Selecting the right influencer can make or break your influencer campaign and is critical for a successful outcome when embarking on an influencer campaign for your brand. Choosing the wrong content creator that is an ill fit for your brand, its target market, and values only leads to a waste of resources, poor campaign results and even reputational damage.

The right influencer will align with the brand's values, messaging, and goals. By taking time to ensure that the influencer is a good fit for the brand and the campaign objectives, the campaign will have a better chance of resonating with the target audience and being successful. Ultimately, selecting the right influencer can make or break an influencer marketing campaign, and brands must take the time to make thoughtful and strategic choices.

Working with brands on their influencer campaigns and achieving 1,749,511 in reach, 1,929,871 impressions and 72,517 engagements over the past three years, we have learned a thing or two about choosing the right influencer for campaigns that drive actual results. We have made some mistakes on our journey, which is okay because we have learned!

We share the steps we take to find that perfect influencer for our clients:

Define your target audience
The first and most critical step. Once you have locked in your target audience and clearly understand who your campaign is speaking to, you can start looking for an influencer that aligns with your target audience's interests and behaviours.

Look for authenticity
Look for an influencer that is authentic and genuine. Audiences are tired of the picture-perfect image social platforms have been relentlessly promoting over the past few years. They are looking for people they can relate to on a human level.

Check engagement
Engagement! Engagement! Engagement! An influencer's engagement rate is the ratio of followers engaging with their content. A high engagement rate means their followers are more likely to interact with your brand's content, resulting in better reach and higher conversion rates.

Check relevance
Look for influencers who have already created content related to your product or industry. This will ensure their followers are interested in your brand and product.

Check credibility
Choose influencers who have a positive reputation in the industry. Check the history of their collaboration and ensure they have not been involved in any controversies or brand deals that have gone belly up. Professionalism is a critical element for us when selecting influencers for our client's campaigns. We consider unprofessional influencers 'high risk' and move them to the sh*t list (we absolutely have one!).

We are only as good as the content creators we work with. We want to shine some light on some of the all-stars we have worked with along the way! Give them a follow and share the love!

Keratilwe is a boy mom of 3. Her content is focused on lifestyle, fashion and parenting. She is a versatile content creator who puts much thought into her collaborations. A consummate professional – we love working with her, and the feeling was mutual!

"It has been such a pleasure working with Hustle Media. They made sure I understood the brief by thoroughly explaining what the campaign was about, making sure I was comfortable with client expectations before moving forward and supplying me with all relevant campaign information ahead of time. I appreciate the fact that they let me take the creative lead and allowed me creative freedom, which made the production process so easy for me. It was seamless!" - Keratilwe Mphafudi.

meetmrsmuller | Why we love her:
We have been working with Adre since the inception of Hustle Media Influence. Her content always hits just right, and with a flair for making her content highly entertaining where suitable, she hits the numbers every time! Versatile, professional and always willing to do more, it is clear why we choose her repeatedly.

cleme_clems | Why we love him:
Besides scoring a solid 10 out of 10 on the Eye Candy scale. Clement is an excellent content creator with a broad niche. Easy to work with and delivers high-quality content on time every time. As a Social Media manager, he knows what it takes to make a campaign succeed, and we love that!

belindagwala | Why we love her:
Not your average content creator! Belinda is a qualified logistician and international content creator – beauty and brains in a dynamite package. Belinda was a dream to work with, and it is easy to see why she regularly gets approached by international brands. Her high production value content is a cut above the rest. High reach numbers – check! High engagement rate – check!

Need help finding the right influencers for your brand? Let's talk about how we can make it happen.