5 Easy Ways For eCommerce Business To Find Niche Influencers
Here’s some food for thought: as much as 60% of marketers find marketing content created by influencers way more effective than traditional branded content.
No wonder spending on influencer marketing has been steadily going up since 2016.
Brands around the globe are hopping on the trend and looking for the right thought leaders to promote their products and services. And marketing research proves it’s not always an easy task. Only 22% of marketers can say that evangelist search is not challenging.
If you don’t know how to find the right thought leaders for your eCommerce business, this guide is for you. We’ll tell you the 5 best ways to score the best niche trend-spotter for the job.
Why Should You Collaborate With Influencers?
Before you begin your search for the perfect niche expert, you might be wondering what perks this type of partnership can bring you.
The truth is, making trend riders part of your eCommerce marketing strategy has numerous advantages:
- Higher ROI. Statistical data shows that influencer marketing ROI is 11 times higher than traditional marketing (such as banner ads, printed marketing materials, etc.);
- Increased brand reach and awareness. Trend spotters effectively leverage their follower communities to expose your eCommerce business to more people than you could reach through other channels;
- Enhanced brand trust. 63% of consumers rely on influencers’ opinions and reviews of a product/service more than professional picture-perfect ads;
- Better customer satisfaction. Thought leaders offer customers more targeted, personalized marketing content. And buyers appreciate this approach – it fosters a stronger connection between your brand and consumers. On top of that, influencer marketing is related to better customer satisfaction.
5 Tips To Discover Top Niche Influencers For Your eCommerce Business
You can approach thought leader search for your eCommerce brand in different ways – there’s no one-size-fits-all path to choose here. That’s why we have gathered 5 ways to do it quickly and efficiently.
1. (Before You Do Anything Else) Decide On The Type Of Niche Influencer You Want To Pursue
How will you find a perfect trend-setter for your eCommerce business if you don’t know who you’re looking for?
Before you begin your niche evangelist search operation, determine what kind of influencer you want to hire to promote your brand.
Here are some of the essential factors to keep in mind when you are building your evangelist persona:
- Quality of content;
- Target audience;
- Engagement rate;
- On-brand messaging or aesthetic;
- Budget;
- Location;
- Follower count.
First things first – content quality should be your number one priority. Poorly made creator’s content can hurt your brand reputation and discourage consumers from sticking with your brand. Only consider those whose content aligns with your idea of high quality and your brand aesthetic.
Besides, remember to pay attention to the type of content the trendsetter produces and the social media of their choice. For example, if you’re an eCommerce brand working in the fashion niche, it is a good idea to look for a fashion/lifestyle Instagram fashionista. Make sure their follower base fits your target audience demographics – this way you’re sure to hit the right consumer segment.
Finally, decide on the kind of influencer marketing campaign you want to initiate in collaboration with a niche thought leader. The main types of influencer campaigns are:
Sponsored social media posts. This is a traditional “sponsored by…” type of content trend spotters publish for their audiences on social media. The name of your eCommerce business will pop up under each sponsored post and the influencer will talk about it in an organic, appealing way;
Brand ambassador programs. This is a more long-lasting form of an influencer collaboration. Essentially, the content creator of your choice will regularly post for and/or on behalf of your business. This is an effective way to combine several campaign types and experiment with your marketing effort over a longer period of time;
Brand social media takeovers. It is exactly what it sounds like – you give your evangelist a chance to take over your social media feed for a day or several days. They will post content around and about your brand with your followers in mind;
Giveaways and contests. An influencer can organize and/or promote a giveaway campaign or contest among their followers. This is an excellent option if you want to boost brand awareness AND advertise a specific product/service. For example, you can make it the winner’s reward. Evangelists especially love UGC contests to engage their audiences as much as possible;
Product reviews. Send the product you want to advertise to a trendsetter and ask them to come up with a creative review for their followers. An influencer will find the best delivery style to frame the review in a way that will pique their followers’ interest.
Pro-tip: it’s not accidental that the follower count is at the bottom of the factor list. Don’t chase the number – aspects such as engagement rate and on-brand messaging are much more important to the success of your marketing campaign. In fact, analytical data proves that nano- and micro-influencers can produce higher engagement rates than macro-influencers and major celebrities.
