Influencers are kind of a big deal right now. Companies are starting to see the real value in utilizing influencers to help drive marketing and sales efforts. But influencers aren’t your typical breed of celebrity. They’re different. So here are some tips on how to best get the most out of your collaboration with influencers – whether that be through marketing campaigns or setting them up as brand ambassadors.

How to get the most our of micro-influencers

1. Make sure you’re providing value.

Most influencers get a ton of cold emails and spam. To stand out from the crowd, make sure to offer some value to the influencer. This will help get their attention and build a strong relationship.

2. Give them creative control.

We all want to control how we look to the public. But there’s a reason the person you’re reaching out to is influential. People love their personality! So let them be them. They know their audience better than you do. Social media influencers did not just coincidentally build large, engaged followings; they know what their audiences want, and the best ones are experts the needs of their community. Basically, just paying an influencer to simply share your content won’t lead to the results you’d want. It’s better to think of them as your partner, and let them guide you on how best to connect with their community.

3. Make sure to set a goal before engaging in a campaign.

We’re all about ROI. And we know you are too. So it’s important to set a goal (whether that’s revenue, sign ups, whatever you want…) to measure against. That way you can prove you were successful! This will also help you narrow down who you want to work with. Is your goal to drive brand awareness? Then maybe it’s not a bad idea to engage with influencers who have a larger following but maybe not as much engagement. Are you looking to drive sales? Then maybe find a large group of smaller influencers who are incredibly involved in their community and will have a larger potential to convert their followers into customers.

4. Set up a way to measure results

In order to know if you’ve hit your goal, you got to set up a way to measure success. This will also help you understand what’s happening during the campaign. Are people coming to your website, but not converting? Or are people not responding to the influencer’s message? Results will help you see the whole picture and get a larger understanding of what’s going on. The easiest way we’ve found to measure results is to use Bit.ly (we’ll be creating a url shortener for you in the near future, so hang tight!). That way you can create unique, shareable links for people to click on. If you create a unique URL for each influencer you reach out to, then you’ll know who the real winners are for your company.

5. Remember the golden rule!

Influencers are people too, and hate spam as much as you and me! So let’s just make sure we always ask “would I like this if I was in their position?” Ultimately when you engage with an influencer, it’s a relationship you’re building. It should be mutually beneficial for both you and the influencer. That way everyone wins.