3 Ways You Can Find Influencers for Your Brand

Influencers.

It’s today’s biggest buzzword. Influencers are known to be tied to increases in direct sales, brand awareness, and audience engagement. Now more than ever, brands are looking for different ways to get there name out there. And if you’re a small business or brand, an influencer marketing strategy is something you should definitely be thinking of tying into your overall marketing strategy.

Let’s say you’re a small brand, but your starting to notice your engagement and sales starting to plateau. So you want to start reaching out to influencers to get your brand out there a little more, but you don’t know where to begin on connecting with influencers. I understand; the social media space is and can be daunting.

Fear no more! Here is an overview on how to connect with influencers highlighting the perks and downsides. In future blog posts, I’ll dive deeper on the how-to’s and strategies.

Work with an agency or sign up for a platform to connect with influencers.

Perks: Agencies or third-party platforms offer white-glove marketing services to get brands ready to lift off with their influencer campaigns. They direct relationships with influencers, do the negotiation for you and some even manage your campaign from start to finish. This is the easiest option if you are strapped for time.

Downsides: This option requires a sizeable budget ($$$) because they are doing everything for you. If you’re a small business or just starting out, you may want to steer clear of this option.

Build Personal Relationships.

Perks: A personal favorite of mine is building personal relationships with influencers for long term gain. In order to so, you need to get out and network! Go to events or get introduced by a mutual friend. When you build a personal relationship with an influencer--or anyone really--you build trust. Not only do you give them the opportunity to get to know you more, but your brand on a personable level too. This outcome has proved a favorable amoutn of times in the long run.

Downsides: Although I highly recommend this, not everyone has access to networking events or friends that are friends with influencers. Additionally, building relationships takes time. However, if you plan doing your business in the long run, I would go this route and lay the groundwork down for the future.

Slide into Their DMs.

Perks: In the digital age, the easiest and fastest way to connect with influencers is sliding into their DMs. There’s no harm in doing outreach as long as your professional, personable, and friendly. You’ll never know who may say “yes” to working with you.

Downsides: If you slide into the DM of an influencer that has a ton of followers, chances are he or she will miss your message. Most likely, they have a ton of fans and other brands already clogging up their inbox. However, using this method, I would recommend reaching out to microinfluencers who are more apt to respond to you more.