June 16, 2022
TAKEOFF has access to a global network of the brightest influencers on the planet, and we thought we’d share some tips with you here on how to partner with the right people for your projects.
80% of consumers make a purchase through an influencer’s recommendation, while 41% discover new products through influencers on a weekly basis.
Influencer marketing is big business. We’re not just talking about big names on social media, either.
With the right approach, a micro-influencer strategy – a partnership with a lesser-known up-and-coming content creator with a concentrated audience – could pay dividends.
As we mentioned, though, in our post about how to partner with the right brand ambassador, finding the right influencer can be a tricky task for marketing managers.
According to the 2021 Influencer Benchmark Report survey, 78% of respondents said they found some level of difficulty in finding the right influencer to partner with.
Part of the reason is because of the sheer size of the influencer marketing industry itself. The sector was valued at $1.7 billion in 2016. It’s projected to be worth $15 billion this year.
Being an influencer is now seen as a viable career path, especially amongst younger demographics – and good on them if they give it a go and make a success of it, we say.
The Coronavirus pandemic also helped to see a surge in influencers, with people across the globe putting themselves out there to generate extra income or pass time during lockdown.
It’s still a young, evolving market, though. It’s also a heavily-saturated one. How do marketing managers find the right influencers to build relationships with in such a fast-paced industry?
Influencer marketing is a two-way street
The key word here is ‘relationships’, and how you handle them will be crucial to influencer marketing success.
Because influencer marketing isn’t like other forms of marketing. It’s a carefully-balanced medium; a two-way street in which your influencer would like to see growth and results, too.
That mutual respect has to be in place, even before you approach the influencer you’d like to work with.
Why? Because they also have relationships they’d like to maintain with their burgeoning audience. They can’t afford to lose the trust they’ve spent so long building up.
Your goal, too, don’t forget, is to get your brand and IP in front of their audience, and build a relationship with them, too.
Building a relationship should always be at the forefront of your mind when you’re doing your initial research and scouting.
Does the influencer already have a relationship with your brand? Do they already talk about your IP and play games from your studio on stream? How regularly do they do it?
What channels are they on and what does the relationship with their audience look like? How many followers do they have and how engaged is that audience? What’s the ratio between subscribers and video views, for instance?
More importantly, what kind of content are they creating? Are they standing out from the crowd with unique, abstract content? Can viewers interact with it, and is it content you’d be happy with your existing audiences to see?
Influencer marketing isn’t like any other form of advertising. By looking to build long-lasting relationships, you’re more likely to succeed, and find the right people to work with your brand.