If you’re looking to find influencers you’ll know that influencer generated-content is an excellent way to connect with audiences and boost your brand awareness, leads, and sales. However, it’s really important to find the influencers to work with that are right for your brand. Too often, brands don't consider these relationships which results in content that doesn't move the needle.
Authenticity is what drives audiences to connect with influencer content. And that's not something that anyone can easily fake. Room Unlocked helps businesses find influencers who are genuine fans of their products. This real connection shines through in the content, meaning that it feels like a word-of-mouth recommendation rather than someone reeling off another ad for a paycheque.
To help you, we’ve created the following guide on how to find the influencers that are right for your brand. But before that, let’s understand what influencer marketing is and why it’s so important to find the right influencers for your business.
Influencer marketing is one of the fastest-growing types of online marketing. Over the last decade, the sector has grown enormously and is now worth over £12bn annually.
At its core, influencer marketing is about brands collaborating with online creators to help promote their products or services to a broader audience. These influential personalities have built an audience that respects their opinion, allowing brands to benefit from a kind of amplified word-of-mouth style promotion
There are lots of advantages for brands that embrace influencer-generated content.
More impact
According to statistics from the e-commerce platform Shopify, 61% of audiences trust influencer-generated content. These same users only trust brand-generated content 38% of the time.
These figures demonstrate the most compelling argument for using influencers. Modern audiences are sceptical and frequently resistant to marketing messages. When you use people they trust and respect to deliver your messaging, it's far more likely to make an impact.
Reach
Influencers spend a lot of time building up an audience. For brands, achieving the same following can be hard and expensive work. Influencer-generated content allows your brand to tap into an existing following and spread the word about your product or service far and wide.
Better audience targeting
Another benefit of influencers is that they allow you to connect with particular audiences. Each influencer appeals to audiences of particular demographics and interests. Sometimes these cohorts are very broad; other times, they are very niche.
When you are targeting a particular customer persona, an influencer can provide direct access to these people.
Boost your content strategy
Influencer content is a great way to supplement your existing marketing campaigns. Constantly producing impactful content is time-consuming and expensive. When you augment your campaigns with influencers, it can take the pressure off your marketing team.
Great ROI
Another benefit of influencer marketing is that it provides a great return on investment (ROI). Customer acquisition costs (CAC) are rising, which means marketing teams need to find strategies that provide value.
There have been a few different studies into influencer-generated content, with some notable results:
Of course, finding the right influencer isn't simple. Like any collaboration, you need synergy between the two parties. Perhaps the most critical requirement of influencer-generated content is authenticity. Even if an influencer has a vast audience, it will show if they aren't truly passionate about your product or service.
Instagram has over 500,000 influencers, YouTube has millions, and it's estimated that TikTok has over 3 million. Some statistics suggest the number of influencers worldwide is around 37 million if you add nano and micro-influencers.
But the question you need to ask yourself is, "how many of them are right for my brand?".
For starters, it's not enough to sign up as an influencer because they have lots of followers. You need to be sure they are the right type of followers.
Secondly, you need someone who is aligned with your brand. Remember, an influencer is essentially a representative of your brand. Their behaviour will reflect on you, and if they get caught up in controversy, it can harm your brand.
Finally, you need to build strong and authentic relationships to get the best ROI from your marketing partnerships. Audiences are listening to influencers because they are more marketing resistant. They can tell the difference between someone recommending a product because they want to get paid and someone who has a genuine enthusiasm for the product or service.
OK, so now we're clear on:
Now, it's time to move on to how you can find influencers that can help grow your brand.
Finding influencers for your brand doesn't have to be difficult when you use these methods. We'll share the best ways to discover influencers and later touch on what you need to look for when commissioning effective influencer-generated content.
#1. Influencer Marketing Platforms like Room Unlocked
Influencer marketing platforms have stepped into the space to solve the issue of connecting brands with influencers. In the past, agencies were a popular way for brands to find internet personalities. However, it's challenging for agencies to have a truly diverse range of clients to service any type of brand.
Influencer platforms, like Room Unlocked, offer brands access to a broad range of influencers they can collaborate with.
A lot of influencer marketing platforms generate mixed results. For starters, a lot of platforms are built purely to drive revenue. They aren't so concerned about creating meaningful and long-lasting partnerships. As a result, many of the influencers are just in it for a paycheck.
And look, business is business. Who could have a problem with people making money? However, the issue arises when a lack of authenticity harms the effectiveness of your ad. The audience can sense if any influencer is just phoning it in or recommending the product based on the highest bidder. Once their trust is eroded, you lose the magic that makes influencer marketing one of the most effective and impactful forms of marketing.
At Room Unlocked, we've thought long and hard about this problem. Our solution was to create a model where brands and influencers exchange passion, not money.
Instead of paying influencers to promote your brands, you can offer them products instead. This setup means that influencers are more likely to only work with brands they actually care about.
You can really tell the difference between content that is genuine and content that is just driven by a pay cheque. When influencers actually care about a brand, they understand the pain points of your target audience. They know what consumers are looking for when they evaluate products. This knowledge and enthusiasm can flow through the content they create, which helps your brand connect more effectively with your audience.
Additionally, our platform can help you access influencers in small niches too. Some products are reasonably specialist and would only appeal to a tiny portion of the audience of a huge influencer. So instead of wasting money speaking to a small number of people, you can target micro and nano influencers who represent your audience.
For influencers, this system works better too. Instead of slowly gaining a reputation as someone who will promote anything for money, influencers can preserve the integrity of their brand and the respect of their audience.
