How to Use Influencers to Create Brand Visibility

While scrolling through any form of social media, especially Instagram, your feed is bound to be filled with influencers recommending their new favorite product or a new restaurant that you need to try out.  

You start to wonder how businesses are getting influencers to work with them and speak so highly of their brand on their own social media platforms, and you may even be wondering how you can get influencers to do the same for your business.

Utilizing influencers as a marketing strategy for your business, whether it is big or small, can help increase your brand’s recognition.  

So, how do you get influencers to work with you and where should you start? We have broken down our best tips and tricks to getting influencers to work with your brand.  

A few things to remember before diving in:

Before jumping right into contacting influencers and giving away free products or payment, it is important to note whether or not your business is able to fit influencer marketing into your budget.  

Some things to think about before reaching out:  

• What is your offer?  

• What size influencers will fit within your budget?

First, consider what you are able to offer them. If your business can offer a free meal item or gift card, it is fair to ask the influencer to post a Reel or a static post in exchange. However, it is important to keep in mind the size of the influencer's following. Influencers are categorized into three sizes: micro, macro, and mega. 

For this example, a micro influencer with a following between 2K-5K may accept a free meal or gift card but, the higher follower count they have may also require a form of monetary compensation. Learn more about the different levels of social media influencers here. 

What type of influencers are best for your business

It comes as no surprise that the fashion and lifestyle industry have a strong hold on how to properly utilize influencers to increase brand visibility. However, this is not the only industry that should incorporate influencers in their digital marketing.  

For instance, the travel and tourism industry has been booming since the pandemic and now, everyone wants to travel, and they want to hear the best tips and tricks from influencers who know what they are talking about.  

The tech industry can also use influencers to reach younger generations who are more in tune and likely to use new technology. Utilizing tech influencers who can demonstrate how a new product or app works to make the average person's life easier, is a great way to reach this audience.  

The food and beverage industry has also gotten in on influencer marketing, employing influencers to come dine at their restaurants and create an engaging Instagram reel or TikTok advertising how unique and delicious their food and dining experience is.  

When deciding the type of influencers, you want to work with, you don’t just want to choose anyone who has a following within the range you’d like to work with. You need to choose influencers whose target audience aligns with your own. You want them to speak about your product to people who actually may care about that product or service, this will drive more sales and overall give you a better return on your investment.  

How to find the right influencers for your brand

Now that you have decided your offer, the industry that your business is in, and how to apply these to the type of influencer to work with, it is time to find those influencers.  

We are sure that you are keeping an eye on your competitors and what they are up to, and if you’re not, you probably should be! HubSpot offers a great article on how to create a competitive analysis. Looking at your competitor's social media is an easy and effective way to find influencers. You can do this by looking at their tagged posts or scrolling through their feed and finding any ‘collaborative’ posts.  

One other thing to keep in mind is whether or not you need the influencers to physically visit your business location. If you are an online store, you can send a product to an influencer without any face-to-face contact, which opens up more opportunities to influencers that may live in a different city or state. 

Best practices for contacting influencers

Once you identify the influencers you would like to collaborate with, choose a few to contact. In order to get influencers to work with you, you’re going to need to draft your pitch. We recommend creating a pitch that:  

• Greets the influencer and informs them what you like about their page  
• Introduces your brand and what is so exciting about it  

• States your offer clearly and what you need in return  

Be clear, precise, and friendly in your pitch so that the influencer knows exactly what you are looking for. HubSpot also offers an effective Influencer Proposal Checklist.  

You can typically tell how an influencer prefers to be contacted from their bio on their social media pages.  

If they prefer an email, they will provide their email within their bio. They may choose to be contacted through direct messaging (DM). Such phrases as "DM to work with me" or "DM with inquiries" are common. If there is no indicated preference, go ahead and proceed with a DM.  

Once you send a form of communication, wait to hear back from an influencer to proceed with any next steps. It is also important to consider drafting a contract or working with a lawyer to draft a contract to avoid any potential scams, especially for any monetary payment.  

Remember to manage expectations when it comes to working with influencers, you might not get a hit every time, but don’t get discouraged. Consider tweaking your offer and try again with different influencers!  

Need help increasing your overall brand awareness? We can help you develop an effective digital media marketing strategy, contact us today!