Let’s start at the end: influencer marketing works, even when inflation hits everywhere, including celebrities, and when every profile with ten thousand followers on Instagram calls themselves “content creator”. An influencer with an authentic connection to a brand can work wonders for sales. The numbers show a profitable ROI of $6 for every dollar invested in an influencer campaign – but that’s only true if you choose the right influencer.

Choosing is not easy, because influencers are abundant (maybe even too much), not to mention many self-proclaimed influencers, with exposure statistics that don’t always represent reality. Surprisingly, good influencers are not only those with the highest number of followers, but those with highly engaged followers. In addition, it has been proven many times that a small and targeted group of followers might lead to better results.

The biggest question is how to choose the best influencer for you, and adapt their messages in the most authentic way, to fit your target audience? We have some recommendations:

Size does matter (for a price)

Just before you start with choosing the right influencer, it’s highly recommended to choose the level of influence you want for the brand. Broadly, the different elements can be divided into 5 categories, from the smallest to the largest: nano-influencers with 1,000-10,000 followers; micro-influencers with 10,000-50,000 followers; medium-influencers with 50,000-500,000 followers; macro-influencers with 1 million-500,000 followers and mega-influencers with 1 million or more followers. Each category reflects a clear advertising statement about the brand, its goals and the financial investment that will follow.

A preliminary tour in the land of likes

The second step is to characterize and refine the brand’s target audience, in order to understand who can actually influence it. For this purpose, you should build an accurate and sectioned customer profile, which defines the extent of their involvement with the brand, how you utilize them, the degree of loyalty, etc. Choosing target audience wisely will save a lot of precious resources, and can strengthen the influencer’s connection to the brand. Sectioning the target audience is also important for content distribution in marketing automation systems.

Good influencers are not only those with the highest number of followers (photo: depositphotos)

 Stepping into the arena

The third step in choosing an influencer, is defining the media through which the connection between the influencer and the target audience will be made. The leading social networks, such as, Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok and YouTube; are full to the brim with influencers discussing every possible topic, but finding the right one can be complex and tedious. In addition, not all influencers work in all networks, and your goal is definitely to find the most active and targeted influencers. So, choosing the appropriate social network is derived from successful characterization of your target audience.

“Show me the money!”

How much does it really cost to hire an influencer who will accompany the campaign, be identified with the brand and promote it to their followers on social networks?  Well, there’s no one answer. In fact, even if you consider all the cost components, such as, the number of followers, posts, popularity and so on – we still won’t get a “golden” number, due to the fact that it’s a pretty unruly market, where anyone has their own rates. In Israel, like the rest of the world, there are a few agencies specializing in influencer marketing, whose job it is to regulate all services under one budget, but they don’t set the rules. If you have a limited or a set budget, it’s highly recommended to determine your budget first, and only then choose the person who will influence users. 

Who is the face of the brand?

It’s not hard to find an influencer; there are thousands who would be happy to promote the brand for a minimal cost, or even for free use of the product, especially if it’s a luxury hotel or a fancy piece of jewelry. But choosing the influencer is critical, and must suit the character of the brand, its corporate culture and the language. And most importantly: you need patience, since building this kind of relationships may take time and sometimes, even after researching and investigating, a mismatch between the brand and the influencer can still happen.  

Choosing is influencing

Influencer marketing does not end with choosing an influencer, on the contrary – that’s only the beginning. If you think that an influencer, no matter how famous, will lead the brand’s marketing strategy on social networks – you are mistaken. Cultivating the relationship with your influencer is critical to the success of the campaign, and will form the basis for a mutual flow of creative ideas in both directions. This way, the influencer can learn the brand’s needs, while being able to express themselves. Oh yes, and you must (yes, that IS the right word) allow creative freedom, not limiting their discourse or the content your influence is creating. After all, this is their audience, and they know how to best influence them.