In the ever-evolving world of influencer marketing, selecting the correct influencer determines a campaigns success or failure. One of the most critical aspects to consider when choosing an influencer is brand alignment. In this comprehensive guide, we'll delve into how to determine if an influencer has good brand alignment with your product or service and provide actionable steps to ensure a successful partnership.

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What is Brand Alignment?

Brand alignment refers to the degree to which an influencer's values, image, aesthetic, audience demographic, personal style, affiliations, audience relationship, and overall content strategy, align with a brand's value proposition, mission statement, and message. When an influencer's brand aligns well with your product or service, their endorsement is more likely to be perceived as authentic and genuine, resulting in more views and impressions, better reach, higher engagement and higher return on investment. It will also elevate your product or services brand recognition and affinity, which contributes to achieving the ultimate goal of having consumers coming back on their own and purchasing from you.

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Steps to Determine Influencer Brand Alignment

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1. Start by defining your brand

‍Start by defining your own brand's core values and identity. This includes your mission, vision, target audience, and unique selling points. Having a clear understanding of your brand will make it easier to identify influencers who resonate with your message.

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2. Ensure the influencers values match your own

‍Evaluate the influencer's values by examining their content, following, and past partnerships. Look for consistency in their messaging and whether their values align with your brand's. Pay close attention to how the influencers interact with his or her audience, and how they interact with each other. This will give you an idea of not only the influencers values, but that of the audience as well. For example, if your product is a meat based food product, you'll likely see inferior results by partnering with an influencer who's community is actively talking about vegetarian cuisine. This is an obvious example, but it's mean to illustrate to you the importance of not only the values of the influencer, but also that of their audience.

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3. Research the influencers niche

‍Assess their content to determine their niche(s) and ensure it's relevance to your product or service. When assessing the influencers content, observe their subject matter and ask yourself if there's a connection to your brand. So, for example, if the influencer often talks about cold plunges, and their content that features cold plunges gets higher than average views and engagement, it would be logical to assume that their audience also cares about wellness, fitness, meditation and biohacking. So, if your product or service has to do with one of these niches, it's likely that your campaign with this influencer will be successful. This qualitative analysis will help maximize your campaigns reach and conversions, and will build authentic connections with followers, fostering trust and ultimately making the partnership seem like a natural fit.

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4. Examine the influencer's content quality and style

‍An influencer's content quality and style should be compatible with your brand's aesthetic and tone. Review their content for visual and narrative consistency, professionalism, and creativity. Also, pay attention to the platforms they use, as it's essential to choose an influencer who is active on platforms that your target audience frequents. For example, studies show that the largest age cohort on TikTok is 12 to 24, while Instagram is 25 to 35.

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5. Analyze their audience demographics

‍It's crucial to ensure that the influencer's audience aligns with your target market. Analyze their audience demographics, such as age, gender, location, and interests, to confirm that the influencer's followers match your ideal customer profile.

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VALERIA INC Pro Tip: It’s OK to ask an influencer to directly provide you with their audience breakdown prior to signing a collaboration!

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6. Review past brand partnerships and collaborations

‍Assess the influencer's past brand partnerships and collaborations to gain insight into their ability to align with different brands. Look for examples of successful campaigns that align with your brand's values and style. This will also provide valuable information on their professionalism and adaptability when working with brands. Also, consider the quality of the brands that the influencer works with. Are they brands that you like, respect, and know to be successful? It's important to be in good company when partnering with an influencer. Don't be shy to ask the influencer for links to past campaigns that they're proud of.

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7. Evaluate engagement quality and audience sentiment

‍Beyond quantitative metrics, it's essential to analyze the quality of engagement the influencer receives. Read through comments and interactions to gauge the audience's sentiment towards the influencer and their content. An engaged audience with positive sentiments is more likely to respond well to a brand partnership. However, don't let a small handful of "haters" taint your view of the influencer. In their world, a small of amount of negative comments are normal. You should be looking out for the overall attitude of the audience, and that for the most part, the influencer is liked and respected.

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8. Communicate with the influencer

‍Before finalizing a partnership, communicate with the influencer or their team to discuss expectations and ensure they have a genuine interest in your brand. Open communication is key to understanding their perspective on brand alignment and ensuring a successful collaboration. Ask them the question: "pretend we're not paying you, truthfully, what do you think of our product/service"? Yes, they are getting paid, so their response is biased, but it's still a very good exercise to ask and listen to the answer, and gauge the level of sincerity in their tone. The last thing you want is to work with an influencer that, for whatever reason, doesn't agree with your value proposition, as this will show in the content they create for you and present to their audience.

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Conclusion

Finding the right influencer with strong brand alignment will significantly impact your campaign's success. By following these steps, you'll be better equipped to choose influencers who align with your brand's values, message, and target audience. Ultimately, selecting an influencer with good brand alignment will foster authentic and powerful connections, boosting the effectiveness of your influencer marketing campaigns. If you have any questions on how to better establish brand alignment, please reach out to us at partnerships@valeriainc.com

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