Specialty Food Magazine

Kelly Newsome, marketing manager, This is Fine Cheese The first thing that we do is define our target audience and look for influencers that have sizable, engaged followings that align with our brand goals. Next, we look at the influencer's content. Is it high quality? What's the tone? What's the perspective that's being communicated? Lastly, we review not just the size of the audience and quality of engagement, but also what platforms that influencer is using. Depending on our objectives, we might choose to work with an influencer that is active on one or multiple platforms. Most importantly, we ask ourselves, 'Will this influencer authentically promote our brand/product and does this brand/product make sense for the influencer's audience?' If the answer is no, then no matter how large the audience, we won't pursue collaboration. Conversely, we will engage with micro-influencers with smaller, but highly-engaged audiences that meet our strategic objectives and will authentically promote our brands and products. Hannah Nielsen, marketing project manager, The Date Lady When engaging effective brand influencers, we look for people who fit with our values as a brand and share the same passion for delicious food and healthy eating. It's definitely a plus when they share our passion for dates! We find that it's important to examine the target audience when considering a partnership with an influencer; are their followers' potential customers? Would they have interest in our products? When we find an influencer that we feel would make a good fit, we typically like to send them a sample of our products. It's important to us that the brand influencer is familiar with and enjoys Date Lady products. Followers and customers can sense inauthenticity if an influencer is promoting an item they don't actually enjoy. Most importantly, we value influencers who value their audience and for that reason are considered a trusted adviser. They put out content that is valuable and keep their followers engaged, making our spend more likely to provide a good return on investment. Alison Seibert, on behalf of Enzo Olive Oil For growing brands, influencer marketing is an incredibly valuable outlet that can require very little upfront investment. We've created an influencer strategy centered around gifting product to select influencers to drive brand awareness and real- life sampling. Trying the product first-hand is an essential part of building trust and loyalty within a brand's audience—when influencers have an opportunity to try Enzo Olive Oil and fall in love with the taste and quality, it's a win-win because any recommendations or content they share with their audience comes from a very genuine place. Of course, with gifting it is a standard best practice to operate with the understanding that product coverage is appreciated but not guaranteed—this also ensures that any content shared is truly because the influencer loved it and would use it in their own home. FALL 2021 53 Arielle Feger is a content associate for Specialty Food.

• Cover