With so many firms providing products or services like yours, generating desired leads and sales might not be easy. This is especially true for small and startup companies. But the good news is that any business, small or big, can leverage the power of marketing to compete in the industry more effectively.
Marketing is the process of sending and delivering adverts to a target audience. It helps boost the visibility of a brand to connect with more customers. Marketing is one of the essential steps in growing a successful company.
There are many promotional methods you can consider for your company. One of them is influencer marketing. Continue reading this article to know what influencer marketing is and what metrics to look at when finding a suitable partner.
Influencer Marketing Defined
Influencer marketing is a promotional strategy that involves hiring social media personalities or celebrities to endorse products or services. An influencer is an individual who has already developed a loyal audience.
Followers view influencers as experts in specific fields. For that reason, some consumers depend on their celebrities to make certain moves or decisions. It’d be good to add an influencer to your marketing strategy.
What To Look At Before Hiring An Influencer For Your Company
There are several online influencers out there. However, not all of them can work best in your marketing campaigns. Make sure to find the right partner to grow your company. For instance, by working with the best influencer marketing agency in Toronto, you’ll likely generate more leads and sales. Such a company will help you work with the right influencer and expose your brand to a vast audience.
Furthermore, here are important metrics to look at before signing a deal with any influencer.
- Overall Reach
Overall reach is perhaps one of the most important metrics to look at before partnering with an online influencer. It refers to the total number of people who actually see or engage with the content posted by your potential influencer.
An influencer can have millions of followers. However, sometimes what they post gets consumed by only a small percentage of the audience. It’s therefore essential to consider the overall reach metric of your prospect influencer to determine how many people will likely learn about the existence of your business. Strive to find a partner with an extensive overall reach.
- Branded Content
As noted earlier, the primary purpose of working with an influencer is to help endorse your brand. For that reason, you may want to hire a partner who will mention your brand in their content.
You might not know whether an influencer will mention your brand in their content until you hire them. However, you can visit their past content to see how they promoted other brands. If you find that they mentioned other brands in their content, that could be the right partner. They’ll also likely promote your company through branded posts. However, you must research to determine that the selected influencer posts high-quality content. This will enable more people to consume it, thus increasing your brand’s visibility.
- Engagement Rate
An influencer’s engagement rate is one of the key metrics that you must consider before partnering with one. This includes the ways users interact with your content, such as through likes, shares, and comments. These will help you in analyzing whether the audience is engaging with the influencer’s content or not.
An influencer with a high level of engagement may effectively promote your brand to a wide range of audiences. Additionally, audiences may feel a strong connection with your brand encouraging them to make a purchase.
An influencer with a low level of comments and likes on their content might not be suitable for you. Working with such an influencer means that your brand will only be exposed to a few people. For that reason, you may want to find an influencer whose online content attracts a lot of likes and comments.
- Follower Growth
Considering the followers’ growth is another best way to hire a suitable influencer to promote your company. It lets you know how your potential influencer has acquired followers over time. Strive to find a partner with consistent follower growth. Such a partner will likely continue exposing your brand to new consumers from time to time.
When determining the follower growth, you should be cautious of working with an influencer with a fake audience. Some influencers buy followers to make people believe they’re famous, which might not be true, especially if their account has a large following of fake followers.
There are numerous ways to know if an influencer has fake followers. First, most fake followers have no photos. Second, an influencer with fake followers will have a low engagement rate. Lastly, their content will have irrelevant or spammy comments.
Working with an influencer with fake followers will likely harm your business. Fake followers won’t buy from you.
Takeaway
Promoting your brand through influencer marketing is one of the best ways to boost your sales. The strategy enables you to connect with a vast audience within your sector. You can consider the metrics described in this article to find a suitable influencer to promote your company.
