How to Leverage the Power of Influencers to grow Your Brand II

Finding the Right Online Influencers & Randi Zuckerberg

In the last blog, we explained how influencer marketing can be used to grow your brand, and how this can further advance your PR efforts. But how on earth do you go about working with social influencers? Getting the attention of social influencers is difficult – almost as hard as capturing the attention of journalists! But with the right strategy, you can forge relationships and learn how to leverage the consumer buying power of influencers.

Finding your industry’s influencers

The first step in succeeding in influencer marketing is identifying the right influencers for your brand. First you need to decide what route you’d like to go down: would you like a celebrity endorsement or a recommendation from a blogger or vlogger? When it comes to PR for entrepreneurs and small businesses, celebrities are often out of reach unless you have a huge marketing budget – or know one personally!

To find megastars who are willing to promote your product or brand, you’ll need a PR agency or a talent agency to make contact. It’s a long process and can be very expensive. Alternatively, if there is a celebrity who speaks out for certain causes or loves certain products, and you think your product is a perfect fit for them, you can try and contact them personally on social media. Nevertheless the chances of them responding are slim.

For the majority of SMEs, the best option is to start with online influencers who are easier to contact. Before picking the first vlogger you notice or the fashion blog with the most daily hits, there are things you should consider: audience, reach and cost. Does their audience reflect your target audience? The context has to be right. What sort of reach does the influencer have, how many followers and visitors to their site? Last of all, there may be a cost involved for coverage, so decide what you are willing to pay and if it is likely to give a good ROI.

Should I pay for exposure?

The main reason why many companies want to succeed in PR is because it offers free media exposure. There are no advertising costs, yet your brand gets mentioned in a publication which will be viewed by millions of people. However, if an online influencer is going to take the time to review your product or share your content, then they should be compensated (they are not paid a full time salary like a journalist).

This doesn’t always mean financially – there are many ways to show your appreciation and form a lasting relationship with influencers. If you’ve sent a new product for a review then they already have a freebie, and you could offer discount on further products. Additionally, why not offer them commission for the number of clients they send your way?

A paid recommendation is a last resort, because it misses the point of being a sincere endorsement. Influencers are trusted by their followers to give honest and passionate reviews, so paying for the exposure ruins this relationship – it is more like a celebrity endorsement, which is less trusted by consumers. However, some influencers are having to turn towards this for an income. Online influencers started out as normal people with normal jobs who had a blog in their spare time. Now, it is a full time job to edit and publish the blog or YouTube channel, so they have to charge for their time.

The good news is it’s really easy to contact online influencers as they often offer their email address, and if not you can follow and message them on a number of social media platforms. Get in touch and see if they would be interested in your brand or product, and take it from there. If they do charge a fee to be featured, be sure you know what is included (blog posts, how many social media shoutouts etc).

Find out more industry secrets by downloading this audiobook written by a PR pro – with plenty of influencers in her address book!