The rise of social media has had a major impact on marketing and promotion. Previously, people looked to politicians, actors, athletes or musicians as people of influence, making them the obvious choices for brand or product endorsements. Today, anyone with a large enough social media following and a specific voice is looked to for guidance. With the right amount of social media savvy, anyone can grow their following and become an “influencer”, and that audience is the whole appeal of this tactic. The fact that these influencers are (more or less) ordinary people and NOT celebrities gives their endorsements a (seemingly) authentic and relatable edge (despite the fact that they are in fact paid for their promotion). This provides a successful way to increase awareness, drive engagement with the hope of converting them to customers or followers. The numbers don’t lie, ~49% of consumers have reported looking to influencer recommendations before purchasing a product and ~87% have taken action upon seeing influencer content on Instagram alone, according to Formation Media. But before you blindly hop on the influencer bandwagon for your brand, there are some factors to consider:
Not all influencers will be well-suited to every partnership. For an influencer to be effective, they need to have a relevant niche and followers who are interested in that niche, looking to the influencer as an expert in that field. For example, choosing an influencer in the tech space to promote a fashion brand likely won’t get you the results you’re looking for. The partnership won’t feel natural or authentic, and their following will not match the audience you’re trying to reach. It’s important to do your homework and ensure that an influencer’s beliefs and values are aligned with that of your brand before considering a partnership. Even the most popular chef with the biggest social media following won’t do well to promote your vegan meal kits if their speciality is BBQ.
Before you commit to an influencer, take a look at their followers. Do they seem like real people, or could they be purchased as follower bots? Easy ways to tell include a) do their usernames seem randomly generated, b) do they have a realistic-looking number of followers c) do they have people tagged in or comments on their posts? There are also tools for monitoring this, we recommend speaking to your agency about what is available to help you grade influencer followership and engagement.
A large following means nothing if it’s not made up of real people. Similarly, a large following does not always lead to high engagement rates. Fake followers and spammy comments on your posts can actually be detrimental to your brand and make you appear less than reputable. When searching for potential influencers, make sure that their following is real and provides genuine and authentic engagement on their content.
The success of the influencer marketing movement can be summarized in two words: authenticity and relatability. This is the important distinction between influencers and celebrities - while celebrities are rich and famous and may have access to products and services beyond the financial reach of the average consumer, influencers are (for the most part, or at least started out as) average, every-day people. By this virtue, they are seen as more relatable to their audiences, and are therefore more trusted with their opinions when endorsing products for everyday use to the average consumer. In the consumer’s eyes, they come across authentically.
Having a specific niche (for example fashion, beauty, fitness, tech, food) also makes them a valuable asset and by leveraging such followings can replace some of the work of targeting specific audiences via paid channels. Influencers definitely affect the purchasing considerations of their followers.
While influencer marketing can be an effective tactic, there are potential downsides of which you should be aware. With the increase in paid influencer campaigns, the lines become blurred as to whether or not the opinions of the influencers are honest. If you go to an influencer’s page and it is mainly paid partnership content, it may call into question whether they are endorsing these products because they genuinely like them, or just because they are being paid to do so. At a certain point, their credibility may become questionable.
Now that you have a better sense of what influencers can do for your brand, here are some of our suggested best-practices to help you get the most out of your influencer partnerships:
Just like any other project, the best way to start is by establishing what you want to achieve.
Do you want to increase brand awareness?
Do you want to drive conversions?
Do you want to increase engagement with your brand?
Whatever the goal(s) of the project, it needs to be clearly defined with a predetermined, measurable way to evaluate success. This means establishing which metrics you will use to measure the impact of the partnership. For example, if your main objective is to generate leads, you’ll need to track website traffic and messages coming from the influencer content rather than engagement metrics such as likes, comments and shares.
An important thing to remember when partnering with influencers is to treat them like you would any other business you are partnering with, including drawing up a contract to hold all parties accountable to the agreed upon terms. We’re not lawyers, so this in no way should be taken as legal advice, but we recommend including details like timelines, deliverables, number of revisions, payment schedules (including penalties for missed deadlines), among other important items.
With authenticity being the cornerstone of influencers’ success, it’s important not to micromanage or give them too much direction. Putting words in their mouths that they wouldn’t naturally use may come off sounding fake and alienate their audience. Provide them with a structured brief and trust that they know their niche and their audience best and let them create the type of content that drew you to them in the first place.
As with any type of project with multiple people involved, it is imperative to keep an open, ongoing dialogue between all parties. Ensure everyone is on the same page in terms of preferred methods of communication (whether it be phone calls, texts, Slack messaging, email, or something else) so that no important messages get missed, and establish clear points of contact when working with larger teams. The smoother you can make your communications, and continue to hold them accountable to your agreement, the better the end result will be for it.
While it’s clear how impactful influencer partnerships can be, it is intended to be one part of a larger marketing program. It should not be a standalone tactic. As with anything else in the digital space, it’s important to keep in mind that influencer marketing is an ever-changing beast, meaning that best practices will evolve over time.
Sources:
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/influencer-marketing/
https://formationmedia.co.uk/blog/how-to-work-with-influencers-dos-and-donts/
