These days, social media influencers are a dime a dozen. With very little barriers to entry, anyone can wake up one morning and decide that they’re a social media influencer. But that doesn’t mean just anyone can do it well. Don’t you ever wonder why there are social media accounts for dogs with more traction than your own?
There are specific qualities brands should look for when selecting a social media influencer that are key drivers of success. Without these qualities, the engagement you get may fall flat or be nonexistent altogether.
Here are five essential qualities of social media influencers we’ve gathered to help you make more informed selections.
High engagement
The last thing a brand wants in an influencer is someone with ghost followers. These are people who follow an account but don’t engage. Ghost followers can be real, unengaged users. Others can be inactive robot accounts. Regardless, ghost followers don’t pay attention to or interact with the posts by accounts they follow. It’s crucial to the success of your campaign to employ an influencer who has followers who regularly engage with their content and trust their word. Those followers are more likely to make purchases and drive sales.
Relevant content
It’s important to have influencers who stay current on trending topics and popular areas of interest and conversation. Posts by thought-leading influencers keep your brand current and yield insights into popular culture that can help you keep your content significant to your audiences and create a natural introduction to your product.
High-Quality content
If an influencer produces high quality content, then their posts about your brand will be of an equal caliber. Producers of low-quality content generally achieve lower levels of engagement, meaning their followers won’t respond well to posts about your brand.
Match your brand
A makeup company probably won’t find much success partnering with a food blogger. Brands are best suited matching influencers whose voice, tone, topics and audience match their image. Influencer posts should be consistent with their style and come across as a genuine endorsement and not sound forced or surprise the influencer’s audience.
Knowledge of working with brands
The relationship between an influencer and brand will be much better if the influencer knows a thing or two about working with brands. Experienced influencers know what type of content your brand expects and how to maintain a professional relationship. Oftentimes, influencers with brand experience deliver more successful results than those without.
