Influencer Marketing Guide

11/30/22, 2:00 PM Influencer Marketing Guide: How to Work With Influencers
Strategy
Influencer Marketing Guide:

How to Work With Influencers
To pull off a great influencer marketing campaign you need to work
with experienced social media influencers who share your brand
values.
Christina Newberry
September 14, 2022
https://blog.hootsuite.com/influencer-marketing/#3_Understand_the_rules 1/25
Influencer marketing, also known as branded content or working

with creators, is a surefire way to expand the reach of your brand
on social media.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to making this strategy

work, but with the right planning and research, just about every
business can benefit. Let’s look at how to make a social media
influencer program work for you.
Bonus: Get the influencer marketing strategy template to easily plan

your next campaign and choose the best social media influencer to work
with.
What is influencer marketing?

At its simplest, an influencer is someone who can influence
others. In influencer marketing, a form of social media
marketing, brands pay that person to promote their product or
service to their followers.
Celebrity endorsements were the original form of influencer

marketing. But in today’s digital world, social content creators
with niche audiences can often offer more value to brands. These
smaller accounts often have very engaged followers on social
media.
So, a social media influencer is someone who wields their

influence through social media. When you hire an influencer
to promote your products or services, that’s influencer
marketing.
Almost three-quarters (72.5%) of U.S marketers will use some

form of influencer marketing this year — and that number is only
going up over time.
Not convinced that advertising with influencers can lead to real

business results? Civic Science found that 14% of 18-to-24-year-
olds and 11% of millennials had bought something within the last
six months because a blogger or influencer recommended it.
For now, Instagram remains the platform of choice for social

influencers. According to eMarketer’s estimates, 76.6% of U.S.
marketers will use Instagram for their influencer campaigns in
2023. But keep an eye on TikTok.
Source: eMarketer
While only 36% of U.S. marketers used TikTok for influencer

campaigns in 2020, almost 50% will do so in 2023. That would
make TikTok the third-most popular influencer marketing
platform in 2023.
For example, with over 192,000 followers, creator Viviane Audi

works with brands like Walmart and DSW on TikTok:
@vivianeaudi
Styling my favorite Nike sneakers from DSW!!
@dsw @nike All linked in bio! #sneakerheads
#sneakerlover #ad
♬ Beautiful Leyes – NOLAN
Types of social media influencers

When you think “influencer,” does the Kardashian-Jenner family
pop immediately to mind?
Source: @kyliejenner on Instagram
While these famous sisters are certainly some of the top social
media marketing influencers, not all influencers are celebrities.
In fact, for many brands, influencers with a smaller but dedicated

or niche follower base might be more effective. Influencers with
15,000 followers have some of the highest engagement rates on
all platforms*. The cost, of course, can also be much lower.
Let’s look at the different types of Instagram influencers based

on audience size. There’s no strict cut-off for audience size, but
generally the types of influencers are broken down as:
Nano-influencers
Nano-influencers have 10,000 followers or fewer, like mommy
blogger Lindsay Gallimore (8.3K followers)
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Lindsay Gallimore/Maman Loup (@mamanloupsden)
Micro-influencers
Micro-influencers have 10,000 to 100,000 followers, like lifestyle
blogger Sharon Mendelaoui (13.5K followers)
A post shared by Sharon Mendelaoui | Writer (@dailydream360)
Macro-influencers
Macro-influencers have 100,000 to 1 million followers, like food
and travel creator Jean Lee (115K followers)
A post shared by Jean Lee❤️Eat-Drink-Travel-Live (@jeaniuseats)
Mega-influencers
Mega-influencers have 1 million+ followers, like TikTok star
Savannah LaBrant (28.3M followers)
@savv.labrant
Spa day!👧 Code 15HYDROBOOST for 15% off
@neutrogena_us’s Hydro Boost products on
@amazon! These are for Moms only ;)
#MyNeutrogenaMoment #ad
♬ original sound – Savannah LaBrant
How much does social influencer

marketing cost?
Influencers with extensive reach rightly expect to be paid for

their work. Free product might work with nano-influencers, but a
larger influencer campaign requires a budget.
For large brands working with celebrity influencers, that budget

may be quite large. U.S. spending on influencer marketing, for
example, is set to top $4 billion in 2022.
Source: eMarketer
Think about what kind of payment structure makes the most

