Did you know that 92% of consumers trust word-of-mouth recommendations above all other forms of advertising?

Many consumers have grown cynical towards advertising, which is why influencer marketing has dominated the marketing industry and became more impactful than most forms of traditional advertisement.

People have learned that most advertisements from brands can't be trusted and rely more on reviews, testimonials and word-of-mouth recommendations from our favorite social influencers.

Marketers have found that it's easier to target our favorite influencers (who we already follow on social platforms) to promote their marketing campaigns and endorse for their brand.

Influencer Marketing is less about paid ads, and more about building honest relationships between your brand, your ideal customer and the people (and websites) they are already following/visiting online.

Influencers can quickly and effectively boost your sales, leads and brand credibility.

What businesses have to master is learning how to identify the right social media influencer for their brand, and how to create a long-term strategy that increases brand awareness, reach and drives sales.

How to Search & Identify the Best Influencers for Your Brand

Your ideal social media influencer is someone who already shares content similar to your tone and style AND has similar values as your brand.

Their following also fits into one of your ideal customer avatars.

You want to chose people who wouldn't have to change who they are to share your brand message with their audience.

Influencers that are successful understand how to show the right content to the right people at the right time.

How to Build Relationships with Influencers

According to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, brands are mentioned 3.3 billion times every day in America.

Every business can benefit from creating a buzz about their brand or product, and influencers help do just that. Influencers help display diverse forms of social proof, which helps build credibility.

One of the most important steps to building a relationship with your ideal influencer is putting out a ton of high-quality content on social platforms.

You can never have too much content!

Remember to properly amplify any content that you create. Content creation on its own isn't enough to get the results you desire.

You want to make it easy for a social influencer to discover your content, share it with their followers and integrate it into every aspect of their online foot print.