Advertisers know that online influencers are a great way to reach consumers in more meaningful and authentic ways. Over the last few years, this trend has continued to evolve and scale. Marketers know that consumers want more authentic messaging, and as consumers believe less in advertising, they block ads and turn to their social networks for recommendations instead. Here are some top tips to effectively work with influencers.
- Verification. Picking a bad influencer can be very harmful to your brand. Double-check every part of their activities to check they’re legit. Have they promoted your competitor’s products? Is their audience real or bought? How do they act on their different social channels? Check out an influencer that you’re thinking of working with thoroughly first. You don’t want to end up with the wrong one.
- Don’t let creative drive. One of the big reasons that people choose influencers is because they know how to reach and communicate with their audiences successfully. If you believe that their audience is your consumer too, then you need to let the influencer do the talking. Many influencer campaigns fail because the creative agency or brand tried to micromanage the influencer too much. Trust that the influencer knows how to reach their own audience. If you push too hard, you’ll get content that doesn’t feel authentic and won’t be successful. Brands are increasing their influencer marketing budget so trust that it works.
- Mix your personalities. Influencer marketing doesn’t have the scale and potential reach of TV. Brands sometimes invest their whole budget into one, high-reach, celebrity influencer, who is actually off target. In order to make a real difference and get your reach in an authentic way, you need to be able to scale up your campaign by mixing different levels and personalities of high-reach creators and rising stars in the influencer field.
- Create processes and define objectives. To scale your campaigns in an efficient way, and processes and systems in place across the whole relationship, from selected the influencer and negotiating, to publishing and paying for the content. It’s important to let your influencers lead their own creations, but put clear guidelines in place regarding the messaging you need to make sure the content aligns with your brand. Define your objectives and share them with the influencer. Be clear and direct about what you’re hoping to achieve from the relationship. If you want the influencer to focus on a particular niche, or to encourage their audience to review your products after they try them or take part in a contest, then you need to tell them. You’ll get much better results when your influencers know and understand what your goals are.
- Engage with their fans. When your influencers make their posts, make sure you keep an eye on the comments and questions left by their followers. Influencer content often generates excellent consumer questions, but the brand often forgets to respond and answer them. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to create important, real connections with the audience of the creator you’re working with.