Imagine this scenario.
You want to buy an artificial leather bag.
However, they are not sure which brand is the best.
You go online, read reviews, and browse your local stores.
You will be bombarded with ads, endless lists of Brand X’s features and benefits of Brand Z, and the annoying voices of tons of grinning salespeople.
But just as you make up your mind, a friend comes over and you tell her about your dilemma.
“Oh, that’s easy!” She says. “I bought a faux leather bag from X five years ago, and I’ve never failed since then!”
What would you do?
Of course, you’d ignore the list of other brands’ features …
… and buy a bag like hers.
This is how influencer marketing works. We feel secure in taking the step we fear because we know someone we trust has taken it before us.
Are you ready for influencer marketing?
In this article I will show you:
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- Three reasons you shouldn’t wait until later to dive into influencer marketing.
- Five Influencer Marketing Tools to Use to Find Real Influencers in Your Field.
- How To Find Influential Influencers When You Are On A Budget
- And more!
Let’s dive in.
What is an Influential Influencer?
When you think of “influencer marketing”, Kylie Jenner probably pops up in your head and you think, “no, not my type.” 😉
But the truth is that influencers aren’t just famous (or infamous) celebrities and celebrities with their own 24 hour shows.
According to Hootsuite, influencers are:
“… niche audience social content creators (who have engaged and engaged groups of followers on social media).”
This means your influencer doesn’t have to be a Kylie or Kendall Jenner.
He can be a content marketer on Instagram who has earned 10,000 followers because of his great posts.
She can be a popular soccer or tennis player on Facebook (even if she isn’t known to ESPN as long as she has a strong and dedicated following).
She can be a cook on Pinterest who has grown her following with delicious pins of her homemade dishes + recipes.
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In other words, an influencer can be anyone in your niche who has built trust with an audience and gained authority in your industry.
Are you getting excited?
You bet!
Because the truth is, influencer marketing just works.
3 reasons to drop your referrals and dive into influencer marketing today
I’ve ever seen a celebrity advertise cheap shampoo and thought, “No, she doesn’t really use that.”
(Me too. 😉)
Because the truth is, endorsements don’t work as well as influencer marketing these days.
Here are three reasons to go for the latter.
Reason # 1: You are building trust in your niche
Influencers didn’t get famous overnight because some producers decided to include them in a movie (not that that’s a bad thing).
They slowly and meticulously earned trust through the incredible value they brought into people’s lives.
Because of this, a message from them about your product / service will instantly build trust between their followers and your brand.
Reason # 2: You are reaching your target audience
Think of an influencer with over 80,000 followers like Harry.
The thing is, Harry doesn’t post cute cat videos and generic pictures.
It’s all about marketing advice on social media.
Which does ______________ mean?
His followers are people who are interested in social media marketing.
If you’re in the same alcove, it’s a pot of gold with no goblin guarding it.
Just remember: You’re not throwing your marketing message at billions of random people who probably don’t care. You focus on 80,000 people who are you knows Mind what you do and need your product.
Astonishingly much?
Reason # 3: win partnerships
According to a LinkedIn study, 80% of professionals consider networking to be essential for professional success.
And according to John Donne, “no one is an island”.
Bottom line: Working with others offers enormous opportunities. Think of joint ventures, launches, live events, etc.
5 Influencer Marketing Tools To Find Real Influencers In Your Space
“That’s great,” you say. “I’m really looking forward to diving into influencer marketing. The problem is: where can I find real influencers? “
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Good question.
Here are five tools you can use to identify the best campaign partners for your brand.
1. Followerwonk
Do you want to find influencers on Twitter?
Try Followerwonk.
Followerwonk lets you search for new influencers, compare authority rankings, compare followers, and much more.
You can even analyze accounts with large numbers of followers to see what works for them.
Price: Free (limited access), $ 29 / month (up to 3 accounts), $ 79 / month (up to 20 accounts)
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2. BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is a paid tool, but it’s worth gold!
The great thing about it is the Influencer tool, which you can use to search YouTube, Twitter, or Google for industry leaders who have the appropriate authority.
For example, click YouTube and enter a keyword in the search box.
Hit search and voila!
Here are your content marketing influencers on YouTube.
Price: Pro ($ 99 / month), Plus ($ 179 / month), Large ($ 299 / month), Enterprise ($ 499 + / month)
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3. Alexa’s Audience Overlap Tool
This tool is great if you want to try out brands that your audience shares.
As mentioned earlier, by working with influencers in the same niche, you can reach more people who need your product or service.
With Alexa’s Audience Overlap Tool, all you have to do is enter a name known in your industry and see what other names your (and your) target audience share.
You can also check their Alexa rank, overlap score and a lot more!
Price: $ 149 / month (includes other top notch tools)
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4. keyhole
Keyhole is very easy to use and it will show you the top influencers based on the keyword you put in the search box.
You can get data on how many followers each influencer has, how often they publish, and how much engagement they get on average from their followers.
Price: Keyhole Suite: $ 59 / month
5. Done
Klear is a smart influencer marketing tool that allows you to target influencers based on your market and location.
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The advanced filters allow you to focus on influencers by social channels, niche topics, audience demographics, and more.
How To Find Influencers On Social Media In 3 Easy Steps (Even If You Are On A Budget)
Ok, maybe you’re just getting started.
Maybe you don’t have a sizeable budget to find influencers just yet.
But you still find influencer marketing great and look forward to trying it out.
If this sounds like you, there are three steps you can take to find influencers without a budget.
Step 1: look for the blue badge
Have you ever noticed a little blue badge next to someone’s name on Twitter or Instagram?
Do you know like this next to my name.
This blue badge means that the account has been verified as authentic by the social media platform.
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What further means …
… The person behind the account is a well-known person.
So if you are wondering whether or not someone is an influencer, check to see if there is a blue badge next to their name.
Step 2. Use hashtags
I know it’s difficult to track down blue ID users when there are 3.8 billion people on social networks today.
However, you can narrow it down using hashtags.
First, brainstorm popular hashtags in your industry.
For example, if you’re into content marketing, you can check out #content or #contentstrategy.
Browse the results.
Before long, you’ll come across a blue badge or two.
Like this one.
Now go to his profile and check:
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- What he does.
- How many followers does he have?
- How committed his followers are.
- If his followers could benefit from your offer and vice versa.
Repeat this process until you have an extensive list of influencers that you want to target.
Step 3: use keywords on social media
As already mentioned, an “influencer” does not have to be a person with special status.
You don’t have to be a famous actor, athlete, or musician.
You just have to be influential.
So when you find someone in your industry that their followers trust …
… This is a great person to turn to for collaboration.
The good news is that finding people with influence on social media isn’t that hard.
All you need is a great keyword.
For example “Marketing”.
Enter this (for example) into Instagram’s search box.
What you get is a series of results.
Now check these results one by one.
How many followers do you have?
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Are these followers busy with their posts?
Do you publish helpful, trustworthy, and valuable content?
If the answer is yes, then you’ve found your influencer!
How to use influencer marketing for your brand
I know winning people over is more difficult than ever.
We’re all tired of ads and sellers ramming us deeper into a funnel.
So, if you’re looking for a new way to gain trust, it’s through someone people already know and like.
Someone who has worked long and hard to create value and build credibility.
This person is like the friend who tells you about the leatherette bag they bought.
Since you trust your girlfriend, you know that she is only telling you something that will make your life better.
That’s the beauty of influencer marketing.
More resources:
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Photo credit
All screenshots by the author, December 2020