2. Ace Hashtag-Based Influencer Search
Now that you know what kind of thought leader you’re shooting for, it’s time to get down to the search process. And hashtag search is an excellent tactic to start with. Hashtags allow you to focus on your business niche by providing targeted search across different social media platforms.
Hashtags come in a variety of types, including:
- Branded hashtags;
- Location-based hashtags;
- Campaign-based hashtags;
- Niche-specific hashtags, etc.
Niche-specific hashtags are a great choice for your influencer search. Think of such examples as #fitnesslife for sports brands or #streetfashion for street clothing eCommerce businesses.
To conduct a hashtag trendsetter search, follow these simple steps:
- Pin down niche-specific hashtags relevant to your eCommerce business. Scan social media accounts in your niche or look through competitors’ profiles to determine the most popular hashtags they consistently use;
- Run the chosen hashtags through social media (don’t forget to add #influencer to your search line). Try at least 3-5 hashtags to diversify your search results;
- Pick those whose content aligns with the metrics and factors you established in point 1.
Pro-tip: try to use more specific hashtags rather than generic ones to scale down and specify your search results. Say, you’re looking for an influencer to promote your organic cosmetics brand. Use targeted tags such as #skincareinfluncer #beautyinfluencer #organicskincare #organicbeauty and sift through the search results.
You can also combine several hashtags to target your search and get more specific and relevant results.
3. Scan Your Social Media Follower Lists
Don’t forget that you might not need to go far to find a great trend-spotter for your eCommerce marketing campaign. In fact, the right candidate may already be your devoted follower!
Consider your eCommerce brand’s social media audience. Lots of trend spotters follow brands on social to stay on top of niche trends and foster community-building around their activity. So you can stumble upon just the right person for your influencer marketing campaign on your follower list. Monitor your social media carefully to not miss the right match.
An extra perk of this search method: if the evangelist you’re looking for is already following you on social media, they will be familiar with your business and have a clearer idea of how to present it to their audiences in an alluring way. Besides, they can pitch your product to their audiences for free or on a lower budget.
4. Turn To Google Search To Find An Influencer
Another way to discover trend spotters for your eCommerce business is to simply… google them.
Search engines are getting more sophisticated by the minute – every search enriches their algorithm. So don’t dismiss googling as an unreliable method – you can get accurate thought leader search results within seconds.
Just use the keywords relevant to your business niche and enter them into the search line. Google search algorithms will do the rest.
Pro-tip: as you’re conducting your Google search, create a file/spreadsheet with all the evangelists you’re considering and collect their key profile data. It will help you streamline the choosing process and compare key performance metrics.
On top of that, once you’ve made your top pick, you can keep the rest of the candidates on your database for future influencer marketing campaigns. No need to go through the thought leaders discovery process twice.
5. Use Automated Influencer Search Tools
Guess what – conducting your niche trendsetter search does not have to be an entirely manual process. It might be an accurate and customized method but it can be too time-consuming, especially if you’re looking for an evangelist with very specific KPIs.
So if you don’t have enough time and/or resources on your hand to score the right influencer yourself, automated search tools are here to save the day.
There’s no lack of influencer marketing agencies and platforms out there – so make sure you pick the best ones for your search purposes:
- The best thought leader search tools have a solid database of vetted content creators;
- They have advanced search filters to make search results as accurate as possible;
- They have analytical tools to measure trend spotters’ performance;
- They provide swift customer support.
Consider these thought leaders search platforms to find the right niche content creator for your next influencer marketing campaign:
Upfluence
Upfluence is a search tool that gives you access to a database of roughly 3 million influencers. It also offers key performance analytics you can base your choice.
InBeat is a micro-influencer agency that specializes in TikTok and Instagram influencer marketing. This is an excellent choice if you want to focus on micro-influencer collaborations with the most relevant niche content makers.
This tool boasts an impressive database of 11 million thought leaders – each with 5k followers minimum. It provides an advanced search filter system for targeted and relevant search results.
Apart from that, you can use a product information management solution like Gepard PIM to automate your data-related business processes and increase the quality and accuracy of your product data.
Wrap Up
Discovering the right niche trendsetter for your eCommerce business is all about combining clear marketing campaign goals with the best search methods.
Whether you opt for a manual search or automated tools, focus on the candidates that can project your brand vision and values in the content they create for their social media followers. And of course, collaborate with those niche influencers whose aesthetic and style align with yours.
