Looking for an influencer who knows how to influence? Finding the right creative partner is easier said than done - at least, it was before theright.fit. Read on for tips to help you to choose the perfect influencer for your next campaign.
Making sure you book the right Influencer to partner with your brand is crucial for a successful campaign that delivers results. A great influencer marketing campaign involves identifying key opinion leaders, celebrities, or social media personalities with authority and thought leadership.
In short, they know how to influence.
To make sure you’re partnering with the right Influencer, you’ll need to do your due diligence. And since no one likes homework, we’ve put together a comprehensive checklist to help you find an Influencer and set you up for campaign success!
Define your objectives
One of the most common mistakes when choosing an Influencer is to consider their reach as the sole indicator for success and potential sales. While a large following might be right for some campaigns, it's not a guarantee of achieving your objectives. Instead, start by identifying your objective. For example:
- brand awareness
- improving consideration
- creating content
- driving conversions
- repositioning your brand
- increasing loyalty
Defining your objectives will help you define the type of Influencer(s) you need to achieve your goals.
Post your job
Posting a job on theright.fit isn’t just the fastest way to find the right Influencers for your brand - it’s also 100% free. List relevant info about your brand, the campaign and your objectives, plus the type of Influencers you are looking for, and let the applications roll in.
Looking for more tips on writing a catchy job listing? Click here for our simple 5-step guide to writing the perfect job listing
Vet your influencers
You’ve got Influencers submitting interest in your upcoming campaign, that’s great!
Now, you’ll need to vet your choices to find the right fit for you. To vet your Influencers, start by checking out their profiles and previous content. Ask yourself whether their content and audience aligns with your target customers.
For example, if you’re targeting mums on a budget, then don’t pick a childless Influencer who posts exclusively about designer handbags. And if you want to find an engaged audience of vegans, find a vegan foodie whose followers are likely to be seeking information about vegan products (yep, you can find every type of Influencer on theright.fit).
Be sure to check out an Influencer’s social media profile to view their areas of expertise and experience. You can also see which products and brands they frequently tagged (this is a quick way to see if their content is aligned with your brand).
theright.fit tip: An Influencer’s content is a window into their brand, so try and draw a line between their brand and yours. Is it highly stylised while your brand is attainable and down to earth? Is it sexy or provocative when your brand is about the everyday girl or guy? Do they regularly post about partying and alcohol when you’re in the healthy food space? Followers and data are great - but nothing is more important than authenticity.
Think about an Influencer’s brand context and values, and see how they align with your brand message. You want to evaluate if an Influencer will be an effective brand advocate. ‘Likes’ feel nice - but you want your followers to believe in the authenticity of your Influencer partnership.
What Influencer metrics should you be looking at?
The right influencer partnership can help you tap into an engaged audience, grow your brand’s reach, and drive meaningful outcomes whether you’re looking to boost revenue or reputation. At the same time, it’s tough to know what influencer metrics you should be taking into consideration before agreeing to a partnership.
Here are the influencer metrics that matter the most (and why).
Engagement rate
Engagement rate is the percentage of an Influencer’s audience that likes or comments on a post. Don’t be concerned about low engagement rate numbers. Between 1-3% is a good rate, and an engagement rate of 4% and above is excellent. Generally, brands aim for an engagement rate of 1% or more for influencer campaigns. You can view an Influencer’s engagement rate on their theright.fit profile.
Audience location (country and city)
Checking where an Influencer’s followers are based is important if you offer a product or service that’s only available in a particular geographic area. This info can be gathered from the analytics tools available on theright.fit. Our analytics tool shows the percentage of followers an Influencer has in a particular city and country. If you’re a brand that only ships to Australia, then you wouldn’t want to work with an influencer who has a big following in the US, so make sure you check this data before engaging with an Influencer.
Follower demographics
Social media platforms - think Instagram and TikTok - provide a breakdown of their follower’s age and gender. This is referred to as their ‘Audience Demographics’ and is shown on an Influencer’s theright.fit profile. This data can help you choose the most suitable Influencer. For example, if you’re only targeting males, don’t book an influencer whose target audience is predominantly female. The same goes for age – if you’re looking for consumers over the age of 30, don’t book someone whose audience’s primary ages fall between 18 and 25.
theright.fit tip: Don't make assumptions about data. For example, just because an Influencer is female doesn’t mean their followers are female. Always check these demographic data points before you engage someone for your next influencer marketing campaign.
Commercial conflicts
Before engaging with an Influencer, it’s a good idea to check if they’ve worked with one of your competitors recently. This can be done by looking at the brands they have tagged on the analytics tab of their theright.fit profile.
Why is this important?
If an Influencer has recently promoted one of your direct competitors, it may seem disingenuous for them to promote your product too. Typically, brands want someone who hasn’t worked with a direct competitor for at least 6-8 weeks before engaging in an influencer collaboration (though this can depend on the brand category or niche you’re in).
theright.fit tip: Take into account the everyday use of a product/service. If an Influencer is promoting a restaurant, lipstick, wine, or commonly used product/service, it’s more acceptable to promote competing products/services within days of each other as it’s more likely an average person would use multiple brands in their life. However, if content is posted for an industry that is unlikely to be changed on a regular basis - like banking, telecommunications, aviation or skincare - we recommend waiting a few weeks before working with someone who has promoted a competitor.
The importance of quality content
Quality trumps quantity. When comparing Influencers on theright.fit platform and one clearly has a higher production value and better editing, the cost of a partnership should reflect that quality and distribution potential (e.g. quality content can be used on your social media channels or for retargeting ads with the influencers permission).
Are you looking for high-resolution, professionally shot images or iPhone photos submitted for your collaboration? Both of these content types are fine, but factor your desired content into the fee you’re paying an Influencer. Remember to review an Influencer’s portfolio to get a feel of the quality and style of content they can produce.
Found an influencer you’d love to work with again? Click here to learn how to rebook talent you’ve previously worked with
The importance of strong storytelling
Digital Influencers are the new storytellers. With audiences who pay close attention to their brand mentions, the ability to tell stories can help take your influencer campaign to the next level.
For a simple way to gauge the storytelling strength of your preferred Influencers, go to their social profiles, find a brand post, and read the caption. Does it sound authentic? Is it in their branded tone of voice? Does it sound like something copied and pasted from a briefing document? Is it interesting and informative? Does it make you want to learn more about the product or service?
Social media may be image-heavy, but it’s the combination of high-quality images and creative captions that make for a strong Influencer partnership.
The importance of branded content acceptance
Influencers with large following counts look great on paper - but do their followers engage with branded content? To find out, visit your preferred Influencer’s social profiles, find a branded post, and read the comments. Are people saying ‘Hey, nice photo!’ and ‘You look hot, babe!’. Or, are they saying ‘Oh that looks delicious, does it come in other flavours?’ and ‘What size is this top?’.
Supportive comments are great. But comments expressing interest in your products and services are much better.
Need a refresher on invoicing? Click here to learn how payments and invoices work on theright.fit
How to get the most out of your Influencer collaboration
The most important thing to remember when working with Influencers is that they are not static digital platforms for you to plug your brand message into.
They’re creatives with opinions that matter to thousands of followers (if not more) with trust and credibility built over time. The right Influencer can create a positive and trustworthy story around your brand and potentially increase brand preference among their audience. When you partner with the right Influencer and work collaboratively on content that feels authentic to their followers, that’s when the magic happens.
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