagement. Ultimately you want the influencer’s following to be actively engaged and aligned with your brand. After all, it does no good to market a brand to the wrong audience.
- Previous Sponsorships – Another great way to gain insight on an influencer is to look at their prior experience with brand sponsorships and promotions. Brand’s may be able to gauge the outcome of their planned promotions by looking into the influencer’s history with other brands. Also, you will be able to see exactly how an influencer promotes products or services. Are their promotions direct and to the point? Or does the influencer promote brands in a more neutral and natural way? By answering these questions, brands will be able to create a more effective campaign.
- Authenticity of the Influencer – It is critical to verify the authenticity of your target influencer. Just because an influencer has a large number of followers, does not necessarily mean that their following is authentic. Individuals can buy followers in order to make their page look more legitimate. There is certain software available that will allow you to check the authenticity of the influencer in question. FakeCheck is one example of a software source that will tell you the number of real followers versus the number of fake accounts. Another great way to judge whether an influencer’s following is quality is to pay attention to the engagement on posts. Are the posts receiving high numbers of likes and comments? Or is the engagement low for the number of followers the influencer has? Low engagement with a high following could be indicative of a fake following.
- Offline Versus Online Presence – Brand’s need to investigate the influencer’s offline presence. Even before social media influencers existed, brands had to be careful to choose individuals with appropriate reputations to represent them. The same is true for social media influencers. A simple Google search of the influencer in question could help shed light on any questionable actions. Businesses could also speak with other companies who have worked with the influencer in the past in order to gauge the actions and attitudes of the individual.
Putting in the time and effort to research potential influencers is vital to the success of a social media campaign. It may be helpful to view the influencer as an extension of your business. The influencer you choose can impact your brand’s message and image, and we want that impact to be positive. With this mindset, searching for the influencer that perfectly fits your brand’s marketing strategy is the key to success.
Sources:
11 Ways To ‘Rate’ A Social Media Influencer Before You Work With Them
