Why Is Finding the Right Influencers Important for a Successful SaaS Influencer Campaign?

We’ll start this blog off by specifying the definition of influencers in this context. When we say influencer, we are more specifically talking about “micro-influencers.” This is different from your traditional celebrity influencer with millions of followers. We define a micro-influencer as someone that has a smaller following than a celebrity, but larger than the average person. The micro-influencer category can be broken down even further into another category called “nano-influencers.” These are micro-influencers that are on the lower end in terms of their following numbers. Think 1,000 to 10,000 followers.

No matter how you want to define micro-influencers, they are important because they are well connected in their community and get people talking. Finding the right micro-influencers to participate in your campaign is vital to its success. If you can find out who the influencers in your campaign are connected to, then you’ll be able to better understand how effective your campaign will be.

Finding the “Right Influencer:

There are two things to consider when it comes to finding the right influencers to target. The first is to find the influencers that are the most relevant to what you are promoting. You want to work with influencers who are connected to your target audience. This ensures that your campaign will reach the exact people and community that you are trying to promote to. You will really want to make sure that the influencers you chose have relevance in this community. Another thing to keep in mind is how accessible the influencer is. What we mean by this is that working with these influencers fits your budget and the scope of your campaign. This means deciding if you want to work with nano-influencers, micro-influencers, or even celebrities. In terms of SaaS campaigns, you will most likely be targeting micro and nano-influencers. It’s important that you find people who are well connected to your target ecosystem.

Prerequisite: You must know who your target audience is before you carry out an influencer campaign. An influencer campaign will not work well if you are blindly choosing those you work with.

Selection Strategies:

There is some low-hanging fruit in regards to picking influencers. Your own employees/colleagues or micro-influencers that you are already connected to are going to be the easiest to take part in your campaign. You’ll want to make sure that you get these people involved. Once you have reached this group, you should then move on to Level 2. Level 2 consists of people that have a mutual connection with you. These people will be much easier to work with than those who you have no strong connection to at all.

Building Relationships with Influencers:

It’s important that you start building relationships with relevant influencers from the jump. This is something that should be an ongoing process. You should be making an attempt to engage and furnish a connection with influencers in your domain. This will allow you to grow your own network and reach. It should not just be a one-off communication with the influencer. This grows your own reach and network, as well as setting you up to work with these influencers in the future.

Listen to Prospective Influencers:

In regards to people in SaaS, people are highly opinionated. This means that you need to find people that align with your view and technology. It is also important to avoid partnering with people who promote your competitors. Doing this will avoid any conflict of interest.

How eCairn Finds the Right Influencers:

Here is a map that shows how a certain micro-influencer (Colin Loretz) is connected to his community. You can see him highlighted towards the middle of the map. The yellow arrows show who he is connected to on social media in his community. Using our mapping capabilities will allow you to estimate the reach of the influencers that you want to work with. You’ll be able to look at our map and figure out who exactly will be targeted by your influencer campaign.

If you want to read more about the importance of finding the right micro-influencers, you should take a look at the posts below:

Article #1:

https://www.cmswire.com/digital-marketing/the-10-commandments-of-b2b-influencer-marketing/?utm_source=cmswire.com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=cm&utm_content=all-articles-rss

This article by Chitra Iyer details the most important rules of influencer marketing. One important detail she mentions is that although follower count is important, it should not be the only thing that you focus on when recruiting influencers. She mentions how important it is to find influencers that are very engaged with. Our Conversation™ platform takes all of these measures into account when profiling influencers.

Article #2:

https://jasonfalls.com/good-influencer-discovery/

This commentary by Jason Falls talks about the challenges that businesses face when looking for the right influencers for an influencer campaign.

Article #3:

https://www.toprankblog.com/2022/04/b2b-marketing-news-042222/

The third article is from Lane Ellis and it describes how influencer marketing is one of the top strategies in B2B marketing. Lane backs up this point by providing many statistics and data.

Article #4:

https://www.toprankblog.com/2022/05/b2b-influencer-marketing-agencies/

This next article by Lee Odden talks about how the most successful B2B marketers are all utilizing influencer marketing. Check it out to learn more about the process.

Article: #5:

https://www.jeffbullas.com/how-to-target-influencers/

This last article by Jeff Bullas gives a step by step guide on how to find and collab with influencers in an effective way.

If you are interested in learning more about our software and finding the right influencers for your campaign, leave your info in the form and we’ll get back to you shortly. Check it out for a very detailed guide on this subject.