sense for your goals. But be willing to consider the influencer’s
needs, too. For example, an affiliate or commission structure
might be an option instead of a flat fee, or to reduce the flat fee.
In fact, 9.3% of U.S. influencers said affiliate marketing (through

affiliate links and promo codes) was their top source of income.
That said, the most common baseline pricing formula for

influencers’ Instagram posts is:
$100 x 10,000 followers + extras = total rate
What are the extras? Check out our post on influencer pricing for
all the details.
Remember that micro-influencers and nano-influencers will

have more flexible payment terms.
How to create an influencer marketing

strategy
1. Determine your goals
The number-one goal for brands using influencer marketing is to
reach new target customers. This makes sense, since an
influencer campaign extends your reach to that person’s
followers.
Notice that the goal is simply to reach new customers, not

necessarily to make a sale right off the top. Driving sales is
actually the third most common goal of influencer marketing
campaigns, after increasing brand awareness and product
consideration.
Source: Advertiser Perceptions
Think about how your influencer marketing plan will fit into your
broader social media marketing strategy and create measurable
goals you can report on and track.
We’ve got a whole blog post on goal-setting strategies to get you

started.
2. Know who you’re trying to influence

An effective influencer marketing strategy requires you to speak
to the right people using the right tools—and the right
influencers.
The first step is to define who your audience will be for this
specific campaign.
Developing audience personas is a great way to make sure you

understand who you’re trying to reach. Maybe you’re trying to
reach more of your current audience—or an entirely new
audience.
Once you’ve decided, create a matching set of influencer

personas. This will help you understand the qualities you’re
looking for in your influencers.
3. Understand the rules

Before you dive into influencer marketing, it’s important to
understand the rules. In the United States, those rules come
from the Federal Trade Commission.
The FTC takes disclosure very seriously. Make sure you build
disclosure guidelines into your agreements with influencers.
Influencers must identify sponsored posts. However, they do not

always do so. Or they might do so in such a subtle way that the
disclosure is effectively hidden or incomprehensible.
In the UK, for example, the Competition and Markets Authority

(CMA) investigated “hidden advertising” on Instagram and
pressed parent company Facebook to commit to changes that
make disclosure easier and more clear.
The specific rules vary slightly by country, so be sure to check the

most current requirements in your jurisdiction. For the most
part, you just need to be clear and upfront so viewers
understand when a post is sponsored in any way.
Here are some key points from the FTC:
Video reviews must include both written and verbal disclosure

of the partnership. It must be within the video itself (not just
the description).
The built-in tools on social media platforms alone are not
enough. However, you should still use them. Instagram itself
now specifies that any branded content (aka influencer
marketing) on the platform must use the Branded Content tag
to identify the relationship. This adds the text “Paid
partnership with [your brand name]” in the post header.
#ad and #sponsored are great hashtags to use for disclosure.
But make sure they’re highly visible and not just tacked on to
the need of a long string of tags.
That last point is an important one. Some influencers may be

wary about putting the #ad or #sponsored hashtag right up
front. But that’s where it needs to be.
Influencers: If "#ad" is mixed in with links or

other hashtags at the end of a post, some
readers may just skip over it. Be sure to place
"#ad," or "#Sponsored," or another easily

understood disclosure where it easily noticed
and understood. Learn more:
https://t.co/oDk34TTSxb
pic.twitter.com/dB9kj5qlzO
— FTC (@FTC) November 23, 2020
4. Consider the three Rs of influence

Influence is made up of three components:
Relevance
Reach
Resonance
Relevance
A relevant influencer shares content relevant to your business

and industry. They need to have an audience that aligns with
your target audience.
For example, to showcase their inclusive swimsuit sizing, Adore

Me partnered with body positive creator Remi Bader.
@remibader
You wanted to see the back of my bathing
suits.. here it is! @adoreme
#adoremeambassador
♬ original sound – Remi Jo
With 3.2 million views on Bader’s TikTok and more than 8,800
likes on her Instagram Reels, the video exposed the line to an
impressive organic audience of dedicated followers.
Adore Me also used Bader’s content to create an Instagram ad

combined with an Instant Experience. That influencer ad
campaign drove a 25% increase in subscription opt-in with a 16%
lower cost per customer than their usual Instagram ad
campaigns.
Reach
Reach is the number of people you could potentially reach

through the influencer’s follower base. Remember: a small
audience can be effective, but you need to make sure there’s
enough of a following to align with your goals.
Resonance
This is the potential level of engagement the influencer can

create with an audience relevant to your brand.
Not to belabour the point, but bigger isn’t always better. As we

said above, a huge follower count is meaningless if those
followers aren’t interested in your offer. Niche influencers, on the
other hand, can have very dedicated and engaged followers.
5. Compile a short list of influencers

When thinking about who you want to work with, the key is
trust. Your audience must trust and respect the opinions of the
influencers you partner with. Without the trust component, any
results will be superficial. You’ll struggle to see a tangible
business impact from your efforts.
How do you tell if your potential influencer is trusted?

