You have a product you want to promote. Therefore, you look for any influencer to get them to feature your product on their social media platforms.
While this can be considered to be a form of influencer marketing, there are better ways to go about doing it. Today’s article hopes to touch on effective influencer marketing collaborations. How do we ensure the influencer conveys our message in the most impactful way possible?
To do so, it requires you to step up to understand the influencers you work with. We will be elaborating on how effective influencer marketing can be done.
Effective influencer collaborations: tip #1. Finding the right people
The very first step to building meaningful collaborations with influencers is to keep in touch with the right people.
In other words, always look for influencers that are the most relevant to your brand. Some guiding questions would include the below:
Is this influencer known as an expert in the category my brand is involved in?
Does the image of this influencer work well with my brand?
Are the followings of these influencers my target audience?
Have these influencers expressed an interest in my brand or are currently using my product?
Finding the right influencer is crucial because it helps broadcast the message you want to be putting across. An influencer that understands and fits well with your brand message will reinforce your brand’s image. On the other hand, an influencer that seems irrelevant to what your brand is promoting might result in an effective way of spreading across your message.
This is why brands tend to pick their influencers after going through several rounds of decision making. An example would be BMW’s #RoadToCoachella campaign. Influencers were tasked to use BMW cars as their transportation to the music festival and to share their experience with their followers.
In line with the luxurious image the brand has, BMW has chosen influencers that can reinforce their message. One of these influencers included model and entrepreneur Andres Hamann, who captured his road trip to Coachella through several sponsored Instagram photos (featuring BMW).
Effective influencer collaborations: tip #2. Two-way communication
After you have found the group of people you would like to work have, the next step would be to facilitate communication.
While it is easy to throw a to-do list for influencers to check it off, the best influencer collaborations do not work like this.
This is because of a few reasons.
Firstly, there can easily be miscommunication when details are discussed.
Secondly, influencers are the ones who know their audience the best. Therefore, moving ahead without their input might not be so effective for an influencer marketing campaign.
Lastly, a regulated/fix way to post and create content might not work well for influencers as each of them have varying creative direction. Therefore, a fixed way of doing things could result in your branded postings looking less authentic (more obvious that it is sponsored).
Thus, if you wish to avoid any of the above, it is time to introduce steps to facilitate communication between your influencers and your brand representatives. Gather the suggestions these influencers have and also establish what is your intended message and how you intend to put it forth.
Effective influencer collaborations: tip #3. Get creative with collaboration
Influencers are content creators. This means that they value creativity and they do have what it takes to create content that would attract the masses.
Therefore, do not be afraid to experiment with new ways to go about influencer marketing. Instead of you getting an influencer to merely talk about your brand online, more can be done both off and online.
For instance, influencers are often invited to participate in offline events held by brands. The goal here is to merge the virtual world with reality. This is because influencers are often documenting their daily lives.
Therefore, getting an influencer to grace your promotional event would be equivalent to getting their followers at the event. Since the masses are viewing the event through the lenses of the influencers you invited.
Other ways you can get creative with your influencer collaborations would be to involve your influencers in your brand’s social media account with takeovers.
Instagram takeover refers to a ‘collaboration between two Instagram users, usually a brand and an influencer.’ During the takeover, influencers would create and upload content on the brand’s account.
For instance, brands like Shopee have gotten local influencers to host Instagram lives on the official Shopee Instagram account. Other examples include TJMaxx, a departmental store that has gotten micro-influencers to do an Instagram takeover in the Christmas season of 2016.
Therefore to mix things up, try to be creative with your influencer collaborations.
Effective influencer collaborations: tip #4. Have your long term goal in mind
Last but not least, in the midst of everything it is important to keep thinking ahead. This means that long term goals should be established along with your short term goals.
For instance, your brand’s short term goal might be to introduce a new product with influencer marketing. However, it is important to not lose track of the bigger picture. In other words, longer-term goals such as the building of consumer loyalty.
Thinking ahead also means to make an effort in upkeeping the relationship you have built with the influencers you have worked with. Take the example of Sephora, the personal care and beauty retailer. Sephora has shifted from its one time off time collaborations with influencers to long term partnerships.
In a bid to maintain relationships, Sephora also sends PR packages to influencers. These packages often include new products for influencers to try out. Doing so not only helps maintain relationships but also serves as an opportunity for exposure if influencer talks about what they received online.
Conclusion
There are many articles about the benefits of working with influencers. But how exactly is the process like? We hope this article gave you new insight into the workings of an influencer marketing campaign!
Sources
Forbes.com,seven-tips-to-find-and-work-with-influencers-without-breaking-the-bank/#401e8970c3fe
Mediakix.com, best-influencer-marketing-examples-to-know/
Theshelf.com, four-epic-instagram-takeovers-and-why-they-worked
Mediakix.com, long-term-influencer-relationships-brands/
