Businesses Should Hire Influencers With This Engagement Rate

Ask yourself why you want to run this influencer marketing campaign in the first place. Perhaps you want to acquire new customers, or increase engagement on a particular social media account. With a deeper understanding of what you want to achieve, you can then pinpoint how you’re going to measure campaign success. 

For example, if your main objective is to increase brand awareness, you may want to create a measurable goal like: “grow brand mentions on social media by 20% in three months.” You can then track your progress throughout the entire campaign.

Having your primary objectives in mind will help you select the right influencers, since you’ll be looking for creators in your niche that are aligned with your goals. It can also help you work out what digital marketing ROI you’re expecting and determine a viable budget for the campaign.

As you look for influencers – either by scouring different social media sites, browsing hashtags, or using influencer platforms – collect your potential choices on a spreadsheet or word document. With this list, you can start narrowing down your options based on suitability.

To help you identify the right influencers for your business, take these important pointers into consideration: 

1. Their engagement rate: The number of followers an influencer has isn’t everything. Micro-influencers might have less followers, but they often have higher engagement rates. This rate reveals how actively an influencer’s followers are engaging with their content. To calculate this rate, you can divide the total number of post interactions (likes, comments, or saves) by an influencer’s total followers and multiply it by 100. An engagement rate over 3% is considered good!
2. Their influencer rates: Your business will likely have a specific budget in mind, so you need to find influencers you can afford. Smaller, more niche influencers will typically be less expensive than larger influencers.
3. Their audience base: Ideally, the influencers you want to work with should have an audience that would naturally be interested in your product or service. To check, it’s worth looking into audience demographics (like age, gender, etc), buying habits, interests, and what platforms they’re active on the most.
4. Their values: The influencer you choose should also be aligned with your brand’s values. For instance, if your business sells sustainable products, you’ll want to identify influencers that are also passionate about promoting ethical or eco-friendly goods.

When you’ve identified the influencer(s) you want to work with, reach out to them via email or direct message. Remember to introduce yourself and your brand, set clear expectations of your campaign goals, and have an open conversation about costs and timelines. Provide a clear brief for best results, but also give the influencer some creative freedom to work with – they know their followers best!

🤔 Curious about the different kinds of influencers out there? Refer to our guide on micro, macro, nano, and mega influencers

Once your influencer marketing campaign is complete, don’t lose contact with the influencer(s) you’ve worked with. Instead, you’ll want to nurture your relationships with them and, if your campaign has performed really well, state that you’d be open to working with them again in the future.

It’s also important to ask for constructive feedback, so you can improve how you engage with influencers in future campaigns. Remember, these influencers could help you drive sales, so maintaining positive relationships is key to your business’ growth.