The concept of influencer marketing is certainly not new. It has been around for ages in the form of word-of-mouth marketing.
However, in the last few years, this form of marketing has seen unprecedented growth.
Having realized its potential, 63% of marketers last year planned to increase their budgets for influencer marketing.
One of the major challenges in influencer marketing is to identify relevant influencers. You need to make sure that each influencer you partner with is an expert in your industry or niche and is trusted and followed by a large number of people.
But how can you identify whether or not a potential influencer is really influential or not? The number of followers is not the only criteria you need to use to evaluate an influencer. This post will show you five effective ways to identify real influencers.
Attributes to evaluate
It takes a lot of effort to find the right influencers for a campaign. You need to find someone relevant and influential enough to help you achieve your campaign goals.
Also, you need to be careful when looking for influencers so you don’t end up with fake influencers who will eat away your budgets.
Here are some of the most important attributes to evaluate when you search for the right influencers.
#1. Engagement
An influencer who has a large number of engaged followers who like, comment, and share their posts has a high engagement rate. A high engagement rate implies that the followers are interested in their content and are enjoying it.
However, if the number of engaged followers compared to the total number of followers is too low, it raises a red flag. This indicates that their followers aren’t very engaged or that their followers haven’t been gained organically. So you need to evaluate the engagement rate of your potential influencers.
#2. Authenticity
To gain the trust of their followers, influencers need to be authentic. Their content needs to reflect their genuine passions towards their niches.
Their sponsored content shouldn’t look salesy or as if they’re promoting a brand just because they have been paid to do so. An influencer’s authenticity is what makes their audience trust them and their recommendations.
Make sure that your influencer’s content looks authentic and that their followers receive it well. In fact, 75% of marketers look for authenticity when they choose influencers for their campaigns.
#3. Leadership
A successful influencer is one who is able to inspire and motivate their followers with their unique content. Your potential influencer needs to be able to do so.
Go through their social accounts to get an idea of the quality of work they can deliver. In order to create a lasting impact in the minds of their followers, an influencer must produce quality content. Also, make sure that they have a decent-sized following on their social accounts.
