It is true that the term Facebook influencers isn’t used too often. Other platforms like Instagram and YouTube are more popular for Influencer marketing. But Facebook sure is the world’s biggest social media with over 2.38 billion monthly active users.
With influencer marketing campaigns, you need a good understanding of your target market and a knowledge of where they hang out online. To understand which platform works best for your business, you could take the help of social listening tools. Social listening helps you manage and track mentions from different platforms at one go. Now, let’s say Facebook is where your audience interacts with you the most. Here’s where you need to implement your influencer campaigns. So then, how do you find and convert Facebook influencers to help your cause?
Who are Facebook Influencers?
Even though Facebook is not really known for influencer marketing, it is an immensely popular platform. It is a good platform to launch your early plans. If managed properly, Facebook can function as a PR agent for you. Facebook allows you to convey your message to audiences from around the world and build awareness for future campaigns.
Wondering if there’s really any difference between an Instagram and a Facebook Influencer? Well, there is and there isn’t. The top influencers for both these platforms are mostly celebrities and some lucky brands.
Now obviously you are looking for micro-influencers with a dedicated community of followers. Each of the social media platforms has its own effect on the kind of posts people share and talk about. Facebook is more content-oriented. So, you’ll find more influential pages that are focused on content rather than a person. Also, Facebook’s format encourages the sharing of content. This is how pages with sensational content, videos, and memes have a lot of influence. Their content is shared and becomes viral, gaining popularity.
Drawing from these insights, we can say that a typical Facebook influencer:
- Shares highly engaging content that has the potential to go viral.
- Has gained the trust of followers on the basis of their expertise in a certain field.
- Has a community-driven page (where people share, comment and exchange opinions regarding the content).
If you think such influencers could help you, let’s talk about how to find the right Facebook influencer for your brand.
How to Find Facebook Influencers?
Hunting for Facebook influencers can get a little difficult because of the platform’s native search options. The options are limited and complex. On other platforms, people use hashtags to tag their content but rarely on Facebook. This makes hashtag search useless on Facebook.
You can use two solutions for this – refer to an influencer database or use a social listening tool.
Facebook Influencer Databases
Searching influencer databases is a simpler option. You just need to search for your niche and you’ll have the names. However, there are some downsides to influencer databases as compared to using social listening tools.
Firstly, these databases are limited. As in, you will only find influencers who applied or who were discovered by the people who created the database.
Secondly, the search filters may be too broad for your requirements. You may want to know about “functional training” and end up scrolling in the fitness section for hours.
Honestly, buying influencer databases for search isn’t really wise for your marketing budget unless you are a social media agency. You’ll probably not even need to use it enough so as to justify all the money spent on it.
Social Listening Tools
Using social listening tools eliminates all the problems that come along with databases. With a little effort, you will be able to gain more from a social listening tool. Some social listening tools are useful for a diverse range of marketing activities. So, first of all, try and find a good social listening tool that suits your brand’s requirements. You can use a social listening tool for anything from product development to online reputation management, and even for SEO purposes.
With the help of social listening tools, you can set up searches for specific keywords. For instance, you can start searching for any post that uses “Fitness” and “functional movements” in them. The tool collates all these comments and posts from across all platforms. Set up the filter such that you view only Facebook mentions. Remember, your job has not finished yet. On Facebook finding influencers isn’t easy because most of these posts are made by regular users. Thanks to the AI features available with most social listening tools, they will help you study the influence scores of the people. All the people who have spoken about fitness and functional movement are assigned a score based on the reach, engagement, and visibility of their content. The higher the score, the better their influence.
What’s more, you can even collate a list of these influencers and track their activities and the sentiment around their posts. Social media analytics has made this process much easier. If you are still unsure, you may opt for a free trial on a tool while you figure things out.