Western fashion and lifestyle influencer Shaley Ham (@westdesperado) establishes social media tips for boutiques to successfully grow their brand.
With the social media influencer world ever-growing, you, as a boutique owner, may be asking yourself how you can utilize this new wave of marketing to your benefit. Before you get too ahead of yourself and start reaching out to a dozen influencers to work with, there are a few questions you might want to ask yourself, and the influencer, before deciding to work with them!
1. Does their style fit my business & beliefs?
This could be anything from how they present themselves on camera via their stories, how majority of their photos are edited, to how they choose to write their captions. Each influencer has a methodology as to how they want to be perceived by their followers, so if there is an aspect to how they choose to operate that doesn’t align with your business, then they might not be a good fit to represent you. Instead of asking an influencer to change the way they do things to fit your business, find an influencer who is already in line with what you admire and message you want to deliver.
- Do their followers fit my target customer?
- Never be afraid to have an influencer send a screenshot of their follower demographic. Maybe they have a larger male following or maybe majority of their followers are located in a different geographical area than where they are actually based out of. All of these are perfectly fine, but you want to make sure that the influencer you choose to work with is able to push your products to people who can become your future customers.
- Are their followers engaged with their content?
The pesky Instagram algorithm is proving more and more that it is not so much about how many followers an influencer has, but with how well they are able to connect to their audience. Ideally, an influencer with an engagement rate of over 2% is doing just that. Engagement rate can be calculated by average likes, saves, and comments per post divided by their number of followers. Influencers with followers who are consistently engaged with their content are more likely to trust the message the influencer is providing to them.
4. What is my advertising budget?
Influencers with bigger or more engaged followings can be more expensive and require different terms than an influencer with a smaller following. Also consider the scope of work you are looking for between your business and the influencer. For example, length of time, exclusivity and amount of posts are all different factors that could play into the cost of working with an influencer. Some are willing to work for trade of products for posts, while some influencers will require monetary compensation as well. It’s always best to figure out a scope of work and system of payment that works for both of you, that will be mutually beneficial in the end.
Overall, don’t be afraid to reach out to an influencer of any size to see if working together would be a good fit. Ask questions, build relationships and dare to try new avenues of advertising for your business! With an abundance of influencers flooding social media, it’s the perfect time to take advantage of finding an influencer that will be your boutiques personal cheerleader!