With more companies than ever working with Social Influencers as part of their marketing strategy, how can you ensure that you get the best results for your brand?Here are our top five essentials for working with social influencers.
Don’t just look at audience size
When working with social influencers, rather than focusing on their audience size, a better indicator of how your content will perform can be gauged by looking at an influencer’s engagement levels.
Why? Whilst an influencer may have a large follower base, only a small amount of this audience may actually be viewing and interacting with this content. Instead, looking at the amount of views, comments and likes an influencer is generating can give a better indicator of how your content is likely to be received.
Studies have actually shown that influencers with small or mid-level followings tend to have better rates of engagement than those with larger followings. With this in mind, it may actually be more effective to work with a higher amount of micro / mid level influencers than a few influencers with large followings.
Is the influencer a good fit for your message?
Once you’ve established an influencer’s engagement levels, it’s important to see how cohesive your brand messaging is with the platform. In short, how relevant will your message be to the target audience? Some factors to consider include:
- Even if the influencer is your perfect target audience, their audience might not be. If your product is aimed at a certain gender, age range or location, make sure you have access to their demographics so you can assess whether they are the perfect platform for your brand.
- For the message to appear authentic and engaging to the audience, try to work with influencers who have already mentioned products / services relevant to your brand in the past.
- Look at their previous sponsored content, as well as how this has been received from the audience.
Collaborate on the concept
Influencers understand the ideas that will work well with their audience, so it makes sense to collaborate on the concept for the best results.
Create your terms
To avoid any headache later down the line, make sure your terms and expectations are carefully laid out and agreed in advance. Some areas to consider are:
- Listing your content deliverables within a timeline, to ensure that the content will go live in line with your wider strategy.
- Avoid any nasty surprises by ensuring that you are able to review content in advance of being published.
- A list of do’s and don’ts - for example, whether swearing is allowed or the exact wording when referring to the product / service.
- Establish a campaign period - for example, how long you will have rights to the video, or minimum amount of time the content will be on the platform before it can be deleted.
- The ASA is the UK’s independent regulator of advertising across all media, including bloggers. Whilst this is the responsibility of the influencer, to avoid any penalisation (which could result in your sponsored content being taken down) it’s worth ensuring they understand and implement the guidelines necessary.
If you found this blog post helpful, you might enjoy our post on The Rise of the Micro-Influencer and why they are important for your brand.
