I Had a Run-In with an Influencer

Posted: December 07, 2021

Just a few years ago, nobody knew what an "influencer" was, and now they're some of the most sought-after social media users by brand marketers. However, there are individuals who don't necessarily want to be an influencer or become a more well-known one. Even though it may be hard to understand, especially when they have the following to be successful, it pays to know if someone you're interested in working with really has the desire to be an influencer. Michelle Scheuermann, Archery Wire editor and social media guru, shares great advice on how to gauge if an individual is interested in becoming an influencer or not.

I Had a Run-In with an Influencer

For those of you who do Influencer Marketing as a job, have you ever had someone tell you, “I’m not an influencer?” Because I am here to say, you need to listen to them. One of my duties for a client is to manage their influencer marketing. This is why you see me write about it so much in Archery Wire. Frankly, I don’t see anyone in our industry really talking about, which I find interesting…but I’ll save that for another editorial. I don’t want to go into too many details, but I tried to help an influencer go from a small, three-month contract, to a larger, one-year contract. Nice of me, right? Except it backfired. And the only way I knew about it is that the influencer spoke of it during a LIVE session on their page. It was cringeworthy. Some of the folks I find as potential influencers aren’t always game for it. I found it odd at first, but I’ve come to understand their positioning better. Mostly it's men who tell me they can’t be influencers because their friends will make fun of them. (True story). Are their friends lining their bank accounts with cash? I didn’t understand it. They have the knowledge and the skills to showcase, but it is a definitive line to cross when you jump from average Joe Instagram user to influencer. And then I’ve found people who have the followers – lots of them – but they didn’t work hard to get those followers, per se. It just …happened. A celebrity share; a popular blog re-post and bam! instant followers. They didn’t build a business to be an influencer, necessarily. When someone tells you they don’t want to be an influencer – listen to them. As a business, you might get bombarded with Instagram fans in your DM’s asking for free products in exchange for posts or perhaps developing a small campaign together. Don’t toss those aside. Some of those are people just looking for freebies, sure. But most are looking to grow their legit business being an influencer. They are ready – and willing – to work with you. (For a small fee, of course.) How do you weed those requests? Here’s what has worked for me:

Reply positively and ask them to email a general account, such as Marketing@yourcompanyname, with their media kit and fee structure. This weeds out 80% of them.
Check to see if they follow you or have tagged you in the past. If they don’t follow, or never tagged, be wary.
When you are closer to deciding, ask for references. This could be a past company where they’ve done some work.
Start following the potential influencer immediately and notice how they conduct themselves. No one can be fake on social media forever. Their true colors always come out – even if just in Stories.
Set up a phone call with them to discuss possibilities. And really listen to them. Listen to what is not being said as much as what is being said.

At the end of the day, we are human beings working with other human beings and we all have these human feelings. Social media seems to bring out the best – or worst – in people, I’ve yet to figure that out. If you have any questions regarding influencer marketing in the outdoors space, feel free to send a note.