Social media are on the rant. Nowadays, it is no doubt that the best way to do a shoutout for any business is via social media. As such, many business owners are rushing to occupy the social media marketing space. Out of which, the most effective way to do so will be to work with influencers. After all, they are the ones who have the expertise to build and engage an organic following. Their knowledge of social media marketing should be top-notch. Why not let these experts help you grow your reach, instead of struggling by yourself?
Saying that, not all influencers can work well for your business. When choosing to work with influencers, there are several criteria you need to look out for. In today’s article, I will go through the criteria of a good influencer and where you can find one.
First of all, a good influencer should have:
1. A Solid Reach
Check out their followers on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Do consider if these influencers have a presence on short-video platforms too. Recently, short-video platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, and Vimeo have become increasingly popular. Many good influencers are based on these platforms. In fact, some only work on short-video platforms, and have achieved amazing results!
Generally, influencers with between 5,000 and 30,000 followers tend to be more successful. This is a powerful reach enough, but it’s not so big until the influencers will lose touch with their followers.
2. Match with Products
The next thing I look for in a good influencer is whether they have a fit with the products to be promoted. For this, you will need to look at the sponsored posts they did in the past. What do they sound like in their posts? Do they talk about the product in an excited tone? Is the message they convey to their audience what you like to see for your own products’ posts?
Overall, you need to be able to picture the influencers with your products. If you can’t, then it will be difficult to work with them. This is because their posts might come off as inauthentic or forced. No one will be interested in your products then.
At the same time, do remember to check the quality of their photographs/video posts. A high-quality post will make your product look good. If they are using low-quality photos or videos, it might not be the best idea to work with them.
3. Engagement and Authenticity
Now, the influencer with the most followers is not always the best. While the number of followers an influencer has is important, you always need to consider their engagement rate too. You can gauge an influencer’s engagement rate very easily. Simply look at the number of likes, comments, and shares on his or her post. This will be a good indicator of whether their followers are interested in what they have to say.
Good influencers will also take time to manage their posts. They will keep the conversation going – whether by replying to comments or by sharing more follow-up content. At the same time, they should keep a consistent publishing schedule. This is so that their audience knows that they won’t be thrown into endless waiting. Meanwhile, you can also rest assured that your products will get the exposure that you signed up for.
Other than that, the influencer should be authentic in his/her posts. Take a look at their posts and see if they seem genuine. Are they trying too hard to be someone they’re not? People can spot inauthenticity from miles away. If an influencer comes off as fake, their followers will lose interest in what they have to say. This will make your brand look bad, and people won’t want to buy your products. However, when your influencer is authentic, they build trust with their followers. The followers will listen to what they say. If they recommend your brand, their followers are more likely to check it out too.
So, keep the above factors in mind when you look for potential influencers to work with. It will save you a lot of time and effort in the long run. And now comes the next question: where can you go and find such influencers? After all, it’s not like you can snap your fingers and influencers will line up neatly for you to choose.
Below, I will indicate my top three methods to look for good influencers. The first method will be this:
Method 1: Influencer Marketing Agencies
In case you don’t know yet, there are agencies that can help link you up with influencers. You don’t need to start from scratch and do the entire research by yourself. These agencies have a network of influencers that they have established relationships with. They will be able to help you connect with the right people for your brand.
Here is how the typical work process goes. First of all, the agency will provide a list of influencers they think are suitable for your brand. They will ask for samples of the product that you like the influencers to work on. Upon selecting the influencers to work with, the agency will send out your product sample to them. Meanwhile, you also need to tell the agency your marketing campaign goal. They can then help you review the influencers’ posts to make sure they are in line with your marketing goals.
The best thing about working with such agencies is that they have a team of professionals who are experienced in this field. They know what kind of influencer will work best for your brand. And if you’re not sure about anything, they will be more than happy to advise you too!
However, the downside of working with them is that it can be quite costly. You will need to factor in the costs of their services, which will not be cheap. After all, they are coordinating the whole marketing campaign for you in essence! Besides, you may still need to pay the influencers separately for their work. Thus, If you’re on a tight budget, this might not be the best option for you.
Method 2: Online Marketing Websites and Apps
In today’s age, almost everything can be done online. Similarly, when trying to look for influencers to work with, you can start by looking online. There are a lot of online websites and apps that can help sellers look for influencers. These tools are just like the influencer marketing agencies that I mentioned above.
