Wondering about how you can work with influencers to help boost your visibility and increase your reach online?
Are you finding it difficult to find suitable influencers in your niche?
I have worked in digital marketing for over a decade, and I have seen the rise of influencer marketing and watched it become a powerful strategy for businesses, big and small, to reach their target audiences in a more authentic and engaging way.
Working with influencers offers an affordable and really effective way to reach new audiences, build brand credibility, and drive sales. However, searching for influencers and finding the right partners can be a daunting task.
That’s why in this blog post, we’ll explore where to find influencers that will get truly excited about your product and services and help promote your small business effectively.
Whether you’re just starting out or looking to enhance your existing influencer marketing strategies, this guide aims to provide actionable insights to harness the influence of others for the growth of your small business.
What is an Influencer?
Here’s a list of some of the different types of influencers:
- Social Media Influencer
- Celebrity or Public Figure
- Content Creator
- Blogger
- Industry Expert
- Thought Leader
- Brand Advocate
- Community Leader
- Reviewer or Critic
What Are the Benefits of Working With Influencers?
Collaborating with influencers offers a whole host of benefits for small businesses seeking to expand their reach and increase their brand presence.
The main reason to work with influencers is because they have a dedicated and engaged audience, that you can get in front of.
As the influencer’s audience trusts their recommendations, you can promote your products and services to them boosting your visibility and increasing your reach. If done well, you could also achieve tangible results like increased traffic and sales.
However, you are not just buying ad space, influencer partnerships are meant to inject creativity and authenticity into your marketing campaigns, as influencers bring their unique voice and style to content creation, which will resonate more effectively with their audience.
To help you find influencers for your marketing campaigns I’ve come up with several different types of influencers you can work with to help promote your brand.
Different Types of Influencers and Where to Find Them
1. YouTubers
Popular vloggers usually have highly engaged and loyal subscribers that look forward to their next video.
They are often perceived as industry experts and trusted sources of information. This type of collaboration you can still do even if your business doesn’t have a presence on YouTube.
You can find good channels to be featured on by searching on YouTube, on search engines and by looking at the list of channels in YouTube that you’re already subscribed too!
Another tip is search on YouTube for things like “(competitor name) + review” or “(product name) + review”.
2. Podcasters
Similar to vloggers podcasters usually have an audience of avid listeners, the key here is it’s all about the conversation.
So you’ll want to have a more informal chat with the host, you could talk about the problems that your products and services solve. You’ll want to avoid it sounding like a really long sales pitch!
Podcasts are relatively easy to find you can search online for “(your niche) + podcast. Or in the Facebook groups you’re in just search for, “podcast guest” or even just “podcast.”
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3. Facebook Group Admins
Not always an influencer as an individual but the gatekeeper to getting your post seen in the group. By contacting admins of a group first, and coming to an agreement with them about promoting your content, you’ll reach so much more people in Facebook groups and you can happily mark your posts as admin approved.
Don’t just reply on Facebook searches to find suitable groups, you can also use search engines and search for “Facebook groups for (your niche).”
4. Public Forum Users
Yes, there are many, many different interest groups and niches with their own chat forums. These forums can be self-hosted websites or subreddits on Reddit.
For example, I know of some still popular self-hosted website forums for; pet owners, artists, travellers, marketing pros, software developers and of course, parents!
This type of influencer can be ideal, even if they ‘don’t do’ any other form of social media, as they are often well known within their own online community, which can even be international.
To be successful you’ll need to find forums related to your product or service, sign up and connect and collaborate with the people that show the most interest.
5. Instagrammers
Of course, this list could not be without giving Instagram a mention. Instagram stands as one of the most popular social media platforms for influencer marketing.
With over a billion monthly active users, Instagram boasts a diverse and engaged user base, making it an ideal platform for brands to leverage the influence of content creators to promote their products and services.
You can find influencers by searching on Instagram and exploring popular hashtags. As well as on the platform itself you can also find suitable accounts to partner with on sites like Upfluence.
6. Other Businesses & Brands
Another particularly successful approach is to get in touch with other small business owners and brands that serve the same audience but that is not a direct competitor.
For example, a start-up company that makes organic dog food could collaborate with a handmade dog collar maker and essentially share each others audiences.
You can quickly find other brands by searching on Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn as well as on search engines like Google.
7. Bloggers
One of my favorite types of influencers are bloggers. Bloggers can usually boast on having regular readers, email subscribers, and a following on social media! So often a buy one get three kinda deal!
Plus well-written and informative blog posts often have a longer shelf life than social media. Blog posts are often SEO optimized and so with the bonus of being found on search engines can continue to drive traffic and engagement long after they’re published.
You can find suitable bloggers to work with in your niche on sites like Get Blogged.
8. Newsletter Operators
Newsletter operators are the new kids on the block when it comes to being called an influencer. They don’t have a traditional business model but usually have email subscribers in the thousands they send either daily or weekly email newsletters out to.
Here is where you can find some of them:
- Newsletter directories like Lettergrowth
- Search online for “(niche) + newsletter”
- In your own inbox: what newsletters are you already subscribed to?
Influencer Marketing is Your Secret Weapon!
Working with influencers can be your secret weapon for small business success! The key is to remember it’s all about genuine relationships and staying true to your brand.
From Instagram stars to niche bloggers, there really are a ton of ways to connect with audiences authentically and promote your offers.
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