When trying to build a successful marketing campaign, it can be difficult to contact influencers, especially if you are a small brand. As the content creation industry grows, a new wave of influencers seems to develop alongside it. This can feel overwhelming, particularly if you have never contacted an influencer before. But, with a handful of successful tools and skills, you can find the right influencers, who can successfully promote your brand or product.

What is the best way to find and contact influencers on social media?

If you are looking to find an influencer to support your brand, it is vital that you first determine the needs and wants of your target audience. Once you have discovered your most profitable demographic, you can then go on to find the right influencer. Next, it is important that you use social networks such as Twitter, to see which influencers are trending or gaining popularity. When you have found a suitable influencer, you should then research their content in-depth, including their engagement rates across all of their social media platforms. Then, reach out to your chosen influencer and discuss the key components of your marketing campaign. 

What is an influencer?

The term influencer is being used increasingly across all popular media channels. That being said, this popular term can be difficult to define. According to Sprout Social, ‘An influencer is someone in your niche or industry with sway over your target audience.’ This means that these influencers can better determine the needs and wants of your market segment.

Sprout Social goes on to mention that there are 4 types of influencers. The first is categorized as ‘Celebrity’. This refers to key figures in sport, art, and other aspects of popular culture. Next, is ‘Industry experts and thought leaders’, which refers to medical professionals and politicians. Thirdly, ‘Micro-Influencers’ are those who gain traction through social media. Finally, there are ‘Bloggers and content creators.’

Seven Simple Steps to Find and Contact Influencers on Social Media

Creating relationships with influencers can be a daunting task, especially through social media. Here is our seven-step guide on how to interact and collaborate with influencers through social media.

1: Create a collection of strong objectives for your marketing campaign

Marketing campaigns are an indispensable part of any business strategy. These campaigns help to promote a brand or product through the means of television, radio, social media, or print forms. As such, it is paramount that you define what you want each campaign to achieve. This can be to strengthen brand awareness, create more content or increase sales.

2: Research appropriate influencers

A majority of successful influencers will only collaborate with a brand if they feel it best supports their own needs and values. For example, some influencers will only use ethically-sourced products and will not promote a brand that does not follow those beliefs. Therefore, it is important that you see what influencers are creating content for your target audience. Thus, you must only contact an influencer if you feel that they will also reflect the wants of your own customer base.

3: Connect with the influencers on social media platforms

This is a crucial step in creating those key developments in your relationship with an influencer. Try and consume as much content as possible across all of their active platforms. As such, listen to their podcast or subscribe to their YouTube channel, as well as follow them on social media. You can also use sites like Social Blade to assess an influencer’s engagement rates across all of their platforms.

4: Build an influencer outreach pitch

An influencer outreach pitch is essentially an email or DM that can be sent to an influencer as a proposal for collaboration. This is the most effective way to contact an influencer, so it is crucial that you include as much information as possible about your brand and marketing campaign. This message must also contain access to further communication such as setting up a phone call or video call. There is a wide range of email templates that can be used in a variety of scenarios.

5: Decide where is the best place to contact them

Influencers use social media on a daily basis so they often have a variety of different accounts on multiple platforms. To make communication a lot simpler, many influencers will have a separate email for business inquiries listed in their Instagram or Twitter bio. If this email is not present, consider sending them a DM asking for an appropriate email address.

6: Pitch your campaign

It is now time to reach out to your desired influencer. Using your influencer outreach pitch, contact the individual and reference their content. It is best to mention why you believe that they would best suit your campaign. Finally, include a CTA conclusion and remember to keep your channel of communication open and enthusiastic.

7: Follow up

If an influencer does not respond immediately, you must not feel disheartened. As influencers receive tons of messages every day, it is important to continuously reach out to them to avoid the risk of your campaign being overlooked. That being said, try to only send two follow-up messages as any more can come across as overbearing and untrustworthy. Again, in your follow-up messages, you should be open and easy to talk to as a way to promote a healthy relationship.

How to message an influencer on social media

When using social media to contact an influencer, you are limited by restrictive word counts and character lengths. However, social media can still be an effective way to communicate with influencers. Influencer outreach on social media should focus on the success of your brand and the proposed campaign, rather than the perks of the project.

Moreover, you should always mention why you specifically picked that influencer as it shows effective research and an understanding of the influencer’s values. Adding on to this, you should include any requirements needed from the influencer such as what platforms they should use to promote your product. Finally, you should also include your contact details and offer to discuss the project in more detail.

FAQs

Is it better to DM or email influencers?

When deciding how to contact influencers to promote your product, it is best to email them. This is because you have more space to fully explain your marketing campaign and are not restricted by a word count. Not to mention, an influencer’s DMs may already be full so by emailing them, you avoid the risk of being ignored.

How do brands find influencers?

If you are looking at how to find an influencer for your brand, it is best advised to see what is trending in your respective market. Browse through popular hashtags on Twitter or see what blogs are being written about your industry. In turn, this will help you find both a popular and knowledgeable influencer.

How do you approach influencers?

Although each influencer outreach message should be light and friendly, a business perspective must always come first. Thus, you must explain to an influencer why it is in their best financial interests to collaborate with you.

As digital marketing continues to broaden, learning how to effectively contact influencers is a key skill for any business. These skills can help your business to become more profitable and more able to diversify itself in an increasingly competitive industry.