Overall, a platform like Room Unlocked is about keeping influencer marketing effective. When audiences suspect that influencers will promote anything, they'll stop listening. Our platform helps to build and preserve trust through authentic brand-influencer relationships.
#2. Google
Google is a great way to find influencers. However, it's easy for the best candidates to get lost in the noise. You need to use the search engine strategically to unearth internet personalities that will connect with your mission.
One of the first things you should do is build a list of the keywords and terms that relate to your brand. If you already have an SEO strategy, you'll already have this on hand.
Now, you can just punch in terms like "influencer gaming products" or "influencer hair products" and hope for the best. But we recommend a more surgical approach.
Instead, build your searches like this:
"site://tiktok.com" + your search terms or keywords.
That way, you can narrow down your search to TikTok users who are posting about those products. Of course, the same method works for Instagram, YouTube, and other social media channels.
Additionally, if you want to find more local influencers, you can try terms like "influencer London for health supplements". Add as many terms as you like to narrow down your options.
Finally, Google can also help you find blogs and personal websites for influencers. Again, using the keywords or terms encapsulating your brand will help you find content that aligns with your mission and values.
#3. Hashtags
Hashtags are another proven way to find influencers. Again, it's all about finding terms that connect with your brand. So, go through social media platforms and find accounts regularly posting about particular topics and trends within your niche.
Some of the hashtags you should consider are:
Of course, before you reach out to any of these content creators, ensure that you go through our checklist at the bottom of the page to ensure these influencers are a good fit for your brand.
#4. Competitors
Your business competitors are also an effective way to find people to promote your content. Check who they’re following, their followers, tags and mentions for industry-relevant influencers.
This method can be a great way to find people already posting about the topics that are relevant topics to your brand. It can also give you a better idea about how consumers discuss related products or services and even double up as research into what they’re unhappy with.
Of course, you need to judge the situation correctly. If an influencer already has a well-established relationship with a competitor brand, they might not be a great choice. For starters, they could be unwilling to take on a similar brand because it will dilute their message. Secondly, they might have signed an exclusivity agreement with your competitor already.
#5. Your website
You can also use your website to make connections with influencers. The best way to implement this strategy is to design a landing page with the keywords and phrases the influencers might use when looking for companies to partner with.
A landing page for influencers can use SEO content related to influencer opportunities. However, it should also be clear on your main website that you are open to collaborations so that influencers can easily navigate to the section if they come across your website.
Some of the things you should include on the landing page are details of how you want to collaborate with influencers. You can have things like:
This strategy is definitely a more long-term approach. If you need to find influencers fast, you would be better off employing some of the other methods first.
#6. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a great way to stay in touch with colleagues and find top talent. However, you can also use it to find people to make influencer-generated content.
The key here is LinkedIn's sophisticated search tools. Many marketing teams will already be adept at using the search function to find leads, but it can also be employed to find excellent people to represent your brand.
If you search by "Industry" and "Title", you can discover candidates who could be able to promote your brand.
Alternatively, you can search by keywords and find users producing similar content.
Once you find some people with potential, you can look through their profiles and the content they produce to find:
If you're happy, then you can get in touch.
Now that you know how to find the right influencer for your brand, you need to consider how to evaluate them as a partner for your brand.
We've compiled a handy checklist that you can use.
#1. Credibility
Look through the influencer's content. Do they get your industry? Pay careful attention to how they talk about your niche and whether they'd be considered a credible authority on related products or services.
Your target audience will be more inclined to follow their recommendations if they have the expertise.
#2. Content
Look at the typical content the influencer produces. Ask yourself if it aligns with your company's mission and values. While the influencers might have brand alignment and lots of followers if their typical schedule of content includes views and opinions that could negatively affect your brand, be cautious.
#3. Evaluate their audience
Think about the influencer's audience. For your endeavours to have an ROI, you must ensure they have some crossover. However, you don't just want to preach to the converted or people who have likely already heard of your product.
Also, look at the comments on the influencers' other branded content. Look at how their audience responds to promotional content. If they're typically unwelcoming or overly critical of these posts, it might not be the right group for you.
#4. Look at engagement figures
Finally, you should compare engagement between an influencer's typical posts and the content they do for businesses. If there is a huge difference in likes, shares, and comments between the two, it could be a sign that they struggle to overcome the authenticity gap. \
For example, their audience could trust their typical content but be well aware that their ad work isn't heartfelt. Working with these types of creators can lead to disappointment.
Influencer generated-content can be an excellent way to connect with audiences and boost your brand awareness, leads, and sales. However, you need to find the right people to work with. Too often, brands don't really consider these relationships. The result is content that doesn't move the needle.
Authenticity is what drives audiences to connect with influencer content. And that's not something that anyone can easily fake. Room Unlocked helps businesses connect with personalities who are genuine fans of their products. This real connection shines through in the content, meaning that it feels like a word-of-mouth recommendation rather than someone reeling off another ad for a paycheque.
Whether you’re looking for larger international influencers or smaller influencers from your local area, Room Unlocked has a range of different influencers on the platform ready to work with your brands.
One of the best ways to find Instagrams influencers is through hashtags. Some of the hashtags you should consider are:
Using platforms such as Room Unlocked helps makes searching for new influencers easier as they already have a variety of influencers to choose from.
How much it costs to pay an influencer in the UK will vary depending on the campaigns and content included. At Room Unlocked, however, you’ll reward influencers with your products in exchange for authentic content as opposed to just paying for a post.
Whether your target audience is on TikTok, Instagram or Youtube, Influencer Marketing Platforms like Room Unlocked can help you build relationships with the influencers who reach them.
