Identifying influencers with multi-platform audiences is a critical skill in modern marketing. With the proliferation of social media platforms, the rise of digital content creators, and an increasingly complex media landscape, identifying influencers who can effectively reach across various platforms is key to building a successful and sustainable marketing strategy.
This guide will walk you through how to identify influencers with multi-platform audiences by focusing on the core principles of influencer marketing, the tools and techniques used, and strategies for evaluating cross-platform performance. In addition, we’ll examine the key benefits of working with multi-platform influencers and provide actionable insights to help you select the right ones for your brand.
1. Understanding the Importance of Multi-Platform Influencers
Before diving into how to identify influencers, it’s crucial to understand why targeting multi-platform influencers is important.
a. Increased Reach and Engagement
Influencers with audiences on multiple platforms can help expand your reach. Instead of relying on one platform to communicate with an audience, multi-platform influencers engage with their followers across different channels like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, and even blogs. Each platform has unique strengths, and cross-platform engagement allows influencers to access different segments of their audience.
For example, YouTube might be more popular with younger, tech-savvy individuals who are interested in video content, while Instagram may attract a more visual-centric audience. By collaborating with an influencer who is active on both platforms, you can reach distinct audiences without necessarily creating duplicate campaigns for each platform.
b. Diverse Content Types
Multi-platform influencers are versatile in the types of content they create. They understand how to adapt their messaging and content formats for different platforms. For instance, an influencer may post in-depth video reviews on YouTube, share lifestyle snapshots on Instagram, engage in conversations on Twitter, and host live streaming events on TikTok. This flexibility makes them highly valuable as they offer different content types that resonate with various types of consumers.
c. Improved Credibility and Trustworthiness
Influencers with audiences across multiple platforms often build more robust relationships with their followers. Because they engage with them in different ways, across different contexts, followers develop deeper trust and loyalty. When an influencer advocates for a brand or product, their recommendations are often seen as more credible, particularly if they have demonstrated authenticity and consistency across platforms.
d. Cross-Promotional Opportunities
Working with multi-platform influencers enables you to take advantage of cross-promotion. Influencers can encourage their followers to follow them on different platforms, creating a seamless experience for consumers who want to connect with the influencer and the brand across multiple touchpoints.
2. Qualities to Look for in Multi-Platform Influencers
Once you recognize the benefits of working with multi-platform influencers, the next step is to determine the qualities that make an influencer a good fit for your brand.
a. Cross-Platform Activity
Not all influencers with multiple accounts are necessarily multi-platform influencers. It’s important to verify that the influencer is active and consistent across all the platforms in which they participate. Their audience should be engaged on each platform, and the influencer should regularly produce content that is tailored to the specific platform’s audience.
Look for influencers who:
- Post regularly on multiple platforms (e.g., Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter).
- Adapt their content to the platform’s features (e.g., stories, reels, or long-form videos).
- Have cross-platform followers who interact with them on more than one social media channel.
b. Audience Overlap
To make sure your investment in an influencer reaches a wide audience, you need to assess the overlap between the influencer’s audiences on different platforms. Ideally, you want an influencer whose audience is not only large but also overlapping between the platforms, which means they are genuinely engaged across various channels.
Analyzing an influencer’s audience overlap might involve:
- Studying their audience demographics (age, location, interests) on each platform.
- Using social media insights and third-party tools to identify commonalities between followers across platforms.
c. Engagement and Authenticity
Engagement rate is a key indicator of an influencer’s effectiveness, especially when they are active across multiple platforms. A high engagement rate signals that the influencer’s audience is not just large but highly involved with their content.
In addition, multi-platform influencers should demonstrate authenticity and consistency in their voice, tone, and messaging across different platforms. This helps build a cohesive personal brand, which is essential when trying to maximize the effectiveness of campaigns across various touchpoints.
Look for influencers who:
- Have a genuine connection with their audience and avoid overly promotional or inauthentic behavior.