Engagement. You want to see plenty of views, likes, comments,
and shares. Specifically, you want to see these from the precise
follower segments you’re trying to reach.
A good engagement rate also means a loyal following, rather

than an inflated follower count bolstered by bots and fraud
accounts. You need to find someone who’s producing content
with a look and feel that complements your own.
The tone must also be appropriate for the way you want to
present your brand to potential customers. This will ensure
things don’t feel disjointed in either party’s social media posts.
6. Do your research
Take a look at what your potential influencers are posting. How
often are they sharing sponsored content?
If they’re already hitting followers with tons of paid posts, their

engagement rate may not last. Look for plenty of organic, non-
paid content to keep followers interested, enthusiastic, and
engaged.
Keep this in mind when thinking about what you’ll ask the
influencer to post, as well. Asking for too many posts in a short
timeframe will make your offer hard for the influencer to accept,
even if it comes with a large paycheck.
In-demand influencers get lots of offers. When you first

approach an influencer, you’ll need to show that you’ve put in
the time to learn what they do.
Make sure you know exactly what their channels are about and
who their audience is.
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7. Reach out privately, and personally
Start your communication with a new potential partner slowly by

interacting organically with their posts. Like their content.
Comment when appropriate. Be appreciative, not salesly.
When you’re ready to suggest a partnership, a direct message is

a great place to start. If you can find an email address, try that
too. But don’t send a mass email or generic DM.
It may take a little longer to write a personal message to each

influencer. But, it will show you’re serious about the potential
partnership. This will in turn increase your chances of striking a
deal.
Provide as much information as you can about your brand. Tell

them what you hope to accomplish with your Instagram
campaign. Make it clear how the influencer will benefit, beyond
the paycheck.
One key thing to keep in mind during this process: You may not
actually want to use the word “influencer” when reaching out to
potential partners. Content creators prefer to be called just that
—creators—and may view “influencer” as a bit of an insult that
belittles their work.
8. Collaborate with your influencer to develop

effective content
A social media influencer who has worked hard to build a
following will not accept a deal that makes their own personal
brand seem inconsistent.
After all, influencers are content creation experts. This is why

they prefer to be called creators. You’ll get the best value from
their work by allowing them to showcase those skills.
It’s a good idea to provide some guidelines about what you’re

looking for, of course. But don’t expect to stage-manage the
entire campaign.
9. Measure your results

When you launch your influencer campaign, it can be tempting
to focus on vanity metrics like likes and comments. If your
influencer has a much larger following than you do, you might
feel a little dazzled by the sheer number of likes that can rack up.
But to measure the effectiveness of a campaign, you have to

understand its value in terms of return on investment. Luckily,
there are plenty of ways to measure your campaign’s success.
UTM parameters are one way to track the visitors an influencer

sends to your website. They can also help measure how much
engagement the campaign receives.
When you assign each influencer their own unique links with
UTM codes, you’ll get a clear picture of the results. That allows
you to calculate the impact on your bottom line.
A post shared by GO CLEAN CO (@gocleanco)
The “coupon” link referred to in the above influencer’s post likely

had a UTM attached to it so that Royale could track how many
sales came from it.
Giving influencers their own discount code is another easy way

to track the sales they send your way.
If you use the branded content tools on Facebook and

Instagram for your influencer campaigns, you’ll get access to
insights for both feed and Stories posts. You can access these
through Facebook Business Manager.
You could also request that the influencer send you detailed
reports on the reach and engagement levels of their posts.
Influencer marketing tools

Now that you’re ready to get started with influencer marketing,
here are some tools to make it easier.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite search streams can help you discover influencers by
monitoring conversations relevant to your industry across
multiple channels.
Once you have an initial set of influencers in mind, add them to a

stream to track what they share and who they engage with. This
will help you understand their relevance to your audience while
highlighting other potential influencers to work with.
Social Listening with Hootsuite Streams
Try Hootsuite for free. You can cancel anytime.
Collabstr
Collabstr is a free marketplace where brands can search for
influencers based on platform, niche, location, and more. From
there, you can place orders with influencers and communicate
with them directly through the platform until the deliverables
have been submitted.
Right Relevance Pro

