Tips and strategies to keep in mind when looking for blogger partners for influencer marketing campaigns.

1. Influencer Marketing - How to
Find the Right Bloggers
Rachael Hesling

2. Influencer marketing is by no means a new concept. However, in
today’s overloaded online world, it has taken on a whole new level
of importance. Consumers have learned to tune out clutter and
focus instead on just a few trusted information sources: their
favorite bloggers.
For PR pros, reaching out and connecting with these bloggers is
therefore at the very heart of a successful influencer marketing
campaign. But with thousands upon thousands of bloggers out
there, each with their own unique style and distinct following, it’s
vital to find the right ones to partner with.
Here are some of the most important things to keep in mind, as
well as some helpful strategies to employ, when looking for
bloggers for influencer marketing campaigns:

3. Bigger isn’t necessarily better
Many PR professionals refuse even to consider bloggers who have
less than a certain number of followers — 10,000 is often the
minimum threshold here — across every social media platform. But
that kind of thinking can be counterproductive, as it often leads to
an overemphasis on vanity metrics at the expense of real
engagement with an audience. Instead of looking only at the number
of followers, they should dig deeper into a blogger’s level of
engagement. Check out the comments on blog posts and social
media: are there plenty of them? Do they indicate an audience that’s
genuinely interested in learning more about a brand? A smaller
audience that is deeply and passionately engaged can be far more
important than a larger and less connected audience.

4. Niche
An audience can be very large or very deeply engaged, or even both at the same time. However, that’s not going to matter much if they’re not
also your target audience. For this reason, it’s critical to develop an intimate understanding of a blogger’s content. Take the time to carefully
sift through a blogger’s social media archive to see how closely their interests match up with what your brand has to offer. With this
knowledge, it will be easier to provide incentives and opportunities that will truly resonate with both bloggers and their audiences, and that
will allow brands to be front and center in a completely authentic way. In addition, it’s helpful to clarify with clients what their specific goals
are for an influencer marketing campaign so that you can be sure of finding the right fit for the right situation.

5. Look for brand retention
Repeat business from brands is typically a positive sign, as it indicates that the blogger is doing solid work on behalf of the brand and that
the brand has found the results to be good enough to keep coming back for more. When digging through blog posts, look for patterns in
partnerships, brand positioning, and blogger interaction with audiences about brand information: these will provide valuable clues as to
how a blogger is likely to interact with your brand or client.

6. Ask for recommendations
If you are already working with influencers that you trust, a great way to expand your network is to ask them to recommend other bloggers.
Bloggers often have the inside scoop on each other’s activities, and they will be able to give you a good idea about not only what other
bloggers would be right for your brand, but also which ones have engaged and dedicated followers.

7. Gift with no guarantees
Some PR pros use gifting as a way of identifying bloggers who are a
good choice for prospective partnerships. If a client has product to
spare, it can be helpful to send creative gift packages to a select
group of bloggers and then gauge the results from that effort. It’s
possible to learn a great deal about a blogger’s work ethic, editorial
content, and level of engagement by seeing how they respond to a
gift with no guarantees. These results will provide useful guidelines
when the time comes to invest in an influencer marketing campaign.

8. Go offline
Forming solid online relationships with bloggers is important.
If possible, it can be a great idea to develop those relationships
further by taking them offline. Some PR companies host
blogger mixers and events for locally based bloggers. Getting
to know these bloggers socially will help to deepen
connections and trust, and it is also a useful way to find out
firsthand who is writing about topics that touch the brands
you work with and what are the best ways of facilitating the
content generation process. It can also be an effective way to
allow influencers to interact on-site with a particular brand
and provide pertinent feedback to help grow the brand.

9. Don’t wait for a campaign to reach out
Like any relationship, it takes time to build a trusting relationship with an influencer. So why wait to reach out until you need to ask for
something? An influencer campaign is all about asking influencers to trust you, and, by extension, asking their audience to trust you, too.
That’s a big thing to ask, especially coming from a stranger. So make sure that you’re not a stranger by working to form relationships with
bloggers now. This not only leads to more organic relationships, but it also gives you a better idea down the road of who is best suited for
what you need and who might be interested in working on it with you.