Take note though – you will need to pay for using such tools. Most will offer free trials for you at first, but you will be asked to sign up for their paid plans soon enough. The prices for these plans can vary greatly. For example, you may be asked for a monthly subscription fee of $20 per month. But I have once heard of a surprisingly high price that goes by $2000 per month!
Method 3: Go Manual and Search On Social Media Platforms
Last but not least, you can always find influencers manually. Simply search for keywords related to your product niche on social media platforms. You can then see who are the influencers talking about similar products in your field. Don’t be shy, and take the initiative to reach out to them. Ask them to see if they are interested to work with you. You will be surprised that many influencers are open to such opportunities!
Of course, this method will be quite time-consuming. After all, you will need time to do the background research for the influencers. Then, you need to network with the potential candidates. You will also need to come up with suitable marketing campaign goals, payment terms, and so on. Nevertheless, if you have the patience and time to do all these, this option can be a great one for you!
With this, I will come to the end of my post. I hope you have a better idea of what to look for in a good influencer, and where you can find them. Stay tuned, like this post, and follow me for more tips like this!
Selling on Amazon is not easy. There are many things you have to take note of, and one of the most important things is how you price your products. Price it wrong, and you’ll either not make any sales, or be selling at a loss.
In this post, I will introduce you to a few types of pricing strategies that you can use on your Amazon products. Do apply them so you can get more profits. After all, every little bit counts!
Pricing Strategy 1: The Cents Pricing Strategy
This is a strategy that works based on how the human brain processes numbers. Research has shown that people pay more attention to the left-hand digits of a number, especially those before the decimal point. This means that for a product price, customers will likely concentrate on the ‘dollars’ and neglect the ‘cents’. Take a look at the image below to see what I mean:
Pricing Strategy 2: Price Above the Amazon Free Shipping Order Amount
As a shopper on Amazon, one of the biggest concerns will definitely be paying for shipping fees. The shipping fees can rack up the actual amount of money a customer needs to pay to get your product. And most of the time, customers will get irritated by this. After all, no one will be delighted to pay so much more on top of a product’s actual value! But there is a get-around method to this situation. In case you don’t know yet, Amazon provides free shipping for orders above USD25. Otherwise, customers will have to pay for shipping charges of minimally USD5-6. As a seller, you can help your customers avoid this by increasing your product’s price to above USD25. Doing so not only allows you to make more money, but your customers can save more too! Some of you may be confused here: “Huh? I increase my product’s price, but my customers can save more? Are you kidding me?” But nope, I am not kidding you. Let me do the calculations for you.
Pricing Strategy 3: Apply Discounts
Now, it’s a fact that people love discounts. Many studies show that offering discounts are often more effective at attracting sales than anything else. After all, who wouldn’t want to believe that they got a good bargain? As such, you may want to make use of this human psychological trigger when you are pricing your products.
On Amazon, you can add discount coupons to your listings to entice your customers. Just go to ‘Create a new coupon’ under the ‘Advertising – Coupons’ section to add coupons for customers to use. Or else, you can choose to work “outside of Amazon” – by collaborating with influencers, for example. You can provide special discount codes for the influencers’ followers to use when they buy your products. They can key these codes under the ‘Add a gift card, promotion code, or voucher’ section when carting out on Amazon. In either case, both will get you the same results: happier customers and more sales!
Meanwhile, here are some useful tips you can use when creating your discounts.
Tip 1: Design Clean-Cut Discount Structures
Using clean-cut discount structures is always a good idea. By this, I mean setting up discount amounts that divide well into the original selling price. For example, if the price is $30, then a $3 discount will be good. That’s exactly one-tenth of the total price, and it’s very easy to calculate. The same goes for even numbers – if your price is an even number, use even numbers when setting up your discounts. Doing so will allow customers to understand how much they can save at one glance. And anything that helps customers will help to boost your sales!
Tip 2: Use Percentages
There are many ways in which a discount can appear. You can offer percentages off, like 30% off; or offer a monetary amount, like $3 discount. But I will always recommend using percentages when designing your discounts. Let me explain.
For example, you have a product priced at $20. The maximum amount of discounts you want to let your customers enjoy is $5. There are two ways you can present this as:
1. $5 off $20
2. 25% off $20
When reading the two options, do you notice that the second one seems like a bigger discount? This is because the figure ‘25’ is a larger number than ‘5’. Subconsciously, customers will see “25% off $20” as a better bargain, even though both are the same! As such, using percentages off will always be more favorable than using fixed monetary amounts. Try it out for yourself!
I hope you have gained some insights about how to price your products from this post. If you are interested to know more about such strategies, stay tuned and continue following me! 
