DON'T: Only look for macro influencers for your marketing campaign or collaboration.
Big influencers and celebrity's seem to be the perfect people to promote your service or product because of their big reach. A lot of brands only look at the amount of followers an influencer has and don't pay attention to the engagement at all. The engagement of influencers with a lot of followers (macro influencers) is relatively low and they are a lot more expensive. For many brands it can be hard to get benefits out of working with these macro influencers. Sometimes working with macro influencers can be really productive but in many cases it is really hard to get in contact with them, they are expensive and it is harder to get a big ROI out of your marketing campaign or collaboration.
DO: Consider working with micro influencers that fit your brand.
A popular alternative for working with macro influencers is working with micro influencers. Micro influencers may have less followers but often have a higher engagement which can lead to more effective collaborations and better results. An important strategy when you want to work with a micro influencers is to make sure the audience of the influencer matches with your target audience as a brand. Micro influencers are often cheaper which means other money can be spend on other marketing strategy's and they are more involved with the marketing campaign or collaboration.
DON'T: Only pay attention to numbers.
The number of followers and engagement of the influencers isn't the only thing that is important. Finding an influencer with high quality content will be a bigger factor to the succes of your marketing campaign. Before you collaborate with an influencer you need to make sure their content is authentic. Ways to find this out are to look for other collaborations and if they show more of their own content than paid collaborations.
DO: Look at the style and personality of the influencer.
Ways to find out what style an influencers has is to look at the audience and earlier collaborations with other brands. When the influencer you want to work with already has done a collaboration with one of your components, it is a better idea not to collaborate with them. The promotion feels less credible witch probably will be resulted in the succes of the collaboration.
DON'T: Only work together for brand awareness.
With the rising prices in the influencer marketing it is important that influencers promote your brand on a specific way. A lot of brands only collaborate with influencers to increase their brand awareness. This can be very helpful but it also can be very hard to track down what the succes of the collaboration is. When you're not aware of the fact that your collaboration with an influencer isn't effective at all, this can cost you a lot of money and a low ROI.
DO: Keep an eye on the results of the collaboration.
When you're working with an influencer it is important to track down and keep record of the results of the marketing campaign or collaboration. Before starting a campaign the expectations of the influencers and what goals you have as a brand need to be communicated very well to make sure the campaign will be the most effective. Ways to analyse the succes of a marketing campaign are to use promo codes or to look at the number of likes and comments on the sponsored post.
Contact:
DON'T: Let the contact with an influencer fade away after your collaboration ends.
When the campaign with an influencer comes to an end it is easy to say thank to the influencers and move on as a brand. But this can cost you future collaborations. It may seem very obvious but it is important to treat the influencer like a real partner and not just as a once only promotor. When the communication between the influencer and the brand stays good, collaborations in the future are more easy to arrange and are more likely to be trusted.
DO: Start a partnership with the right influencer.
When the collaboration or marketing campaign with an influencer was successful, it often is a good idea to start a partnership with this influencer. A partnership can make your content more trustworthy. The influencer probably wants to collaborate on more campaigns witch means the audience and the influencer can create a better relationship.
DON'T: Be extremely specific on the style of the post or campaign.
When it comes to influencer marketing it is important to give the influencers the opportunity to be creative in the way they promote your brand. Although it is important to give them some guidelines about the number of posts and style ideas, influencers will create much more creative and credible content if you give them some freedom.
DO: Give the influencers the opportunity to be creative when they're promoting your brand.
As a brand it can be hard to give an influencer the freedom to create content about your brand but it is important. Without any creativity, the post will probably not fit the style of the influencer witch makes the content less reliable.
DON'T: Expect that influencers will collaborate without any compensation.
Influencers used to collaborate with brands for a promo code or a free product in the influencer marketing. Nowadays influencers are expected to spend much more time and effort in their social media platforms and often receive a financial compensation.
DO: Offer the right compensation and negotiate.
Although compensations nowadays are almost obligated, you should feel free to negotiate for a suitable price as a compensation for a post. Most influencers are willing to negotiate with brand they connect with. That’s why finding an influencers that fits your brand and audience is an important factor in the influencer marketing.
DON'T: Post very common content:
It can be really tempting to scroll through your Instagram feed and look at other paid posts and collaborations for inspiration. When you’re using this information only as inspiration it won’t hurt anybody but when you’re copying other brand this will be noticed. The audience will automatically feel less attracted to the post. Brands who use templates for their post won’t help themselves.
DO: Let influencers help you with the proces of creating authentic content.
When you have found an influencer that fits your brand, make content that promotes your brand but also the ‘personal brand’ of the influencer. By combining the interests of both sides the content will be more credible and the audience will feel more involved.
DON'T: Let influencers rush when it comes to creating content.
In the influencer marketing changing views to clients also takes time. Letting influencers rush when it comes to creating content and letting them follow strict post schedules will not only effect the relationship between you as a brand and the influencer, the quality of the content will deteriorate which makes the content less effective.
DO: Take the time to show the influencer your vision and passion about your product.
Patience is a really important factor in the marketing. Influencer marketing is a strategy that seems to work but it is essential to understand that one post isn’t enough. Finding the right influencer that is capable of collaborating with your brand for an amount of time and is passionate about your brand is really important if you want to succeed in the influencer marketing.
