- leadership (i.e. perspectives unique to your niche);
- Influencer recommendations serve as a form of social proof to your brand’s potential customers;
- Social distancing revealed an increased need for more personable experiences. Harvard Business Review advises marketers to “present with empathy and transparency.”
As usual, strategies perform best when considered as part of an integrated communication plan that is essential for achieving business goals.
Where to Find Influencers
It’s a tough job working out how and with whom to partner...how much it's going to cost...and the best way to oversee influencer partnerships. Here is a list of platforms that can help you find and manage the perfect influencers for your business:
1. AspireIQ: Named by Forrester Researcher as the best all-around influencer solution in Q2 2020. Ships and tracks product samples and a robust influencer CRM.
2. Izea: Platform for marketers to discover influencers, pay them, and manage content workflow. Global.
3. Linqui: Over 100,000 “power-middle” social media and blogging influencers. USA.
4. CreatorIQ: Recommended for brands that are ready to manage influencers inhouse.
4. Mavrck: Ideal choice for brands that work with all levels of influencers from unpaid to mega influencers.
5. Launchmetrics: Fashion, luxury and beauty brands.
6. Nevaly: Gaming and mobile influencers only. Global.
7. Klear: Good access to real-time data on influencer profiles as well as its estimated media value calculation.
8. Tagger Media: An accumulated 9 billion social posts. Develops comprehensive understanding of best-match influencers.
9. Style Coalition: Lifestyle influencers. Includes analytics and content tracking. Global.
10. Sway Group: Large network of female bloggers. Full-service influencer management. Global.
11. Alltop: Top blog posts in a niche gives an idea of the most influential blogs on a topic.
12. Social Crawlytics – Analyze competitors to determine successful content and how people share it.
16 Questions to Consider Before You Contract an Influencer
- What is the most compelling way to reach out to an influencer?
- What are the most important metrics to measure?
- Which measurement tools are required?
- How much control does a brand have on content?
- What is your fee?
- What should be included in an influencer contract?
- Am I able to publish influencer content across multiple brand channels?
- Is it appropriate to require draft approval prior to publishing?
- Am I able to test an influencer's style before entering into a year-long program?
- What content usage rights allow brands to republish?
- Am I able to publish content across brand channels?
- What goes into a successful influencer brief?
- How do brands insure that contracted influencers are representing the messaging effectively?
- What are regional compliance guidelines?
- What is the difference in influencers vs agency fees?
- When should a brand walk away from an influencer?
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About the Author— Sharon MacLean
Entrepreneurship, Magazine Publishing, and Social Marketing are the threads that weave throughout my career. They reflect my professional life driven largely by purpose and relationships — most recently through WorldGate Media and Boards of Directors for TechInvest Alberta, and RoadShowz/StreetSeenz.
Yet, it was through starting up and running Edmontonians magazine for 21 years where a reputation for community engagement flourished. In some ways, I see the magazine that covered leaders of commerce and the community as a predecessor to social media!
My world changed dramatically in 2010 given the disruption of traditional media which led to the sale of the magazine…and my launch into new media.
The disruption opened doors for an investor start-up in online wellness with an international team. Experience with journalism media and community publishing incubated an understanding of content creation, distribution, and network platforms.
Every skill acquired during the foundational years has been leveraged to serve my passion for professional communications in the digital age.
Social enterprise fired up all my neurons and stretched my resilience. I now help professionals and business owners flourish using traditional and modern forms of communications marketing. Learn more.
