The 5 Things Brands Look Out For In Influencers

You heard right, 83% of brands will be increasing their influencer budgets for 2019. But as budgets are rising so is their effort to find the right influencers. And trust me they’re doing their upmost to guarantee that they find the perfect influencers that will prove their investments worthwhile. 

So you’re probably wondering what is the X factor that will make brands want to work with you? Well you pretty much need the whole package, not only does your content need to match their own tone of voice, but you need to have the stats they’re after.

In this post we look at the key data brands look to when selecting the right influnecers to promote their products, and yes it does go beyond the follower count…

1. Follower Number 

Following all the press around fake followers and bought audiences, brands are deifnitely aware that when it comes to influencer follower numbers it’s not a case of “more is better”.  In fact brands look for influencers with a following that fits on their objectives and range.

If their main objective is brand awareness and exposure and if their budget allows (influencers with a larger following tend to be more expensive), they’ll opt for influencers with a larger following. If their aim is to reach a higher concentrated relevant audience, they’re more likely to opt for influencers with a smaller following. 

2. Engagement Rate 

When we speak about engagement rate we mean the percentage of your followers who engage with your posts. For most brands, your engagement rate matters  way more than your follower count, as it’s considered to be a more accurate predictor of sales. 

Smaller influencers generally have higher engagement rates, and are considered to be closer with and more trusted by their audience. Engagement also varies in 

Understanding your engagement rates 

However with Instagram’s new update, brands won’t be able to see the number of likes your posts receive, which means even more so now they’ll be requesting to view your ZINE Media Kit, which automatically pulls in your average engagement rate from your latests posts. 

No more likes? We’d like that 

3. Growth 

Brands like to see that your audience is growing steadily, with no huge jumps or dips in your follower count. This shows brands that their products will be reaching a new audience within the same nieche. Any dips or jumps, potentially mean that you may have bought followers, or that you have bots following you. 

4. Reach 

It’s all well and good having a good enough following and an ok engagement, but brands can’t fully trust those metrics. With the recent changes in Instagram’s algorthm, your posts unfortunately do not reach 100% of your audience.  That’s why they look to your reach insights, which give them an indication of how much of your audience actually sees what you’re posting. Reach is possibly the only metric that can’t be cheated and brands can candidly make calculated decisions on. By enabling your reach insights on ZINE you’re proving to brands that your posts are visible to most of your audience allowing brands to see that your audience is engaged and is 

5. Audience Demographics (who you’re reaching)

Your audience must match their target market. Whether we’re talking about age, location, or gender, they need to know that their products have the potential to be seen by the right people. Digital tools like the ZINE media kit pull in your audiences’ demographics automatically from your Instagram, so you don’t have to worry about updating any changes constantly.