30th Jun 2017 by Samantha Walker

7 Hacks That Will Make You An Influencer Outreach Rockstar - Insight Blog

Online PR Agency Hacks

The PR world is an ever-evolving one and an industry that it’s important to stay on top of (or risk sinking into oblivion). Influencer outreach is fast becoming a route that many brands want to explore, whether they’re looking for sponsored posts, social media posts, videos or online reviews.

Having plenty of experience with influencer outreach, we’ve compiled seven hacks that we feel you need to know to be on top of your influencer outreach game…

Get to know various influencers

Whilst you can begin to research influencers on a campaign-by-campaign basis, it doesn’t hurt to start building a relationship with influencers before actually having any client campaigns to discuss. They’ll appreciate having a new contact that they may be able to work with, and it means you’ll not only get to know what they like and dislike before running an idea past them, but you’ve already got your foot in the door by the time you need to have that conversation with them.

We’re fortunate that we’ve run many influencer campaigns over recent years, including for the likes of Ray-Ban, My Protein and Optical Express; therefore we’ve built up some great relationships with influencers – but we too had to start out somewhere.

Determine what your client’s goals are

Does your client want links back to their site? Are they looking to boost sales or sign ups? Are they looking to offer exclusive discounts? Maybe they’re even interested in offering products for review and for reader competitions?.

Don’t assume you know what they want; have that conversation with them. It may be that they’re not sure what they want and you can guide them on the options available.

Alongside determining their goals, it’s best to manage expectations; you need to be able to work within their available budgets, to a realistic timeframe and with achievable goals and outcomes. If they want 100 product reviews, for example, they’ll not only have to provide 100 products for testing, but they’ll have to work with influencer timeframes – they’re busy people with schedules, so it may be that they can’t test and review the product for a few weeks, especially if it’s a product that requires ongoing use in order to see results. Manage this and you’ll have a happy client.

Pick out the best influencers for the outlined goals

Rule #1 – try to determine whether or not the influencers you’re looking to contact may be interested in the brand, the product or the service being offered up. There’s no point asking a food blogger to review makeup, or asking them to review a brand they’ve already stated that they won’t or don’t want to work with. It’s a waste of your time and theirs if you do.

Rule #2 – social media followers aren’t everything. An influencer may have millions of followers on Twitter but a) that doesn’t mean they’re all real and b) they may realistically have a low engagement rate. The same goes for Facebook, YouTube and all other social media sites. The recommended social following of target influencers is between 10,000 and 100,000.


Get personal

There isn’t a one-size fits all approach when it comes to targeting influencers – instead of blanket emailing them and simply changing the name, have a read through their sites, see what sort of content they post on social media and personalise your emails to them. And, above all else, before you contact them about your client, make sure you’re 100% sure the brand fits with the influencer. It’s daft, and can be offensive, to contact a beauty blogger about possible parenting products, for example.

Get creative with the offerings

Whilst some influencers will undoubtedly want paying (whether that’s a small sum or it runs into the thousands), some influencers will appreciate a more creative approach. Maybe you can offer them coverage on your company’s cuttings blogs, great for you, your client and the influencer, and maybe you can also offer various social media shout outs linking back to their website and getting people to read their reviews and thoughts on the product or service.

If your client has a great brand, product or service, influencers will want to work with you – money isn’t the only thing that’s going to entice them, and there’s actually no evidence to support the rumour that they’re all going to want to be paid. Sometimes, simply getting to work with a brand they love is enough.

Get it in writing

I’d always recommend having a phone call over an email conversation if the opportunity is there, but when it comes to putting an agreement in place it’s best to have that in an email chain so there’s no confusion down the line. If you promise something to an influencer, you have to deliver on that – likewise, if they promise you XYZ social media posts, shout outs and links, you want to ensure you’re getting for your client what was agreed.

Stay in touch

Once the campaign with the influencer has come to an end, don’t forget to say thank you, let them know how pleased your client was, and let them know that you’ll definitely be in touch if anything else pops up that may be of interest. It’s common courtesy and will make them feel appreciated.

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