Identify authentic influencers with these steps!

The world of influencer marketing is constantly evolving, and finding the right influencers for your brand can be challenging. With the rise of fake followers and paid engagement, we’ve put together a guide to help you navigate the world of influencer marketing and choose the right partners for your brand.

The Importance of Authentic Influencers

Authentic influencers are important because they connect with their followers, trust them, and engage with their content. If an audience trusts an influencer, they’re likely to trust the brand they’re promoting, which translates to better return on investment (ROI) for the brand. Working with influencers who have fake metrics can lead to wasted campaign spend and minimal impact.

How do you recognize an authentic influencer?

1. Engagement – watch to see if the influencer is getting likes, comments, and saves that are commensurate with their follower count, and most importantly, whether the comments are meaningful.

2. Consistency – Authentic influencers are consistent in their schedule, style, and area of interest.

3. Transparency – honest reviews and proper labeling of collaborations are a sign of trust and integrity.

4. Expertise – the right influencer should be knowledgeable in their field of interest.

5. Organicity – an authentic influencer’s audience grows gradually and organically, not suddenly. How can you tell? Read on.

If you’re not sure whether the influencer you’ve scouted for your brand has gained their following organically, use tools like HypeAuditor, Social Blade, or Sprout Social. These tools will help you identify fake followers and analyze interactions. However, don’t forget about manual analysis – scroll through the influencer’s profile, look at comments, content quality, and frequency of posts. Manual analysis will capture human factors that tools may not recognize.

Find the right influencer with these 5 steps

1. Define goals - determine your campaign goals and key performance indicators (KPIs). Knowing what you want to achieve and what audience you want to reach will help you choose the right influencer.

2. Research – make a list of influencers and choose the most suitable ones based on the aforementioned tools and your goals.

3. Engage – if you are still not sure which influencer to choose, like, comment, share, start a conversation and observe their engagement style.

4. Data – ask influencers for media kits or data from their previous campaigns.

5. Interviews – direct interviews with influencers are the best way to get to know their communication style, enthusiasm for the campaign, or professionalism. Don't be afraid to reach out to an influencer for an online call or in-person meeting.

Red flags!

Watch out for influencers who have sudden and unexplained increases in follower numbers, low engagement rates, and generic, repetitive comments. This may indicate a fake audience.

Be strict with yourself, not just the influencer

Authentic partnerships are built on mutual respect and understanding, so it's important to be able to show support to the influencer you're interested in working with.

Choose an influencer who reflects your brand values so you can give them creative freedom and ad execution. To ensure that the influencer performs as you expect, understand market prices and compensate them fairly for their work.

Educate yourself and be curious. Look at specific successful campaigns in your industry or with influencers you have in mind and analyze why they were successful. Good luck!