Influencer partnerships are a highly effective influencer marketing technique for raising brand and product awareness.
Find out why and how to partner with influencers effectively.
What is influencer marketing?
Referrals have long been one of the most effective marketing strategies.
If you have a problem and one of your friends tells you about a great solution to solve it, chances are you’re going to buy it.
Influencer marketing works in exactly this way, but on a much larger scale.
Influencers have already built up a loyal following of people who trust them.
So when they recommend your product to their fans, they’re much more likely to buy it if they need it, simply becausethey trust the influencer.
Usually, the seller will give a discount code specifically for the influencer’s audience to track the effectiveness of the campaign. 
The different types of influencers
By the size of their audience
Mega Influencers
There’s only one word to describe them: celebrities.
Mega-influencers usually have more than a million followers from different backgrounds and interests.
They’re not necessarily industry experts, but just one of their articles can still be an instant hit that creates a buzz in the online community.
Macro influencers
With a fan base of between 100,000 and one million, most of them gain notoriety through the Internet, either as vloggers or as creators of content that resonates with their audience.
Micro-influencers
Micro-influencers fall into the category of those with between 1,000 and 100,000 fans.
They often boast authentic, reliable, valuable and high-quality content.
Nano influencers
With around 1,000 followers or less, the idea behind nano-influencers is that of “ordinary, everyday people” who can recommend a brand’s product or service to their friends and family. 
By content type
YouTubers
YouTube is one of the world’s leading video-sharing platforms.
A number of influencers have taken advantage of these platforms to share their creativity.
Also known as YouTubers, they have gained massive popularity worldwide for the videos they publish.
Whether it’s sports, humor, cooking or DIY, you can find virtually every type of influencer on Youtube.
Bloggers
Before there were influencers, there were bloggers.
These are people who like to share their hobbies, interests, expertise, or just their lives in general.
Influencers generally use blogs as tools to connect with their audience or to send quality leads to certain partner sites.
Podcasters
With the advances in mobile technology, podcasts are on the rise all the time, especially among people with “on-the-go” lifestyles.
A bit like radio commentators, podcasters share audio content on a given theme.
Instagrameurs
Although influencers can be found on a variety of social networks, Instagram influencers are particularly popular.
Indeed, the photo-sharing social network generates a real craze, especially among the younger audience. 
The advantages of influencer partnerships
There are several advantages to incorporating influencers into your marketing strategy.
One of the main advantages is the great ability to reach a wider audience than if you only used email marketing or social media ads.
But influencers also build trust between prospects and your company.
If someone is undecided about purchasing an item on your website, the opinion of an influencer they follow could influence their decision and lead them to become a new customer.
1- Influencers boost sales
Influencers help generate sales, and they do it very well.
Many brands report an immediate jump in traffic and conversions when influencers post live content about the company’s products and services.
As more and more people visit the influencer’s page, sales continue for several weeks after the live event.
2- Influencer content is highly effective
Influencers are mini-publishers, and they’re extremely effective at what they do.
They know how to engage their audience and get the reaction they want.
Perhaps the most difficult part of launching a new product or service is gaining the trust of your target customers.
Influencers already have the trust of their followers, which simplifies the process for you.
Combine that trust with engaging content, and you’ve got a winning influencer marketing campaign on your hands.
3- Influencers are brand awareness experts
Influencers are experts in creating brand awareness.
This is their main objective when creating content.
They’re so good at it that if you do some research, you can find influencers who talk about a single product for over an hour. 
4- They have the trust of their audience
Trust and authority are the reasons why influencers are such an effective sales channel for your product or service.
It’s becoming increasingly rare for people to ask their friends for advice on a product when they can get the latest news from their favorite influencer.
Influencers know this and strive to fill this need.
They’re always there, motivating you and instantly making you feel special.
They know you no longer trust traditional advertising, or companies advertising their own products or services.
So they capitalize on the trust they’ve created with their audience.
5- Influencers know their audience
Influencers don’t necessarily have the personality of the target customer.
But they know how to create real relationships with their fans.
They know their audience better than anyone else.
They speak the same language as their fans.
They know their fears and frustrations, but also their desires and dreams, which enables them to convey a message in the best possible way.
Where can I find the right influencers for a partnership?
Google search
Start with a Google search.
Just enter a keyword related to your niche.
That’s it!
The first influencers often appear on the first or second page of results.
Buzzsumo
Buzzsumo is another interesting tool.
Just enter your keyword or a term related to your niche in the search bar and you’ll be presented with a host of articles that have been making the buzz on social networks.
Social media
You can use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest and all the other social media platforms your target influencers hang out on.
Enter a specific hashtag or keyword in the search bar and let us guide you. 
How do you successfully partner with influencers?
1- Start with a clear objective
Running an influencer marketing campaign without a defined goal is like traveling without a destination in mind.
Before you even begin to draw up a plan for your campaign, you need to define your objective.
Are you looking to build brand awareness or increase sales over a short period of time?
2- Find the perfect influencer for your brand
Now that you have a clearly defined objective for your influencer marketing campaign, it’s time to find the right influencers.
This means determining both the channels you want to use and the type of influencer you want.
- To choose the right influencers, look for people who help you meet your objective.
- To build brand awareness, choose influencers with massive reach.
- To build trust in the brand, work with influencers known for their honest, authentic content.
- To generate engagement, contact relevant micro-influencers with high engagement rates.
- To boost conversions, involve a mix of different types of influencers in relevant niches.
- To promote a product launch, choose industry experts and niche influencers with significant reach.
3- Provide adequate compensation
Influencers allow you to use their influence to reach a relevant audience.
So it’s only fair to compensate them fairly for this.
Some small and medium-sized businesses have budget restrictions.
If this is the case, you need to plan your budget carefully.
4- Establish an influencer partnership contract
It’s important to define remuneration clearly upstream in a partnership contract with the influencer.
This influencer partnership contract will contain all the terms and conditions of the partnership, and must be signed by both parties before the campaign begins.
Conclusion on influencer partnerships
Working with influencers is a great way to immediately reach a loyal audience.
It’ll help you build brand awareness and generate valuable sales.
But as with any marketing campaign, you’ll need to renew the experience regularly over time.
Make sure you offer an exceptional experience to the influencers you work with, and to the customers who come to you as a result.
Eventually, you’ll become the influencer and sell directly to your fans, again and again.
