It can be enough to simply say you like to see your brand on their site but it is far more beneficial when that post promoting your company is part of an overall marketing strategy.
Influencers and word of mouth marketing is perhaps the most powerful and cost effective way to promote a business today. Unfortunately, unlike other channels such as display advertising or billboards where you can 100% control the message and the way it is transmitted, influencer marketing is powerful simply by nature of the fact that it appears real and organic to the consumer. Let’s take a look at some ways that you can protect your client when working on an influencer marketing campaign.
There are plenty of horror stories about influencers gone wild and causing harm to the brand directly and indirectly but most influencers are generally good people who want to help promote products that they like while living a life that exposes themselves to cool new places, products, and situations. The biggest challenge is harnessing this activity and focusing it so that your brand can get the promotional support which you will need to keep up with the trends of the digital marketing world.
Have Clear Goals and Objectives
This might be obvious for any marketing campaign but you need to know what your goals and objectives are. Are you trying to sell products or simply create brand awareness? Likewise you need to know what defines success in the campaign.
Once you know these items and have internal support you can share those objectives with any potential influencers so that they can help shape the campaign and allow your brand to benefit in the effective ways by working with their audiences.
Do Rigorous Research
Not all influencers are alike and that’s true for more than just personalities and areas they cover. Furthermore, raw numbers isn’t always the story either. Instead, look at their content, pick the right people who can help drive your campaign to a successful conclusion. For instance, while you might be familiar with selecting mom bloggers for a campaign because they are seen as the primary shoppers, male lifestyle bloggers, even those with smaller numbers might be far more effective if promoting lawn and garden, automotive, or off-road gear.
Make sure to look at both their tone and style as well as where their strengths are before confirming them to a campaign.
Ask the Right Questions
Once you’ve identified the person as a potential candidate for your influencer campaign, make sure to ask them some questions such as how they would communicate your product or service to their audience, what ideas they have for shaping the message, as well as if they have worked with similar clients in the past. You may also want to ask if they are working with similar brands right now.
The answers to these questions will ultimately help the decision to work with them or not. For instance, a blogger or influencer who has never worked to promote sneakers might not be the right candidate for you if you are trying to sell a hot new brand of athletic shoes.
By talking with the potential candidate you can ultimately identify if they have the right style for the campaign and make the decision if they are correct for the brand.
Draft a Contract So All Parties Understand the Rules
When you are ready to begin working with the influencer it is essential to then sign and execute a campaign that outlines all objectives and guidelines. This should include legal terms for resolving a dispute as well as a content brief that includes details on your expectations in terms of disclosure and how the brand should be referred to in the campaign as well as other specific guidelines on how and what content is required to be delivered.
Follow-up and Make Sure Content Does Not Change
Once posted, it is important you follow-up and check to ensure that the posted content has not changed during the period of time outlined in the contract. For instance, if you paid for a blog post to stay a certain way for a term of 60 days you should get that value. Likewise, if you paid for an Instagram post to promote your client it should stay visible for the term outlined in the contract as well.
These tips should help create a mutually beneficial relationship with the influencers that you ultimately select for your campaign. It is a two-way-street though. If the influencer just simply does what they think is correct they might not be able to deliver what you are looking for. Others who are trying to exploit a situation won’t be able to provide the value that you are desiring if you don’t likewise tell them … or even know for your own self what the goals are.
It can be enough to simply say you like to see your brand on their site but it is far more beneficial when that post promoting your company is part of an overall marketing strategy.
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