Influencer Marketing Dos and Don’ts
Influencer marketing has become a common addition to many brands’ social media marketing strategies. Working with influencers and content creators can have an incredible impact on a brand’s social media presence, however, it must be done strategically. Brands often make the mistake of agreeing to partnerships without a strategy in place. This not only wastes resources and money but can negatively affect your brand image.
After years of coordinating influencer partnerships, we have learned a lot about what to do and even more about what not to do. Keep reading for a few of our best influencer “dos and don’ts”.
Do
DO say yes to influencers with smaller followings IF they align with your brand. One of the biggest mistakes we see is when brands quickly turn down collaboration opportunities because the creator’s follower count isn’t in the millions. Is follower count important? Yes. However, the influencer’s target audience, voice and messaging are really what you should be paying attention to. Reaching 5,000 individuals who are likely to enjoy or be interested in your brand is far more impactful than reaching 5,000,000 who are not.
Sabrina Carmela is a creator we partnered with on behalf of our client, Senna House. Although Sabrina has a smaller following of about 8,400, her style aligned well with our client’s brand. By partnering with Sabrina we were able to reach a large group of individuals who are likely to be interested in our client as well as gain authentic UGC (user generated content).
Don’t
DON’T forego a contract. Even the most simple of trades such as product for a post require a contract. It is always better to be safe than sorry and put your collaboration terms in writing. On top of having a contract be sure to be detailed in your deliverable guidelines. Avoid using language such as “1 post” or “3 stories” and instead say “1 post featuring X with a caption that explains Y” or “3 story videos with X being explained by creator featuring Y”. This way you guarantee that your collaboration results in content that you approve of and can be reused.
Do
DO establish relationships with influencers. Brands will often partner with an influencer once and cross them off the list. The ability of an influencer to encourage their followers is only increased by repetition. Followers are more likely to trust your product or service if they see their favorite influencer incorporating it into their life more than once. Consistently working with a handful of solid creators will produce stronger results in comparison to working with many influencers just once.
Don’t
DON’T restrict the influencer’s creative freedom. When requesting the kind of content you would like the creator to make, you want to avoid being so specific that the content appears inauthentic. Remember, you chose to collaborate with the influencer because their content drew you in, you don’t want to hinder their ability to be themselves. Followers are able to decipher whether or not their favorite influencer is being authentic, therefore you should encourage your collaborator to incorporate your brand into their life in a real way.
Kimmy Johnston is a foodie that we invited to visit our client, Flora’s Market Run. We asked that she highlight their Happy Hour but gave her creative freedom to do so. As a result we received a beautiful reel sharing about her real experience.
Do
DO consider the content quality. Often the content aspect of influencer partnerships takes a back seat in negotiation. Brands will get excited at the idea of gaining followers and forget that UGC is also a part of the trade. In exchange for your product, service or money you should be expecting an uptick in followers AND quality content that you are excited to share to your own accounts. P.S. Be sure to include content rights in your contract!
Samantha McClendon is a lifestyle and travel influencer we partnered with on behalf of Senna House. When establishing a partnership with Samantha we were sure to require that she provide a certain amount of content in exchange for her stay. As a result we were able to reach her large audience of over 137,000 as well as gain usable content for our clients’ accounts.
Don’t
DON’T forget to negotiate. Most influencer partnerships will involve some sort of compensation whether it’s cash, product or a service. Now that social media influencing has been around for a while, creators understand their worth in the social media space. You should value each influencer partnership as they have the ability to make a difference, however, that does not mean you need to accept their first offer. We see this happen with collaborations all the time. Creators with large followings reach out to brands and ask for the moon and stars in exchange for a minimal amount of content. It is easy to be blinded by a large following or high view counts and jump on the first offer but, just like any deal, influencer agreements are meant to be negotiated.
Do
DO include influencer partnerships in your paid social media strategy. When negotiating your contract terms determine if the influencer is willing to collaborate on a partnership ad. Utilizing an influencer’s UGC will give you the opportunity to amplify your reach. By establishing a partnership ad you are able to tap into the influencer’s audience and fully take advantage of the collaboration. You can read more about setting up partnership ads in a future article soon to be linked here!
We invited Fabulous Arizona to visit our client Prep & Pastry. We leveraged the content they created for our own paid campaign and significantly increased our reach.
Collaborating with influencers has proven to be a great way to grow a brand’s following and increase reach but the success of these partnerships lies within the strategy. Intentionally choosing, negotiating and utilizing collaborations will make all the difference. Remember these dos and don’ts the next time you have an influencer collaboration to navigate and amplify the results for your brand.
