As we already mentioned, influencers are media sources that influence others to purchase or invest in products or services. They create a positive perception of the product, which may influence your buying decision.

Influencer marketing is not new, but it is becoming more mainstream as marketers find ways to use this tool to reach different audiences. By and large, there are three main types of influencers you will come across when investing in influencer marketing strategies:

Celebrities

You probably have heard of these before – they are people with a huge social media presence! This includes YouTube channels, Snapchat stories, and frequent posts on Instagram and Facebook.

As such, they have an audience who “likes” their content, so they gain exposure for the brands they represent. The cost per follower can be quite expensive, however, making it difficult to leverage this channel without a big investment.

But don't worry! That's where micro-influencers come in!

Micro-influencers are individuals with moderate followers, but their postings are highly engaging! They usually post short videos or pictures accompanied by a catchy caption and/or bullet point. These qualities draw attention and inspire comments and interactions, thus enhancing their online popularity even further!

These individuals' followers increase due to their posting style, not because they paid to follow them, therefore micros are less expensive than regular influencers.

Calculate the influencer's influence

As we mentioned before, determining if an influencer is worth investing in or not comes down to calculating their influence. This is done by looking at two main things: how many followers they have and what kind of engagement they get from them. The more influential you are, the higher these numbers should be!

Influence measures vary slightly depending on the type of content the influencer produces, but overall impression counts towards influence do not. It does not matter if the person is famous for posing with a dog or eating pizza, as long as people look up to them and believe they know what they talk about. Your company can also track whether or not their posts receive comments and whether or not there are lots of shares.

The overall popularity of the influencer cannot be used as a measure of influence though- that would mean someone with a million followers who no one ever sees talking about anything is just as important as someone with 10k followers who has huge success. Influence depends on both factors and it will take some doing to determine which one weighs heavier.

Make sure the content is relevant to your brand

As with any form of marketing, there are good influencers and bad influencers. With social media influencers, you should be careful about how much influence they have and what kind of messages they convey for money or for products.

Make sure that the product or service being promoted by the influencer is related to their personal lifestyle or career. An avid runner may promote a running shoe from a company that does not make shoes. A vegetarian may endorse a meat packer’s restaurant.

You can also run into trouble if an influencer promotes things that are harmful or damaging to others or to the environment. For example, someone who makes big profits off of advertising junk food may advertise the meal packaged foods in a way that encourages weight loss. Unfortunately, this may contribute to eating disorders as people try hard to lose weight.

There has been controversy surrounding some very popular YouTubers such as Moti Mahoney and Marzia Kjellman-Hane who are paid to advertise skincare products. Many claims these advertisements feature excessively expensive products that are overhyped and sometimes even fraudulent.

It is important to do your research before investing in an influencer market campaign. Check out online reviews, read his/her past works, and determine whether or not he/she fits your business model!

Influencer marketing will continue to grow along with the popularity of social media.

Ask them about their experience with your brand

Asking influencers for exposure is not new, but it has become much more common in recent years. Brands are leveraging the influence that social media users have to promote their products by asking them to use and/or mention their product or service during an online video or chat session or via sponsored content (where they get paid to advertise the product).

This is called influencer marketing. It’s becoming increasingly popular because brands know people will believe what influencers say and will likely watch their videos or listen to their chats.

Influencers can make lots of money from advertisements, so it's a smart business sense for them to endorse a company’s product.

But there are some things you should be aware of when engaging in influencer marketing. You don't want to look like a jerk who wants free advertising! And while getting free stuff is always tempting, you need to ask yourself if this relationship is worth it before starting to negotiate.

Is the influencer promoting your product?

A little-known, but very important part of evaluating whether or not influencer marketing is worth investing in is determined by determining if the influencer is actually advertising for your product.

If they are talking about how great their new phone camera is then that definitely raises awareness for the device, but it does not promote one specific brand. If they are mentioning how much their favorite coffee shop drinks help them focus at work, that can be considered promotional content, but it is difficult to tell if they are endorsing the company’s product or if they just love this type of drink.

Influencers will often mention what products they use themselves, but only as a way to gain credibility and trust with their followers. They may also advertise related brands or products from the same source, but again that could mean anything! For example, if an Instagram user posts pictures of delicious-looking desserts, you might see someone else’s bag of cookies sitting next to theirs, which seems fine, except those bags look almost identical.

Another trick some people do is to purchase their favorite foods or items and put in funny comments about the price or how expensive it was. An audience would likely assume that thing is authentic since the person said it was, but they could have bought it pre-influence or even paid influencers to endorse it.

It is important to research potential influencers carefully and determine if they are really working to spread messages about your product.

Will there be paid advertising in the video?

Even though it is not necessary for your business to have an influencer, it is important to evaluate whether or not their videos will include advertisements.

Influencers can gain recognition and followers by placing ads in their videos. This is how most people find out about new products and services.

It is common practice for many large brands to hire popular YouTubers as sponsored content creators. They get compensated through advertising revenue for including product information and/or reviews.

This is different from being paid to promote a specific brand, which is referred to as affiliate marketing. Most YouTube channels belong to either one of these two types of income.

You should make sure that the videos you are watching are advertisement free if you want to use them for marketing purposes.

Are they endorsing the product through social media?

Beyond having lots of followers, an influencer is defined as someone with large numbers of followers who advertise for brands by posting pictures and/or videos about them. The advertiser pays the influencer to promote their products!

Influencers are typically very familiar with the advertisers’ products because they use them themselves or know from personal experience how effective they are. By putting out messages in favor of the product, the influencer helps create momentum for the advertisement that may not exist without their help.

By defining what makes an influential person, you can determine if an individual is able to influence others for good or bad. In addition to having a big audience, there are several other factors to consider when determining whether someone is worth investing time into marketing.

Is the product similar to something the influencer has talked about?

The first thing you should look for when evaluating if an influencer is worth investing in as a brand ambassador is whether or not their content is authentic and natural. Yours should be!

It’s easy to see how some brands try to use popular influencers to promote products that are totally different from what the influencer actually uses. This may seem like a way to boost sales, but it will do more harm than good.

Influencers already have plenty of exposure so they will probably notice the difference between using a sponsored product and buying one yourself. They can also expose potential customers of the product by talking about it themselves, creating more awareness. If the influencer is known for using the product they advertise, then people will trust them more.

There may even be legal issues involved since most influencers use at least basic privacy settings to keep their social media accounts private. It is very difficult to claim influencer marketing influence if there is no proof that it happened.

Is the product new?

The first thing you should do is determine if the products and/or services being marketed through influencers are new or not. If they’re brand-new, then that's great! Influencers are very popular because people trust them as experts in their field. When you use an influencer for marketing purposes, your audience will also perceive them as such – which could mean more conversions.

If however the product being promoted has been around for a while, it may be better to try using direct sales channels instead. Your audience might get distracted by the flashy features of the product, rather than knowing who wrote about it and how trustworthy they seem.