Maybe you have already thought about it.

A lot of brands do it and it seems to work.

Influencerscan be a very profitable way to promote your product or service.

The socials are their element, they are used to public exposure and have cultivated a close relationship with their followers over a period of time.

These factors don’t necessarily apply to you as the mind behind your brand. Remember, you don’t have to do it all yourself.

Letting influencersuse their power of appeal to advertise your brand can be a very smart strategy.

But as every time you consider investing in a new advertising medium, you need to take several factors into account to ensure that your investment pays off.

Many brands have done it really well and without investing lots of money; but for that you need first a good strategy, and that’s what I’m going to explain here.

Shall we start?

Choose your influencers wisely so your campaign makes sense.

Influencers are now also called “content creators”, because that’s what they do.

They create content that entertains, informs and engages their followers.

Some people don’t value this type of activity but the reality is that creating consistent, quality content is a full-time job.

Whether we like it or not, this type of character has gained unparalleled prominence and you as a business owner that wants to grow can gain a lot by working with them.

The key is to know how to choose the right content creator for you and the type of content you want them to produce.

There are several factors to consider when researching which content creators you’d like to collaborate with:

• Type of content: their content is in line with your brand and what you sell.
• Demographic group: the profile of your buyer persona matches that of their followers. This applies not only to age and economic level, but also to tastes and interests.  
• Brand image: their communication style matches your brand values and personality.
• Engagement: there’s genuine interaction with your followers, rather than just lots of likes, which could be from fake accounts..
• Frequency of publication: Do they publish often? Or only occasionally?

How many followers should the influencer have?

There’s a common misconception that the more followers an influencer has, the more profitable their campaigns will be.

This is not always the case.

Before explaining why, let’s first look at the different types of influencer based on their number of followers.

1. Macro influencers

They’re basically celebrities. We’re talking about influencers who have amassed between 100,000 and one million followers.

They’re content creators who appear in mainstream media and run campaigns for well-known brands, which are the only ones that can afford their fees. They’re often known to the general public because they are talked about outside their own communities of followers.

• Micro influencers

These are content creators with between 5,000 and 100,000 followers. While they may not have celebrity status, they are considered celebrities within their community.

They are often authorities in their field (fashion, marketing, entertainment, etc.), but are not well-known to the general public. They can charge affordable fees for promotional campaigns.

• Nano influencers

These are content creators with up to 1000 followers. These influencers often have higher engagement than macro influencers because they are more real and feel closer to their followers.

This is why nano-influencers can be very profitable.

Their followers trust them and when they recommend a product or a service, they throw themselves into the campaign, taking great care of their audience.

As creating content isn’t their day job, they can run campaigns in exchange for products or very affordable fees.

How to work with and how to pay influencers?

Content creators want to develop long-term relationships with brands, rather than just earning 200 euros here and there.

The more you involve them as partners in a campaign or initiative, the better. Greater collaboration has advantages for both parties and can be more cost-effective for your brand.

You can work with content creators to cover events, test products, collaborate on promotions or create discount codes.

Alternatively, you can run campaigns to promote each other through temporary actions, such as managing each other’s Instagram accounts for a while.

In the latter two cases, remuneration is not necessarily required; it all depends on the conditions negotiated with the influencer.

Influencers will often be willing to collaborate in exchange for free products or to gain more visibility, particularly if your socials have a considerable number of followers.

Your influencers may ask for any of these different forms of payment:

• by CPA (cost per action) – every time a person performs a certain action, be it a purchase, or hitting the subscribe button.
• by CPC (cost per click) or traffic – the number of people who click on the link that leads to the page you want to reach
• fixed price – regardless of clicks or conversions, you are charged a fixed price per post, reel or story.

Make sure that the price you pay makes sense for the type of campaign you want to run and that it is within your budget.

For example, if what you are doing is a brand awareness campaign, it makes more sense to pay them a fixed price per publication, or depending on the traffic they bring to your website.

Analyse the profitability of your influencer campaigns

Make sure their fees make sense for your strategy and that the investment pays off. On most platforms like Instagram or TikTok you can analyse the number of clicks and engagement on your posts.

Analyse periodically whether your investment in influencer marketing is paying off in the short, medium or long term.

You can ask influencers for such reports, or collaborate with them to see these reports directly in your Instagram or TikTok account.

Instagram collaborations work like this:

1. Before sharing a post, tap the ‘Tag people’ option.

2. Click on ‘Invite collaborator’.

3. Find the account you want to add and click on its name.

4. Tap ‘Done’ to confirm.

Oversee the entire process

To ensure that your influencer campaigns align with your brand and objectives, maintain clear communication and agree on every detail of their publications.

While it is important to give them freedom as they are the experts in content creation, if you feel that something is not right, you have the right and the obligation to discuss it — after all, it is your brand image.

This is why it is so important to work with influencers who share your vision and whom you trust to represent your brand.

You should agree in advance:

1. Number of publications
2. Format
3. Date of publication
4. Proposed content (text, location, visuals, duration)
5. Price and method of payment

Where the influencer makes the video or takes the photo is very important. The background can either enhance or ruin a post.

Use a ghostwriter

While there are influencers who are very good with images, such as those specialising in fashion, beauty products and travel, many of them struggle with words.

As we know, the message is as important as the image. If you’re working with influencers who struggle with words, hire a ghostwriter to write the post texts and video scripts.

You’d be surprised at how many famous influencers don’t write their own content, even though they give the impression that they do.

The aim is to make it seem as if what they say has occurred to them.

A ghostwriter adapts to the influencer’s personality and their audience to determine the type of content that will generate the most engagement.

Many copywriters write for influencers and celebrities behind the scenes — I do it too; it’s common in our profession.

Where to start

Finding the right influencers to collaborate with can be time-consuming.

You have to search and compare, and make sure that the audience is real and not bots.

This is where platforms that simplify the process of finding the ideal content creators for your brand come in.

One such platform is Upfluence, which uses software that indexes and updates influencers’ profiles in real time, analysing all their content to determine their reach and level of interaction.

Its Live Capture tool finds the best influencers for your brand.

Another such platform is Later.

A different alternative: Organic ads – what are they?

They are going viral with well-known brands such as North Face.

Organic ads are ads created by real customers.

Brands find customers who are already fans and encourage them to create a post recommending the brand’s products.

They don’t have to be professional publications with expensive effects or graphic design; the simpler, the better.

The truth is that we are all a little overwhelmed by the constant stream of beautiful and seemingly perfect influencers.

That’s why organic ads from ordinary people work: they’re honest and relatable.

So go out there, find creators who are authentic and share your vision, and let them be themselves!