What Factors Do Influencers Consider Before Promoting a Brand?

The popularity of using social media influencers in marketing campaigns has risen so much that it is a multi-billion dollar industry.

You may have been told about the importance of research when choosing an influencer for your brand.

However, you are not the only one with goals for success. Influencers also have ambitions and want to partner with companies that will benefit them.

Influencers consider multiple factors before agreeing to link their name and social persona with any brand.

Familiarity

Avoid cold-calling a social media influencer who you want to advertise your product or service.

You should approach influencers naturally through their social media channels first. Do not try to sell your brand to them.

Instead, offer comments and likes and even re-posts of their original content. After you have had a few personal exchanges, send them a private message saying you would like to explore methods to promote each other’s brands on various marketing platforms.

Same Target Audience

In general, the social group that most appreciates and follows influencers are millennials, people ages 19 to 34. Gen-X and Gen-Z also generally engaged with influencers with similar avidity.

Baby Boomers, people 55- to 65-years-old, are the least likely to be impressed with or follow a social media influencer.

Influencers want business partnerships with brands that match their aesthetic and social profile. In fact, relevance is the top factor influencers look for before partnering with a brand.

This is true for 64 percent of influencers. Make sure your target audience matches that of the influencers you are courting.

For example, do not ask a fashion influencer who caters to millennials to promote pain-relieving cream.

Prior Experience

As you develop your influencer marketing strategy, consider that many influencers promote only brands which they personally know and like.

This is especially true of micro-influencers with smaller but intensely loyal followings.

Influencers are thought leaders for their followers, and their priority when promoting brands is to do so based on positive personal experience to guarantee their audiences excellent performance.

If they are not familiar with your product or service, you may need to offer free samples before they will promote your brand.

Creative Control

Long before you approached them with your digital marketing campaign, influencers gained followers because of their interesting, attention-grabbing, and quality content, whether blog posts or videos or lively Instagram accounts.

The best influencers to partner with have high engagement rates with their followers, and this is so because they create content that resonates with their audiences’ values and lifestyles.

When influencers agree to partner with your brand, trust them. Whatever type of content they produce, it had worked before you entered the picture.

Set up guidelines, yes, but when you embark on an influencer marketing campaign, loosen the reins and trust influencers to promote your brand by doing what they do best - connecting with their audiences.

Personal Values

Whatever unique niche they occupy, many influencers want brand partnerships to align with their personal values.

In some cases, this means genuine positive experiences with brands. In others, it can extend to involve charity.

Due to their popularity and the weight of their words, influencers can affect social causes in significant ways.

Take Lil BUB, for instance. This kitty is a leading pet influencer and a celebrity. She is followed by more than 1 million Instagram users.

Lil BUB and her human, Mike Bridavsky, support causes such as adopting shelter pets, spaying and neutering, and care for companion animals with special needs.

A perfect partnership occurred for Lil BUB in 2014 when she joined forces with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) to form Lil BUB’s Big FUND, a national fund for pets with special needs.

Just as you hope influencer campaigns will benefit your business with focused social media marketing, influencers are also looking at how brand partnerships will help them.

They look at many factors before agreeing to work with companies. Influencers are savvy and they know their audiences, and most want to promote products that reflect their personal values.

Consider their needs as well as yours and make sure they are familiar with your brand before approaching them.

If they already use and like your product or service, you stand an even better chance of developing a mutually successful relationship with them.

In the end, everyone is working to make a living doing what they love.