02 Jun How To Select A Content Creator For Your Brand
I’ve been working online with communities for the past 16 and a half years, a time when message boards and Yahoo Groups (remember those?) were as social as it got. This was an era where blogs were the Wild Wild West and most folks weren’t too keen on the idea of companies talking to them. You had to be extremely selective as to which blogs might want to engage with your clients and which you’d want to align your client’s brand(s) with. Clearly the creator space has evolved since 2004 but while some things have changed, some have stayed exactly the same. Here are five tips for marketers when selecting which influencers to work with.
Tip #1: Validate Their Numbers
One of the biggest questions I hear from clients is if follower counts matters or not. It does, to an extent. Read on.
Followers for the sake of having big numbers is meaningless. This is why I don’t advocate always targeting a “top creator” in any vertical. It makes zero sense to chase big numbers, just as shotgun marketing did — just ask our friend, the banner ad. It’s also pointless to peg the success of your campaign on these numbers, as numbers from the creators themselves can prove to be bought and thus not real people.
The best way to find out what an creator offers your brand is to use a tool like Influential to view their actual metrics. Here you can break down their stats such as clickthrough rates to project an actual expected return on your investment.
Tip #2: Check Their Expertise
Another criteria I hold influencers to are whether or not they’re actually knowledgeable in something or if they’re just giving anecdotal “expertise”. For example – I would never take medical advise from someone who’s not a nurse or doctor. Your audience deserves a professional, not someone with a lot of time on their hand. In fact, it was found that 45% of medical advice on TikTok was considered wrong. Ouch. I know this isn’t shocking to those working in corporations, but promoting false product claims and off-label use of products by folks writing on your behalf is a liability. (Can you tell I’ve spent a few weeks of my life with Legal?)
Tip #3: Look At Their Reputation
This is a tough one to quantify but asking around should give you a few tips as to who’s great to work with and who’s a nightmare. And no, I don’t mean diva – it’s easy to get wrapped up in the fact that you have a few thousand readers and pull the “Don’t you know who I am?” card. I mean someone who’s been known for stirring the pot or had a repeated history for doing, well, dumb stuff.
Tip #4: Content Quality
I hate to say it, but just because it’s easy to publish doesn’t mean everyone should. A quick perusal of social media will show you what I’m talking about: the ability to string a coherent sentence or thought together is a rarity. While some folks have a unique style and provide ridiculously entertaining content, most don’t.
Tip #5: Brand Equity Alignment
You’ve worked hard to define what your brand stands for, whether it’s the brand’s identity, meaning, response or relationship. You should expect the same from your partners and creator. Hooking up your brand with a lethal creator can sabotage all of the great work you’ve done to build it – make sure you look into what it is the creator’s offering, what they stand for and, going back to point #3, what their reputation is.
