Choosing an influencer is not just about looking at their follower count. To make your marketing campaign a success, it is essential to identify the right profile—one aligned with your values, your audience, and your business objectives. In this article, we’ll guide you through five indispensable criteria to choose properly and avoid common mistakes.
Define Your Objectives and Target Audience
Clarify Your Marketing Objectives (awareness, engagement, conversions…)
Before knowing how to choose the right influencer for your brand, clarify your marketing objectives. Do you want to increase awareness, generate engagement, or boost conversions? Each objective requires a different type of content creator. Macro-influencers with a large following are effective for visibility, while working with micro- or nano-influencers often yields much more authentic engagement. This thinking will direct your influencer search toward the most suitable profiles.
Precisely Identify Your Target Persona
How do you find relevant influencers? Precisely identify your target audience: age, interests, purchasing behaviours. This analysis will help you choose influencers whose audience aligns with your brand and maximise the impact of your marketing campaign.
Analyse the Quality of the Influencer’s Audience
Engagement Rate versus Follower Count
Follower count is not necessarily a good performance indicator. A small influencer with 10,000 followers but a high engagement rate can be more effective than a large account with little interaction. Social media algorithms favour authentic engagement, often making micro-influencers more cost-effective.
Analyse Community Relevance
Check whether the influencer’s audience corresponds to your target market. A fitness content creator, for instance, must have a community interested in wellness. Analyse comments on sponsored posts to evaluate real engagement and the relevance of the audience.
Watch Out for Fake Followers and Bots
Many influencers—especially mega-influencers—are exposed to fake followers. The number of likes should be consistent with the follower count. Use analysis tools to verify profile authenticity and avoid artificially inflated accounts.
Study the Influencer’s Content and Values
Visual and Editorial Content Quality
A good influencer produces high-quality content that captures attention. Analyse editorial coherence: does the style match your brand image? This is a key criterion when choosing an influencer who will represent your brand authentically. The editorial line should be coherent and professional.
The Importance of Niche
When wondering how to choose an influencer properly, it’s essential to consider their niche. An influencer positioned in a specific niche—such as vegetarian cooking, eco-tech, or outdoor sports—generally enjoys a higher engagement rate. Why? Because their audience is composed of passionate individuals genuinely interested in the subject, not just seeking entertainment.
Conversely, influencers focused on “entertainment” often reach a broader but less engaged audience, following the channel for fun without a real attachment to a specific theme.
Alignment with Your Brand Image
How do you choose your influencer well? Ensure the creator shares values similar to those of your company. This alignment allows collaboration in an authentic way and strengthens credibility with your target audience—crucial elements for a successful influencer strategy.
Take Platform and Format into Account
Each social network has its specificities and audience. Instagram favours visual content, YouTube supports long-form, TikTok is all about short videos, and Twitch excels in live streaming and e-sports. Different types of influencers perform differently depending on the platform. An influencer may excel on one platform while underperforming on another. Gaming influencers, for example, excel particularly on Twitch and YouTube, delivering exceptional engagement with their communities.
Evaluate the Influencer’s Reliability and Professionalism
Past Brand Collaborations
Review the influencer’s past collaborations with other brands. Good influencers have a proven track record of successful partnerships and know how to tailor their content to each campaign’s objectives. This helps you identify the most professional influencers.
Respect for Deadlines and Transparency
A reliable influencer respects deadlines and communicates clearly about paid partnerships. This transparency is essential to maintain audience trust and comply with digital marketing regulations.
Why Get Support from an Influencer Agency to Choose an Influencer?
Brands wanting to optimise their influence marketing can benefit from a specialised agency. These professionals have advanced tools to help find relevant influencers, analyse their authenticity, and manage relationships. They master each platform’s specifics and can guide you in selecting the right influencer for your objectives and budget.
