How to Identify & Work With the Best Brand Influencers for Your Business

When I scrolled through Instagram this morning on my commute, I commented on a friend's post about her vacation, scrolled right past an advertisement for a comforter, and double-tapped an influencer's post about a skincare brand.

这就是影响者的事情 - 您是有原因的，因此您不介意与他们的赞助内容进行互动。

我不遵循这个确切的影响者，因为我对她的护肤程序感兴趣。取而代之的是，我跟随她，因为她是我喜欢阅读的主要杂志的编辑，她的内容让我感兴趣。由于我相信她的意见，因此我肯定会查看她认可的任何护肤品牌。

Even though influencer marketing is a well-known marketing channel by now, it's always important to reiterate that your customers trust the opinions of others -- and that majorly impacts buying decisions.

In fact, nearly90% of all marketers找到来自影响者营销的ROI，与其他营销渠道相当或更好。

So how can you identify the right brand influencers to work for your business? First, it's important to know what a brand influencer is, and determine the best way to connect with them -- on, or offline.

如果您在SaaS平台公司工作，那么您不会与碧昂丝（Beyoncebob全站app）联系以推广您的产品。即使她确实想与您合作，她的听众也可能不适合您的目标受众或买家角色。

与有成千上万甚至数百万追随者的随机人接触是一种非常交易的方式，可以采用有影响力的营销策略。该策略成为交易性的，因为您的业务完全专注于影响者的追随者数量，并且有影响力的人担任产品认可角色，而不是成为品牌大使。

A better way to do it is by putting your relationship with the influencer first. The number of followers they have shouldn't be nearly as important as their fit with your brand and how their content resonates with both your audiences. Often, these influencers will be involved with your business long-term if you customize your content to their brand as well, and prove that you value their partnership.

Now that we've defined an influencer, let's explore how to find the best ones for your industry.

How to Find Brand Influencers for Your Industry

你怎么能确定正确的“适合”与一个品牌influencer? Business/influencer fit will become extremely important for your future collaborations, so be sure to nail down the following criteria:

1.找出您的目标受众。

Atarget audience可以用许多因素（包括人口统计学，地理和行为）划分，仅举几例。划分受众的常见方法是按年龄，性别，位置，行为，生活方式，价值观和兴趣。当您开始缩小受众范围时，您将深入研究营销策略和内容的类型，这些策略和内容会引起最大的共鸣。

Determining your target audience will ensure that your audience is similar to that of your influencer's. Otherwise, your content will fall flat and won't inspire users to take action.

业务/影响者合身的一个很好的例子是，耐克和彪马（Nike and Puma）等运动服品牌与受欢迎的运动员合作创建产品和内容。如果你是粉丝Lebron James, you probably already know he's sponsored by Nike-- and that partnership goes a long way for Nike's business.

2. Research Influencers.

Obviously, the best place to research your influencers is on social media -- but let's break it down into more concrete steps.

The easiest way to find the right brand influencers is to see if any are already talking about your business. Social monitoring or searching for your brand on social media sites are great ways to get started, and listening tools can help you find influencers who are already interested in your industry.

研究影响者的另一个提示是搜索相关的主题标签。如果您是一个寻找影响者的健康和健康品牌，请在Instagram上寻找“ #Health，#wellness，＃wellness，＃adponsed，＃ad”，将为您带来已经发布与行业相关的内容的影响者。如果您看到一篇引人注目的帖子，请查看其余影响者在其他帖子上的参与。

请记住，有影响力的人可以拥有较小的，虔诚的追随者 - 因此，不要仅仅因为他们的追随者比最初想到的要少，因此不要远离某人。此外，还要寻找已经发布竞争对手品牌的影响者。

If you see an influencer's post on Instagram that may resonate with your brand, try looking for similar profiles. Next to the "Follow" button on Instagram, there's a down arrow. By clicking the down arrow, you'll see a list of suggested users. Scroll through those and see if any might be willing to take you on.

3.确定相关性。

Take a look at your own content. What is your brand's aesthetic, and what tone do you use in your copy? What are the underlying messages you're trying to communicate?

It's important to see how aligned your influencer's content is with your own. Obviously, their social presence shouldn't be filled with posts exactly like yours, but their messaging should be similar since you are targeting a specific audience.

Engagement is also an indicator of relevance for your brand. If the influencer's audience isn't engaged with their content, partnering with your brand won't make a difference. It's important to figure out whether the influencer's followers are commenting and sharing their content, or just liking it.

此外，类似用户是否会一次又一次地返回评论并喜欢内容？这意味着影响者的观众喜欢与影响者互动，并喜欢她推广的内容。

Now that you've done your initial research, and hopefully conducted a list of possible influencers for your brand to work with, it's time to connect.

您想与有影响力的人接触，而不会显得垃圾或太过交易。毕竟，关系是关键。而且，如果您与品牌影响者的关系不好，那么赔率就不会继续代表您发布。

Connecting with Influencers

1.从战略上伸出援手。

Cold emailing or direct messaging an influencer isn't a great strategy for relationship building. If you have an interest in working with an influencer, try courting them first.

What I mean by this is, you should subscribe to their blog, follow all their social channels, and comment on their posts. Influencers work hard on their content, just like your business does. If you want an influencer to take notice of your business, you have to be interested in what they're doing, as well. Beginning a partnership by interacting on the channels you hope to work together on will demonstrate your interest.

Some influencers have a presence on multiple social media platforms. It's your job to know how they want to be contacted for business partnerships. If they have a business email in their Instagram bio, that's likely the best choice. Alternatively, maybe they have an inquiries section on their blog. Whatever the case is, make sure to send a personal message that doesn't feel like it's been generated by a template.

2. Make a human connection.

将消息发送到数字宇宙是一种可怕的感觉，因为您不知道何时或是否会回来。在现实世界中建立联系更加可行，并面对您的业务。

This doesn't mean you should go out and stalk your list of influencers until you meet in person.

如果您认真地建立联系，请尝试参加或举办有影响力的活动。

将有影响力的人带给您将使与他们的联系变得更加容易，并在同意与您合作之前，让他们有机会与您的品牌互动。

许多营销人员正在学习营销自己和业务。希望您也一直在发展网络 - 因此您可能已经与影响者有联系。

If you have someone who is at the very top of your list, see if they're following someone you know. Maybe they've worked with a similar brand in the past, and you know someone on that team. The world is smaller than we think, and you might just be sitting on a goldmine of potential relationships.

3. Manage your outreach efforts.

Like any other marketing strategy, influencer outreach should be organized and well-documented. The last thing you want is to accidentally reach out to the same influencer on four different platforms with the same message. Yikes.

伸出援手后，请确保在随访之前给有影响力的人一段时间。就像在销售球场上一样，您不想霸道或固执。尊重影响者的时间 - 如果他们想与您合作，他们会回应您的外展活动。

You should also be documenting what outreach strategies work for you. Maybe after a first email, you've found success in hopping on a call with potential influencers. Knowing what works for you will help you further develop your outreach strategy, and enable you to be more creative in the future.

回顾一下，品牌影响者可以为您提供帮助：

• Build and expand a devoted following
• Increase your word-of-mouth marketing efforts
• 带来更多的销售,引导和转换sions
• Create more human relationships with your potential customers

The right influencers are inherently interested in your brand, believe in your mission, and are capable of communicating about your business eloquently.

关注与您的影响者的长期关系将继续建立对您公司的了解，并将带来最佳结果。bob全站app

Next, take a look atThe Ultimate List of Instagram Influencers in Every Industry (94 and Counting!)to begin researching the ideal influencers for your brand.