Local Influencer Marketing For Dummies: How To Make It Work For Your Brand

Most business leaders understand the value of mass-market influencers. These social media personalities have close connections with their audiences, allowing them to sell products and services more effectively.

However, working with local influencers may be even more beneficial. These characters often have specific community ties – ideal if you sell in an enclosed geographic region.

Working with local influencers isn’t always straightforward, though. As with any marketing strategy, it takes some know-how to get it right.

That’s where this post can help. It explores where you can find them, how to evaluate them, and what to do when approaching them. Here’s everything you need to know:

What Is A Local Influencer?

But first, what is a local influencer?

The answer is what you’d expect: a social media personality with a solid reputation in the local community for being an expert or thought leader.

The primary difference between local and national/global influencers is their impact. The former targets specific communities (like Dallas or Chicago), while the latter appeals across countries and borders.

Interestingly, these influencers are often small enterprises operating locally, including local nail salons, tour guides, beauty therapists, and medical clinics.

How To Find Local Influencers Who Rock

So, what should you do to find incredible local influencers who can supercharge your brand?

Pinpoint Your Target Audience

The first step is to figure out who your audience is. Understanding their characteristics helps you find a local influencer who can communicate your message on your behalf.

As a minimum, you will want to consider your audience’s:

• Age
• Location
• Gender
• Behavioral attributes
• Income level
• Psychographic profile
• Personality traits
• Interests
• Hobbies

For example, you might describe your ideal customer as follows:

“My ideal customer is an urban professional aged 25-35 who enjoys living in vibrant cities. This person has a well-established career with a healthy income in the upper band of the income range, enjoys technology, and has values emphasizing sustainability. They are confident, open-minded, and enjoy various hobbies including pilates, running, and horses.”

Once you have this description, you can explore relevant niches in the local community. Writing these down will help you narrow down the type of micro-influencer you require.

For example, you might consider using local guides to get local people pumped for a restaurant opening. Gen Z travel bloggers are a great option for fast food joints while local golfers might be better for a country club eaterie.

Find Local Stars

Once you know your ideal customer and the local influencers you want to target, the next step is to find them.

But how? Where should you start?

Leverage Social Media Platforms

Your first port of call should be social media. These platforms offer a treasure trove of opportunities to find local influencers who align with your brand.

Fortunately, Instagram, X, and TikTok allow you to search using hashtags. To keep it regional, search for hashtags related to your local area (e.g. #city or #state).

You can also use Facebook’s search facility to discover content relevant to a specific area. Filters let you narrow your choices to the most promising options

Work With Influencer Marketing Platforms

Influencer marketing platforms, like Billo, can help you streamline your search for local influencers. These often have vast databases with pre-sorted social media personalities for specific industries. You can filter by location, niche, and engagement rate to find suitable partners.

Attend Local Events and Network

Lastly, you could attend local events and network with influencers on the ground. Often, these are the best ways to form relationships and develop long-lasting partnerships. But, of course, you might have to travel!

Vet Your Influencers

Once you have a shortlist of candidates, vet them. Probe their content to see if you want to work with them.

Start by assessing follower count versus engagement rate. Lower ratios (less engagement per follower) are a red flag and could suggest fake followers.

Check their content quality and see whether it aligns with your brand. The influencer could show too much personality for your audience, potentially putting customers off.

Lastly, snoop on their reputation. See what people think about them. Do they have credibility in their industry?

The best influencers are those known to local journalists, schools, businesses, and other public institutions (apart from the police of course!) These individuals, like fitness influencer Kelsey Heenan, have the respect of the local community.

Craft The Perfect Pitch

Approaching local influencers is often the most challenging part. Many aren’t commercially minded.

However, you often see remarkable results if you can communicate with them effectively (and tell them how they can benefit),.

The first step is to craft a personalized outreach message. You can send these to them via social media or, preferably email. (They may ignore their DMs).

Here’s an example of what you could say:

Hi [Local Influencer’s Name],

I’ve been following your social media journey on Instagram and TikTok and have been impressed by the connection you have with your audience, especially your passion for [insert passion here].

At [brand name], we’re also committed to [insert passion here]. That’s why we think we should work together toward our shared mission.

We’re particularly interested in collaborating with you on [specific project]. But we are also open to your ideas. We’d also love to provide you with a free [product] you can show to your audience.

If you’d like to discuss idea this further, we’d be thrilled to hear from you,

Best regards

[Your Name]
[Your contact information]

This message is effective because it:

• Addresses the influencer personally
• Highlights your shared values
• Offers incentives (such as a free product)
• Provides clear contact information for a response
• Has an optimistic upbeat tone

Building Long-term Relationships

Once influencers agree to work with you, building long-term relationships with them comes next. You can do this by:

• Offering value beyond compensation, such as providing content assistance or behind-the-scenes access
• Allow the collaboration to evolve flexibly, providing the influencer with more creative freedom
• Show regular appreciation and recognition for exceptional content using influencer platform tools if necessary
• Offer new opportunities on a regular timetable to keep the relationship fresh and active

Eventually, you should turn local influencers into brand ambassadors – people who want to promote your company whether you provide perks or not.