How to Grow Your Audience Online Authentically

I don't know how to grow my audience.

One of the top questions I get asked is "how do I get more IG followers?". I'm not going to answer that today but here's my answer to "how do I grow my audience?".

Be intentional about collaborating with INFLUENCERS.

I contacted one of my favorite mom bloggers in Toronto, Nazima @missmogra, to help come up with these tips on how to get started with influencers (we share a love for cute babies and dollarama so naturally, I love her).

1. Make sure their audience aligns with your target market. Is your product or service something that their audience truly needs? E.g. If you sell pots and pans and the influencer's audience uses uber eats on the daily, it doesn't make sense.

Bonus: Make sure it's something the influencer would actually use or need. We have all seen how misplaced and inauthentic it can be when an influencer we love starts promoting Nivea cream when we all know they use La Prairie Switzerland.

2. Send a personalized email or DM. As easy as copy & paste is, it's a waste of your time. Make the email or DM personal and show you love their content and want to work with them. And for the love of God, don't ask them for their email if it's readily available on their IG and website and the world wide web. Do the work.

3. Make it a win-win. Tell the influencer upfront what the benefit is for them - is it a free product, service, or ask them for their media kit. As a rule of thumb, influencers are paid a starting of $100 per 10k followers (more if they have great engagement) so expect to compensate them generously. Don't offer to send them your free product worth $100 in exchange for IG stories and posts when they have 20k followers. They would be losing money in that exchange, and that is NOT a win-win.