If you are using a job board to post your opportunities for influencers, you might be missing out on some great people by not thinking laterally.
Some Influencer job boards don’t allow influencers to negotiate directly with company or ask for further clarification.
1. Placing too much emphasis on a high number of followers
I recently contacted a popular Australian collaboration job board about an opportunity I was interested in. It was a hotel on the Sunshine Coast and they wanted someone to stay to promote their place. In the last year, I have collaborated with two high star hotels in the same area. I wrote reviews on my website for both of them and I felt confident that I could do the job.
Unfortunately, they only took into consideration Facebook, Instagram and Twitter follower numbers. The majority of my followers visit my website directly and their system didn’t take this figure into consideration. The error message I received was ‘not enough followers’.
I emailed them and asked if they could refer my request on to the account owner for consideration. They refused saying they weren’t an agency.
A second opportunity was to collaborate with a local cake delivery company. I was unable to bid for it even though the analytics of my website and social media show that over 80% of my followers live in the same city as the company.
The company decided to go with someone with a higher total number of followers, who might have been spread throughout the world, and therefore not the right target audience. Perhaps only 10% of their followers lived in the same city.
2. Restricting the age group too much
I’m often unable to apply for jobs because of my age. You might have made an assumption that because I am a certain age, so are my followers. It’s just not true.
I’m aged over 40, but my website’s largest audience group is aged in their twenties. My second largest audience is in their thirties.
3. Restricting gender
I’m also unable to apply for some jobs because of my gender. Again, you’re made an assumption that because I’m female I only attract female followers. I have a very healthy percentage of men following on social media and visiting the website.
I have a couple of talented male guest journalists and guest writers, who I’m happy to pass opportunities on to.
Influencer job board can be an inexpensive way to connect with talent and influencers, but it pays to bare in mind some of their limitations.
Photo by Clem Onojeghuo
