Using popular influencers to endorse your brand, products, or services to raise awareness, increase sales and grow your business is Influencer Marketing. The current generation of millennials and internet-savvy people have great exposure to the world and with the advent of smartphones, the world that we live in has become even smaller. The internet is an endless source of knowledge and online resources. Social media is a powerful tool to interconnect people using the internet. Power users of social media use their connections with their followers to endorse, place, review or recommend products, services, or brands as an authentic and personal experience. These posts are seen as genuine interactions and create a positive and lasting impact.
Your business may be small, medium, or large but an effectively planned influencer marketing campaign will always do wonders for you. However, without the experience and expertise of conducting such a campaign, you might not be even able to take the first step right in choosing the right influencer. Here is where you will need the expert services of an influencer marketing agency. But, how will you know which is the right influencer marketing agency for your business?
Here are six pointers that will guide you to select the right influencer marketing agency for your brand.
Scan and inspect their social media presence
Influencer marketing mostly thrives on social media. While hiring an influencer marketing agency you must ascertain their presence and magnitude on social media. This will reveal how well they engage with their audience and what social media sites they use.
While using social media promotions, the first pre-requisite is to have active social media accounts of your own. Most people will want to see your social media pages as soon as they see your product or service endorsement on the influencer’s page. Your social media accounts must be active enough to engage people.
The right kind of influencer marketing agency will have a strong presence on social media. They should have active and engaging accounts on multiple social media platforms. Even if they do not have an active presence on many social media applications, you must have enough supporting evidence of their experience on their knowledge and success in engaging people on them.
Most times an active agency will be the best choice as it will drive confidence in you to develop an active and engaging social media campaign for you.
Evaluate their connections
A successful agency will have true connections in the industry. It will be very important to know, who the agency knows. You will want to use influencers who are from your industry as their followers will be your target audience. These people will naturally be inclined towards your products or services.
You might find they do not have connections with experts from your industry, but you will be able to evaluate their connections with other industries. If you find them to be well-connected you can deduce that they will be able to strike a good working connection with influencers from your industry.
A well-connected agency will yield the best results for your brand. They will either have or be able to develop connections with the best-suited influencers from your industry for your business, resulting in useful lead creation.
See their influencing
An effective influencer marketing agency will have its bit of influencer marketing in addition to a lot of influencer connections and tie-ups. Choosing an agency that practices its marketing frequently will make sure they are up to date with the latest trends and current changes.
Their portfolio of influencers will clearly define their grasp on the range of industries and talents. Additionally, if they are actively using influencer marketing for themselves then they are experts and can be trusted for their expertise and knowledge.
Check their portfolio and their results
Even with impressive knowledge, you will need to deduce the success and effectiveness of the agency. Look for results. Agencies will have the required proof to display their success. See that data.
Also, check their portfolio to see their historical campaigns and stats to get a sense of their style and execution. Their portfolio will let you verify their experience in your industry. If they do, chances are they will be able to handle yours with efficiency.
Research thoroughly about the agency
While doing your background checks make sure to research well. And in detail to ascertain if they are a good fit for your business. Go through their online and offline data to understand how they operate. See their company values and match them with yours. Check their priorities in parallel to yours to ensure a harmonious business relationship.
Ensure a perfect match for a long-standing and successful business relationship. Your efforts matched with theirs will help create a campaign that will be effective and be handled efficiently.
Take a look at their team, their business processes, experience, awards, and other accolades. Partnering with a team you know will let you drive better results.
Ask questions
Ask questions, and more importantly the right questions. Clear your doubts and queries and see how they respond. Questions like,
- How will you create a campaign for our brand?
- Why are you different?
- How will you achieve the results I require?
Influencer marketing has been proven to be effective, provided the influencer marketing agency is the right fit and effective for your business. Choose wisely and correctly for success in the campaign towards the desired ROI.