- Maintain consistent messaging across all platforms, whether they are sharing personal stories, product reviews, or lifestyle content.
d. Content Quality and Adaptability
The content an influencer creates should resonate with their followers while being adaptable across different platforms. A strong multi-platform influencer will know how to tailor content specifically for each platform while maintaining their signature style.
For example, an influencer may:
- Create detailed vlogs for YouTube that offer product reviews or tutorials.
- Use Instagram stories or posts to share glimpses into their daily life or short reviews.
- Share memes or interactive content on Twitter to engage with followers in real-time.
Look for influencers who produce high-quality content and adapt well to platform-specific trends.
e. Brand Alignment
No matter how large or active an influencer’s multi-platform presence is, it’s critical that they align with your brand’s values, mission, and audience. The best influencers for your campaign are those who naturally incorporate your product or service into their lifestyle in an authentic way.
Evaluate the influencer’s past partnerships and the types of brands they’ve worked with in the past. You want an influencer who’s been involved with brands that share similar values and have similar target audiences to yours. This alignment increases the likelihood that their endorsement will resonate with their followers and positively impact your campaign’s success.
3. Tools and Techniques for Identifying Influencers
Identifying influencers with multi-platform audiences is easier when you have the right tools at your disposal. There are several tools and platforms that can help you identify the right influencers for your brand.
a. Social Media Monitoring Tools
Social media listening tools like Brandwatch, Hootsuite, and Sprout Social allow you to track mentions of specific topics, keywords, or brands across different social media platforms. These tools help you discover influencers who are already discussing your industry or niche across multiple platforms.
b. Influencer Marketing Platforms
There are influencer marketing platforms like Upfluence, AspireIQ, and Traackr that help you find influencers based on audience metrics, engagement rates, and platform activity. These platforms often have filters that allow you to search for influencers who are active on multiple platforms, ensuring that you only connect with those who have a broad reach.
c. Google Search and Social Media Search
Sometimes, the simplest way to identify influencers is through a search engine or within social media itself. By searching for key terms related to your industry or product on Google, you may uncover blogs, YouTube videos, Instagram accounts, and Twitter threads from influencers with multi-platform followings.
Additionally, many social platforms like Instagram and TikTok have influencer discovery features where you can find users who are highly engaged in particular topics or hashtags.
d. Audience Analytics Tools
Audience analysis tools such as Social Blade, Followerwonk, and SimilarWeb can help you assess the demographics and engagement patterns of influencers. These tools often provide detailed breakdowns of an influencer’s audience across platforms, which helps you verify whether their reach extends across multiple social media channels.
e. Manual Research and Vetting
In addition to using automated tools, manually vetting influencers through social media channels is often the best way to understand their cross-platform influence. Look at their profiles on multiple platforms, observe their interactions with their audience, and assess the quality of their content.
4. Evaluating Cross-Platform Performance
Once you’ve identified a set of potential multi-platform influencers, you need to evaluate their effectiveness across different platforms. Here are some key performance metrics to focus on:
a. Reach and Impressions
Measure the total number of people who see the influencer’s content across platforms. This includes both organic reach (followers) and paid reach (if they use ads or sponsored posts).
b. Engagement Rate
The engagement rate is a vital metric to gauge how connected an influencer’s audience is to their content. Look at the average number of likes, shares, and comments the influencer gets on posts across different platforms.
c. Audience Demographics
Make sure the influencer’s audience on each platform aligns with your target audience. Check for similarities in age, gender, location, and interests to ensure that your marketing efforts are reaching the right people.
d. Content Performance Across Platforms
Analyze how content performs on different platforms. You may find that certain types of content (e.g., short-form videos on TikTok) perform better than others (e.g., long-form blog posts on Instagram). Understanding this helps ensure that the influencer is using each platform to its full potential.
5. Conclusion
Identifying influencers with multi-platform audiences is a powerful way to increase your brand’s visibility, credibility, and overall impact. By understanding the qualities that make multi-platform influencers valuable, utilizing the right tools, and analyzing performance metrics, you can ensure that your brand partners with the right influencers to achieve meaningful results.