Hello Tolulope,

Towards the end of September, I sent you a few letters about creating content (like skits) for your business and how to make your content go viral, or at least become popular.

I discussed how to create viral content in the first place, and then went ahead in the final email to tell you a few things you can do to make your content actually go viral (after creating it).

My number 5 point in this section was to Leverage Influencers. And I stated two ways you can leverage influencers, to wit: help you post the content you created, or pay them to create the skit for you – this latter one is simply because they already know what works for their audience.

Anyway, because there are literally hundreds of thousands of “influencers” out there, including those that actually have no business being called influencers, a few questions have popped up on exactly how to do influencer marketing correctly.

I don’t blame anyone asking this question, because there actually IS a right way to go about influencer marketing, or else, you just throw money at some popular figures online and get nothing in return that benefits your business.

This is however a topic I’ve discussed severally because I have a lot of experience on it – in fact; I’ve been on both ends of the spectrum.

I’ve worked successfully with so many influencers even way before social media influencing became a thing, and I’ve also influenced (not commercially though) the online traction of a few brands – some by simply mentioning them without any promotion.

I’ve shared my strategies for working with influencers severally – twice on my newsletter and even in my book How to Sell to Nigerians. But I’ve decided to repeat it again as a follow-up to my series on creating viral content.

If you want to quickly sell your products or build your business and brand from ground floor up, your best bet is to use the services of an influencer.

An influencer will make people hear about you or your product almost instantly. If well done, you can start making sales almost immediately.

To get influencer marketing right, you need to do the following:

1. Determine Your Motive

Before you talk to any influencer, you should determine what your aim is. Now that sounds basic but hark unto me, I will explain.

You see, there are two main reasons why you will need an influencer to promote your products. The first reason is because you want to create awareness for your product/business and the second reason is because you want to sell.

There is a difference between the two.

If you are a big brand and you have a lot of money, you can just hire influencers to keep the name of your brand out there. However, if you are a small business with little budget, your aim should be to make straight sales.

You do not have the financial abilities to play the "brand awareness" game because it is a long-term game. You will go broke before results come in.

You should concentrate on the "instant sales" game. As you make money, put it back into more advertising.

When you have good money in the bank, you can also begin to talk about awareness.

2. Select the Right Influencer

This is a crucial aspect for me but most people get this wrong. It is however easy when you know what you are doing, as discussed above.

If you are looking for just awareness and you have the money, go for the "biggest" celebrities out there. Sign up the biggest musicians, actors and comedians. Pay them good money and they will put your brand out there.

If you sign up Davido, Wizkid and Burna Boy, you can rest assured that people will take a closer look at your brand. Back when a UBA advert featuring Wizkid comes on air, with one of his hit tracks playing, you will take a second look.

Despite this exposure, we cannot say for sure how many people opened accounts with UBA because of Wizkid. Maybe there are loads, I am not in a position to say but I don't think UBA really cares. They have money, spent it on Wizkid and got great exposure. Everyone is happy.

I am not sure you have that kind of budget. You are probably a small business. Even if you have money, your plan might not be for exposure.

Your plan can be to make sales. If this is what you are looking for, it is better to hire those I call "mini influencers."

Social media has made it possible these days to find people with an audience ready to listen to them. Everywhere you turn to on social media, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter especially, you can easily find someone who will not charge you too much but is ready to help you promote your products.

And even if you are reading this in the year 2051 and who knows, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter could be irrelevant or dead by then, it wouldn’t matter; there would always be another technology and there will always be people who have the audience. Aka influencers.

There was a time that if you had a column in a newspaper, you were the ultimate influencer. Times have changed and technology will continue to change.

However, the concept will never change as long as there are human beings in this world. When one technology dies, people move to the next.

3. Know the Influencer's Audience Size & Engagement

When selecting an influencer, you should check the size of the audience ,the engagement and the history of the influencer.

The size in the sense of how many people are following the influencer on specific social platforms.

How many people are watching his or her videos online? How many people are listening to his or her podcast? How many people are reading his newspaper column?

How many people are commenting on his or her blog? How many people are listening to his or her radio show?

Whatever the technology the potential influencer is using, how well is he or she doing there?

The person does not have to be a celebrity. He or she just needs to have a loyal audience.

A loyal audience of 10,000 people is better than a dormant audience of 100,000 people.

Those that have used the services of influencers will tell you this is a fact.

4. Check the Influencer's Relatability

Around the year 2007 or so, I created an online course on how to sell other people's products for a commission.

Not too many people know me in the marketing community abroad. The product was targeted at Americans. I needed an influencer so I contacted a marketer who had an email list of about 30,000 subscribers. I paid him to recommend my product to his email list. He did. The response was immediate!

The response was immediate because his subscribers are people who want to learn marketing.

If I take that kind of product to a comedian, it is unlikely the marketing campaign would succeed. You need to hire influencers whose audience would like your product.

A beautiful makeup artist with 10,000 YouTube subscribers will not work for a sports betting website as much as a Twitter influencer with 1,000 followers interested in betting tips.

Do not look at just the volume. Is the influencer likely to use that product? People look at these things. If you are looking for just exposure though, you should not worry about this point.

5. Have the Right Marketing Plan

When you have chosen an influencer, you must come up with a marketing plan. Do not hire an influencer and task him or her to just go to town to promote your business. No. You must have a deliberate plan.

Do you have a plan to acquire new customers? Do you have a plan to give out free samples so you can follow up on the people that respond?

Do you have a plan to get people to come to your own platform to follow you so you can follow up on them? You must have a plan.

That plan is what will determine what you will ask the influencer to do.

For example, if you plan to give out free samples of your perfume, you should discuss with your influencer on modalities.

Should we say something like the influencer loves the perfume so much he or she wants to gift some followers/readers/listeners? Should they call or send an email?

Should they come physically to the shop or launch event? You must come up with a workable plan. Work with your influencer.

6. Carry Out A Cost vs. Results Analysis

Start with just one influencer. That way, you will be able to track effectiveness easily.

I know there are smart ways of tracking the results of different marketing campaigns but I won't want you to bother with that at the beginning.

Start with just one. Negotiate as hard as you can and let him or her go to work.

After a few days, you should do a review. How many people responded? How many people called in? How many people emailed? How many people bought it? How much did you spend? Is this marketing effort worth it? Should you repeat it or hire another influencer? Ask yourself hard questions and answer honestly.

Make a decision and progress from there.

With these few words of mine, I hope I've been able to convince you and not confuse you on why and how you should use influencers to get your business running quickly.

Lol.

On a more serious note, I wished someone taught me this when I was just starting out.

You have it now; use it wisely and do not take it with levity. You can move from obscurity to prominence using just this strategy.