Brand influence is a fantastic marketing tool, and is one that can really drive your sales and marketing metrics up if you’ve got the right influencers on board. No matter what industry you’re in, a positive review from a trusted source goes a long way in the minds of consumers. These days, those sources are often YouTube vloggers, Instagram mavens, and well-known bloggers. These social influencers not only have a dedicated audience that trusts their opinions, but they also have an established community of like-minded readers primed to click on your links.

Align your interests

Have a look at a prospective influencer’s overall presence before you get in touch. Find out what their target audience is, what kind of niche they cater to, and what other kinds of brands they promote. It’s important to align as much as possible, rather than going in for broad-level synchronicity. For example, just because a blogger writes about traveling through Southeast Asia doesn’t necessarily mean that their blog is the best outlet to plug your Thai cookbook.

Review their engagement

Even bloggers who write extraordinary content or have an inviting web design don’t always have an effective overall presence. One of the best ways to tell if their influence is established is to browse through the ways their readers are engaging via comments, shares, or likes. Take it a step further and get a feel for the overall sentiment of the engagement. Steer clear of influencers garnering lots of negative engagement.

Assess their credentials

Numbers can say a lot about the influencer. Higher follower counts, Domain Authority (DA) ranking, and other relevant metrics can give you an idea of how wide their reach is. If they have a multimedia presence (for example by authoring a book), that’s even better. If you’re trying to promote a science-oriented brand, you may also want to go after influencers with some acronyms behind them, like MDs or DVMs.

Find out if their influence is saturated

As you read through a prospective influencer’s content, keep an eye out for product mentions. While it depends on their niche, having too many plugs can potentially build distrust of the influencer, as it may seem that they don’t genuinely value the products they’re promoting. However, if they are a clothing or makeup influencer, more plugs won’t necessarily have that effect since readers want and expect product links.

Evaluate your metrics

Once you do get a brand influencer on board, it’s crucial to monitor the success of your partnership. You can track your analytics and sales to determine if consumers are coming to you via the influencer and if they are buying anything. If it looks like your numbers aren’t gathering any momentum, don’t dissolve the business partnership immediately. Give your influencer some time to incorporate more product plugs to increase reader familiarity with your brand.

If you choose the right brand influencer, you’ll be set up to reel in the metrics, sales, and responses you’re hoping for in your marketing campaign. Choosing the wrong influencer can, at best, lead to a mere financial loss, but at worst can lead to negative responses around your brand. Not to mention, a potential hit in SEO if the influencers are of statistically ill repute. So getting it right the first time is definitely in your brand’s best interest.

About Author:

Monique Craig is a blogger and an employee at Oneflare, a reliable online marketplace connecting Australians with local businesses. In her free time, Monique enjoys reading self-improvement books and learning more about new technologies and strategies that allow businesses to grow and expand.