2. Choose The Best Platform First

While sometimes you might want to start by scoping out influencers, it’s an equally valid approach to choose the platform first.

Influencers live on many platforms, from the obvious (like Instagram) to the more obscure (like Quora).

When you think about influencer marketing, you probably think about the big social media sites like Instagram and Facebook. But sometimes the biggest platforms aren’t the best.

Ultimately, you want to look for a specific type of influencer who posts on a specific platform. You need to put as much thought into choosing a platform as you put into choosing an influencer. (Yep, it’s that important.)

There are several factors you need to take into account when settling on a platform to target.

First, which platform has devoted audiences in your niche?

Notice I didn’t say biggest. While it’s tempting to expose your product to an audience of millions, it doesn’t always ensure that people will listen.

But if an influencer has a devoted following, your product will get more attention. (And serious attention.)

A good way of determining audience devotion is by checking the number of comments the influencer gets.

Tim Ferriss is one influencer who regularly gets lots of comments.

The number of comments is an important metric to consider. It holds a lot of weight because it isn’t a vanity metric. If an influencer gets lots of comments, it means his or her audience is involved and not just passive.

This is especially important on YouTube, a popular platform for influencer marketing.

You might see a video with lots of views and be impressed. However, according to Buffer, a person only has to watch a video for three seconds for it to count as a view.

So if a video has lots of views but few comments, it’s likely the influencer doesn’t have an engaged following.

No matter what social media platform you’re looking at, the number of comments is always important. The amount of shares or reposts also reflects the level of engagement.

This Twitter post got 12 retweets and 23 likes, which is a great ratio.

You’ll probably discover that the same niche can have wildly different levels of engagement on different platforms. For example, the beauty industry is much more popular on YouTube than it is on Facebook.

It’s like the old saying in marketing—“go where your audience is.”

Second, which channel makes the most sense for your product?

Some platforms are naturally better for certain products.

The platform you choose should allow for your product to shine. That means you need to think about how people use your product.

For example, YouTube is great for kitchen gadgets because the products can be seen in action, and the influencer can give a more in-depth review.

On the other hand, Instagram wouldn’t be as optimal. While the influencer could still post a video of the product in action, most people probably wouldn’t watch for as long because Instagram doesn’t require users to have a longer attention span.

Choosing the best platform can skyrocket your sales, while the wrong channel can rob you of the chance to get a return on your investment. So think about it carefully.

Third, think about all of the options.

The best platform isn’t always one of the biggest.

The more popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can trick us into thinking they’re the only ones that matter. And there is definitely value in pursuing influencers on these bigger platforms.

However, you can have just as much success on smaller platforms.

For example, natural foods company Bob’s Red Mill sought the help of several bloggers to promote their products. The result: Posts like this one from food bloggers who used the brand’s ingredients in tasty recipes.

You probably don’t think of blogs when you think of social media, but the blogosphere is still a powerful platform for the right campaign.

If you can follow people on a site, it’s fair game for your influencer strategy. So don’t blindly target just the big names. Instead, take a look at all of the options.