How do you align your brand message and values with the influencer's content and audience?

1 Identify your goals and target audience

Before you start looking for media influencers, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and who you want to reach. Do you want to increase your brand awareness, generate leads, drive traffic, or increase sales? Who are your ideal customers and what are their demographics, interests, preferences, and pain points? Having a specific and measurable goal and a well-defined target audience will help you narrow down your search and find the most relevant and effective media influencers for your campaign.

2 Research and select the right media influencers

When you have a goal and target audience, research is necessary to find the media influencers that match your criteria. Utilize tools such as BuzzSumo, Traackr, or Upfluence to search for influencers by keywords, topics, niches, platforms, or locations. Additionally, you can look at the influencer campaigns of your competitors or industry leaders and see who they collaborate with. When selecting media influencers, you should consider their reach (number of followers/subscribers and engagement level), relevance (content and audience alignment with your brand message and values), reputation (credibility, trustworthiness, tone and style), and results (success of previous/current campaigns and return on investment). Furthermore, inspect their social media profiles and websites for potential red flags like fake followers, bots, negative reviews, or unethical practices.

3 Build a relationship and offer value

Once you have a list of potential media influencers, you need to reach out to them and start building a relationship. You can do this by following them on social media, liking and commenting on their posts, sharing their content, or sending them a personalized email or message. You should introduce yourself and your brand, explain why you are interested in working with them, and how you can offer value to them and their audience. You should also be respectful, transparent, and professional, and avoid being pushy or spammy. You should aim to create a mutually beneficial partnership, where both parties can gain exposure, credibility, and revenue.

4 Co-create and promote the content

Once you have established a relationship and agreed on the terms and conditions of the collaboration, you need to co-create and promote the content. You should work with the media influencer to come up with a content strategy that aligns with your goal, target audience, and brand message. You should also give them some creative freedom and flexibility to produce authentic and engaging content that resonates with their audience. You can provide them with some guidelines, resources, or suggestions, but avoid being too controlling or restrictive. You should also agree on the format, frequency, duration, and platform of the content, as well as the disclosure and tracking methods. You should also support the media influencer by sharing, liking, commenting, or reposting their content on your own channels, and encourage your audience to do the same.

5 Measure and evaluate the results

The last step of leveraging media influencers is to measure and evaluate the results of your campaign. You should track and analyze the key performance indicators (KPIs) that relate to your goal, such as impressions, reach, engagement, clicks, leads, conversions, or sales. You can use tools like Google Analytics, Bitly, or UTM codes to measure the impact of your influencer campaign on your website traffic, conversions, or revenue. You can also use tools like Social Blade, Social Mention, or Mention to measure the influence of your influencer campaign on your brand awareness, reputation, or sentiment. You should also ask the media influencer for feedback and testimonials, and thank them for their collaboration. You should also review the strengths and weaknesses of your campaign, and identify the areas for improvement or optimization.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?