Influencers... are they worth it?

Q: Australian Instagram Influencers - are they worth it?

A:  The above question about Instagram Influencers, came from a small business owner in one of the Facebook Entrepreneurial groups I am a member of.  The business owner, who makes quality hand made products and accessories for babies, had been approached by a Influencer who requested a variety of the businesses products in exchange for promotion.  The business owner was new to using influencers for product promotion and was rather unsure if it was a good idea or not, so I offered some advice and a short check list to review first before making a decision.

Quality Home Made Products are popular with Australian Mummy Influencers (Photo Credit: Nikolay Osmachko)

​CONSIDERATIONS TO BE MADE WHEN DECIDING ON AN INFLUENCER FOR YOUR SMALL BUSINESS PRODUCTS
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1. Will the Influencer compliment your brand? ~ Deciding if an Instagram Influencer is suitable or not for your brand, will depend on what their niche is and the type of followers they have and their knowledge or willingness to learn about your product.
2. Review past paid campaigns ~ I’d have a careful look at their profile and the results on other paid ads they have done for other companies- are comments genuine?  You can check if a post was paid or sponsored by looking for hashtags with the wording #ad, #sponsoredpost or similar. 
3. How successful were their previous paid campaigns? Did they offer a deal so the companies can track purchases from the promotion etc.  Many influencers will offer a unique coupon code for their followers for the promotion, this allows the brand to check follow-through purchases from the campaign.
4. What form of payment/product have they requested?  Most influencers want $$ for their time as well as the product so if yours is genuine and you think it’s a quality profile and they are happy with just goods for the promotion, I’d consider it (offering goods for prom) after you ask a few questions and read over their terms.
5. Create your own terms ~ There is nothing stopping you making your own terms and I would recommend that you do this to ensure you get the results, hashtags etc that you want. You can then have a influencer contract ready to go for future campaigns.

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Navigating the world of influencers and negotiating a deal that you are both happy with can be tricky - you want to make sure that both parties feel they are benefiting from the collaboration.  Blue Bird Internet Marketing can help create an Influencer Agreement Contract for you, and also help review offers you have received by doing the research on the Influencer for you, or help you find suitable Australian Influencers in your niche.  Contact us here x