In recent years, there were a lot of innovations and challenges in the event industry. The last significant change is the emergence of influence marketing. With the popularity of social networks and the duplication of blogs, a new type of stakeholder has emerged: influencers. From now on, working with an influencer is a means of increasing visibility.
But what does that really mean? And above all, how can you be sure to choose the right person for a collaboration? Eventdrive provides you with tips to help you find influencers to promote your next event.
WHAT’S AN INFLUENCER?
The role of an influencer is to promote a specific product, service or event in exchange for compensation (remuneration, promotions, gifts, etc.).
By collaborating with an influencer, a brand can reach a new audience that is interested in its sector of activity.
The influencer is responsible for creating content to promote a product or service. He does it on his own blog or on his social networks, depending on where his audience is. The real advantage of working with an influencer is that, in general, in addition to boosting visibility, it generates a real commitment.
THE POINTS TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT WHEN IDENTIFYING INFLUENCERS
There are different points to consider when finding influencers. We are obviously thinking of online popularity, but we must not neglect other points such as our expertise, for example.
To identify if a person could be a good influencer, you can:
Measure the engagement rate of your posts
To do this, you just have to divide the number of reactions on one of your posts by the number of subscribers. Be careful, however, this calculation is more difficult to do on some networks such as Instagram for example. Indeed, since its last update, the number of like under each photo is no longer available to the general public, but only to the person holding the account. In these cases, you should then ask the person directly to communicate his results to you before offering to collaborate.
Make your invitation emails a success for sure!
Look at the number of followers
This criterion is important, but not essential. Imagine the situation: you have the choice between an influencer with 1 million subscribers and a commitment rate of 0.2%, and an influencer with 500,000 followers and a commitment rate of 5%. The first one reaches an average of 20,000 people while the second will create engagement with 25,000 people.
Offering a collaboration with the second then seems more profitable for you, even if the latter has half as many subscribers. Do you understand the idea?
Take into account its expertise
Remember that a good influencer is not necessarily someone who has thousands of subscribers on their social networks. Depending on the type of event you are organizing, don’t look too far.
For example, you want to find someone who can talk about a very specific topic for your next conference. Perhaps the best person is none other than an employee of the company? Who better to talk about a technical subject than a real expert that everyone gets to know every day?
Study the editorial line
Before starting any collaboration, you need to be sure you are on the same page. To make sure of this, you can read the posts of your candidates.
If the writing style matches your brand, if the person has already been to similar events or if you have a good feeling, then follow your instincts and contact the person.
5 TOOLS TO FIND INFLUENCERS
There are several tools on the market to help you be effective when looking for influencers. Eventdrive has made its small selection for you:
Heepsy
This tool provides access to all influencers in the world, ideal for large-scale projects.
With Heepsy, you can set the minimum number of followers, the location of the person, the sector of activity or the name of the networks used by the person. Then, all you have to do is study the different proposals.
Launch Metrics
With this tool, you can easily find influencers who have already expressed themselves on the subject you wish to highlight. In its database, there are bloggers, but also journalists.
The real plus of this tool is that it does not only take into account the number of subscribers, but also manages to calculate a credibility score: only influencers with real persuasive power over their subscribers are highlighted.
BuzzSumo
Buzzsumo is probably one of the best known tools on the market. It is a little more expensive, but it is also very comprehensive.
You can choose the time period you want to study and get an overview of each influencer’s profile on each of the 4 largest social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest). Simply type a subject in the search bar and analyze the proposed results. You can also sort by post type, influencer type or by the minimum number of interactions on each post.
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Contact us to learn more about our solution!
Cision
In the event industry, we like to have media coverage by professionals: journalists. By choosing Cision, you are choosing one of the world’s leading companies in the field
In the tool, you will find a large database of journalists and bloggers, classified by theme. The bonus? You will have access to real media monitoring on the press, blogs and social networks.
Traackr
With this software, you can find influencers from a list of keywords you have chosen in advance. A report in the form of a mapping, accompanied by graphs of all kinds, is then proposed.
This will give you a real analysis with points such as the size of the audience, the type of publication and their profiles.
Finding influencers is not very complicated. On the other hand, identifying influencers who will bring real added value to your event is a more delicate task.
Take the time to determine the criteria of importance to you that make a person a good influencer and feel free to use tools to help you identify the best fit! From there, all you have to do is get in touch and see if the feeling is there. Influence marketing is also about working with your instincts!
