How to find Instagram influencers for your brand: 3 things to consider

Find the influencer whose philosophy and story align well with you brand’s

The audience can always tell when a sponsored post feels artificial and forces, when there is no chemistry between the brand and the influencer. The worst thing you can do when choosing an Instagram influencer is to do a quick search for top Instagram influencer, choose the first name you see, send over the post text, photo and payment. 9 out of 10 times this will result in very few people actually going to check out your brand, making purchases or following your page. You need to sift through the huge number of influencers there is nowadays to make sure that the influencer’s lifestyle and spirit fits in well with that of your brand’s target audience and that the demographic and the physical location of the influencer’s following are suitable for your goals. For instance, if you’re US-based and don’t sell your products online, collaboration with a travel blogger with most of the following scattered around the world will probably be a waste of money.

Find influencers with the right audience size

Believe it or not, a large audience is not always a good thing. If you want to get a good bang for your buck, look for influencers with less than 10 thousand followers - if you can find a person who fits well into your brand’s philosophy, try organizing a campaign with them. Influencers with a smaller following often have a much more loyal audience than those with hundreds of thousands of followers, so your conversion rate with them might be sky-high. Plus, small influencers get a lot less attention and free products from brands, so they will be much more likely to try out your product and provide a genuine opinion to their audience.

Cultivate a good relationship with the influencer

If possible, try to stay away from one-time collaborations with influencers - the times when that was the most cost-effective way to operate are almost gone. The most effective thing to do in today’s social media environment is to set up a good, mutually beneficent relationship with the influencer. Good communication and creative troubleshooting is key - you will probably need to try several formats and types of products being promoted to reach the best outcome for your brand, and noone knows the audience better than the influencer him or herself. In the best case scenario both the influencer and your brand can help each other to grow, choose the right direction for your brands and ensure steady growth of profits and of the social media following.