Social media influencers have created a lot of buzz in the marketing world but many businesses still struggle with knowing what to do when approached by someone asking for a media rate or free service in return for “exposure.” Here are 5 tips to help you make the most of working with social media influencers.

 

1. Have Clearly Defined Goals and Identify Your Target Market

Based on your marketing goals and target audience, what do you hope to achieve through working with an influencer? Do you hope to reach a new audience through their network? Maybe you want to work with the influencer to acquire new still or video assets for your business? Before committing to hosting or working with an influencer, know how you plan to use the content they produce.

2. Understand the Platforms

Who are the people that use Facebook vs. Instagram vs. YouTube vs. Pinterest, and so on? Which social media channels does your target market use? Having a good understanding of this will help you assess if an influencer on YouTube, for example, is the best use of your time and money. Additionally, knowing the type of content that performs best on each channel is helpful when determining if you should work with an influencer. For example, video generally performs well on YouTube and Instagram, whereas blog content can get a big boost from Pinterest if an influencer has a significant following there.

3. Know the Influencer's Audience

All influencers have access to analytics on all platforms and can easily provide you with key stats about their followers, which allows you to analyze if they reach your target market and if they can help achieve your marketing goals. Before agreeing to work with an influencer, ask them for the following:

  • The number of followers and/or subscribers to each channel/blog.
  • The demographics of their audience.
    • Does their audience align with your target market?

You can also use tools like HypeAuditor or SocialBlade to analyze influencers. 

4. Check Their Metrics

Most platforms and blogs make it very easy to see key metrics such as the ones below. Ask the influencer for this information, too:

  • Impressions (number of times a piece of content is displayed)
  • Reach (number of people that have seen your content)
  • Sessions (number of times a website or blog is visited)
  • Pageviews (number of pages viewed on a website or blog, this number is typically higher than session numbers)
  • Engagements (number of actions taken on a social media post such as likes, comments, shares, etc.)
  • Engagement rate (number of engagements/number of followers x 100 = engagement rate)
5. Get in Touch with Tourism Kelowna

There are so many things to consider when marketing your business, so if you have questions or need help determining if an influencer is worth the investment, get in touch with us. If you have committed to working with an influencer, be sure to let us know so our team can amplify the content as opportunities arise. We want you to be successful in your influencer marketing endeavors and will do what we can to support your business. 

For more information, you can reach me by phone at (250) 861-1515 ext. 204 or via email at carla@tourismkelowna.com.