This app can search out top content shared by influencers based
on topic and location. Use it to identify thought leaders and
discover potential influencer partnerships based on the quality of
the content they share.
Fourstarzz Influencer Recommendation Engine

This app provides custom influencer recommendations. It helps
predict estimated reach, engagements, and other campaign
results and guides you in creating influencer campaign

proposals.
Insense
Insense connects brands with a network of 35,000 content
creators to produce custom branded content. You can then
promote the content through ads on Facebook and Instagram,
optimize content for Instagram Stories, and use the AI video
editor to break up content into multiple videos.
Facebook Brand Collabs Manager

This free tool from Facebook allows brands to connect with pre-
screened content creators on Facebook and Instagram.
Influencer marketing platforms

Want to use an influencer marketing platform to connect
directly with influencers? Some of the best include:
AspireIQ
Upfluence
Heepsy
Make influencer marketing easier with Hootsuite. Schedule

posts, research and engage with influencers in your industry,
and measure the success of your campaigns. Try it free today.
Get Started
*Source: Influencer Marketing Hub
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By Christina Newberry
Christina Newberry is an award-winning writer and editor whose
greatest passions include food, travel, urban gardening, and the Oxford
comma—not necessarily in that order.
Read more by Christina

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11/30/22, 2:00 PM Influencer Marketing Guide: How to Work With Influencers

Influencer Marketing Guide:

Influencer marketing, also known as branded content or working

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to making this strategy

Bonus: Get the influencer marketing strategy template to easily plan

What is influencer marketing?

Celebrity endorsements were the original form of influencer

So, a social media influencer is someone who wields their

Almost three-quarters (72.5%) of U.S marketers will use some

Not convinced that advertising with influencers can lead to real

For now, Instagram remains the platform of choice for social

While only 36% of U.S. marketers used TikTok for influencer

For example, with over 192,000 followers, creator Viviane Audi

♬ Beautiful Leyes – NOLAN

Types of social media influencers

Source: @kyliejenner on Instagram

In fact, for many brands, influencers with a smaller but dedicated

Let’s look at the different types of Instagram influencers based

generally the types of influencers are broken down as:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lindsay Gallimore/Maman Loup (@mamanloupsden)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sharon Mendelaoui | Writer (@dailydream360)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jean Lee❤️Eat-Drink-Travel-Live (@jeaniuseats)

How much does social influencer

Influencers with extensive reach rightly expect to be paid for

For large brands working with celebrity influencers, that budget

Think about what kind of payment structure makes the most

In fact, 9.3% of U.S. influencers said affiliate marketing (through

That said, the most common baseline pricing formula for

$100 x 10,000 followers + extras = total rate

Remember that micro-influencers and nano-influencers will

How to create an influencer marketing

Notice that the goal is simply to reach new customers, not

Source: Advertiser Perceptions

We’ve got a whole blog post on goal-setting strategies to get you

2. Know who you’re trying to influence

Developing audience personas is a great way to make sure you

Once you’ve decided, create a matching set of influencer

3. Understand the rules

Influencers must identify sponsored posts. However, they do not

disclosure is effectively hidden or incomprehensible.

In the UK, for example, the Competition and Markets Authority

The specific rules vary slightly by country, so be sure to check the

Here are some key points from the FTC:

Video reviews must include both written and verbal disclosure

That last point is an important one. Some influencers may be

Influencers: If "#ad" is mixed in with links or

"#ad," or "#Sponsored," or another easily

4. Consider the three Rs of influence

A relevant influencer shares content relevant to your business

For example, to showcase their inclusive swimsuit sizing, Adore

Adore Me also used Bader’s content to create an Instagram ad

Reach is the number of people you could potentially reach

This is the potential level of engagement the influencer can

Not to belabour the point, but bigger isn’t always better. As we

5. Compile a short list of influencers

How do you tell if your potential influencer is trusted?

A good engagement rate also means a loyal following, rather

If they’re already hitting followers with tons of paid posts, their

In-demand influencers get lots of offers. When you first

7. Reach out privately, and personally

Start your communication with a new potential partner slowly by