You’ve decided to collaborate with an influencer to help your marketing efforts. You’ve identified your marketing goals and you’ve allocated resources. You even went through the work of locating influencers and vetting influencers that you might potentially collaborate with. Here are a few things to remember as your select the right influencer to proceed with.

Check Their Audience

Check the influencer's audience to make sure that their following is supportive and responsive to their content. The influencer's audience should relate to your target audience directly and your product should relate to them in some fashion. However, remember that an influencer's audience doesn't have to be identical to yours. Use your influencer's audience to expand and diversify your following or customer base.

Understand Values

Typically, a brand will partner with an influencer with identical values to reinforce their own: diversity, hard work, luxury, adventure, etc. Don’t disqualify influencers that have a slightly different audience or values. If the commonality between values is communicated effectively, a partnership can intrigue and influence consumers.

Understand their strengths

Find out why a particular influencer has an audience. Ask what makes them a successful influencer and what about their messaging gives them credibility. What do their followers value about their content? Is it the information that they receive, the quality of the content, or the entertainment? Connect these strengths with the influencer’s ability to help you meet your end goal.