My therapist asked me recently: “Do you know what you’re looking for?”

She was talking about romantic partners. I answered, “Smart and funny.” Apparently, that doesn’t “narrow it down enough.”

The same question can be asked of marketers looking for creator partners. And if, like me, your answer is smart and funny, you’re not going to get very far.

So what do pro-influencer marketers do? They know who they’re looking for before they start looking. They have built an ideal creator profile. 

What do they include in this ideal creator profile? That’s what I’m here to show you.

Influencer selection is an art and a science, so you need both quantitative and qualitative criteria.

In this issue of ROI, I’ll start with the science. These are the most important metrics to include in your ideal creator profile that will help you find the right partners.

In this issue:

• The science of influencer selection

• What’s everyone else doing

• Handpicked job openings

Factor #1: Is this creator engaging? 

Your ideal creator profile should have a minimum engagement rate, and this engagement rate should be in context. (I’ll tell you what I mean further down.)

What does engagement rate even tell us? 

Engagement rate answers the question, “Is this creator engaging?” It does this by measuring an audience's reaction. Most often, it’s calculated as the median number of likes, comments, and shares divided by the total number of followers or the total number of views.

What’s a good engagement rate? 

Don’t throw tomatoes at me, please, but the answer is: it depends. It’s not as simple as "the higher, the better." 

I’ll use Bobby Johnson, the voiceover artist known as RxCKSTxR on Instagram, as an example. He has 3.6 million followers with an engagement rate of 3.72%. 

Is this high? Is this low? How are we to know?

We can only accurately judge his engagement rate if we also know what other creators with the same number of followers have on the specific platform.

Something like this 👇

In this graph, we see that compared to other Instagram influencers in his follower range, RxCKSTxR's engagement rate is pretty high. The median engagement rate is actually between 0.63 and 0.81%.

Only now do we understand that an engagement rate of 3.73% is insanity! Any creator with over a million followers and an engagement rate of over 0.81% should be considered.

Why get engagement rate “right”? 

If your engagement rate is based on “vibes” or on the average engagement on Instagram, you might miss out on excellent creators. You’ll falsely believe the engagement rate is too low when, in fact, it might be great for a creator’s size. 

👉 Use Modash’s free engagement rate calculator to get the engagement rate and distribution of a creator.

Factor #2 Is this the right audience?

Another “science” factor to prioritize when creating your ideal creator profile is audience demographics. Is this group of creators you’re looking for attracting your target audience?

Audience demographics before influencer demographics

By audience demographics, we mean age, gender, interests, and location (if needed.) The influencer’s audience demographics should overlap with your ideal customer demographics.

If your potential customers live in the U.S. and are women between the ages of 22 – 45, a creator partner should be reaching the same audience. If they don’t reach the same audience, the collaboration is not likely to get you the results you want. 

Don’t assume, validate

Don’t assume that because the influencer’s demographics match your ideal customer's demographics, the audience demographics will match as well.

Take, for example, this creator, Ana Montana, on Instagram. At first glance, she looks like a good match for the brands who’ve already sponsored her, including women's fashion shop Fashion Nova, Bloom, a henna salon, and a shoe brand.

You could think that her audience is made up of people just like her.

But when you look at her audience demographics, you’ll see something else. 

79% of her audience are men. 

A quick glance at an Instagram profile won’t tell you who an audience is unless you have the audience demographics. 

As you build your ideal creator profile, be clear about the creator’s audience demographics. Aim for as close as possible to your ideal customer demographics.

Factor #3 Is this the right messenger?  

The creator's demographics are less important than audience demographics but still important.

This is your messenger. They have to resonate with your target audience, right?  

In your ideal creator profile, you want to include influencer demographics like their age, city, gender, niche, etc.

For example, if you sell jewelry and primarily market to women, you want your influencer partner to be a woman, too. It’s just more likely that your target audience will resonate with them.

If you’re selling to the U.S. market., it’s preferable to have the creator in the same location. If you’re selling to the German market, you want the creator to be in Germany. They’ll know the trends, cultural references, values, etc. Your influencer partner is the face of your brand – so ensure you’re smart with the demographics you’re choosing.

What’s everyone else doing?

Influencer marketers spend an average of four minutes checking an influencer’s profile, while 68.6% of marketers spend less than five minutes.

Without an ideal creator profile (whether that’s in your head or on paper), it might take longer to vet an influencer on all the important criteria. When you know exactly who you’re looking for, you’ll become faster and more efficient at gauging whether or not an influencer is the right fit.

My advice? Don’t rush the vetting process. If you spend more time properly examining an influencer’s profile today, you save time and money tomorrow.

Handpicked job openings

• Burga is looking for a Junior Influencer Marketing Manager for Spain. The role is remote. 

• Notino is looking for an Influencer Specialist in Brno, Czech Republic. 

• Refy is looking for a Senior Creator Partnerships Executive in Manchester, England. 

• Moonpig is looking for an Influencer Marketing Executive in Almere, Netherlands, or London, England.

• Brooklinen is looking for an Influencer Marketing Manager in New York, USA. 

See you in the next issue of ROI for the art of choosing influencers 🎨
Eleni Zoe xx
Marketing @ Modash. Say hi on LinkedIn or visit Modash.

📌A NOTE ABOUT WHAT YOU JUST READ

The tips in this newsletter might not be right for your specific case. Use good judgment when deciding whether to take advice from the internet—even mine. My team and I survey & interview influencer marketers whose advice and observations come from their direct experience. ROI is meant for you to connect the dots and be inspired or challenged to think about your influencer marketing in a way you haven’t before.