Influencer marketing is everywhere these days and, while there’s no question it’s a powerful form of advertising, which has grown exponentially with the rise of social media, it’s not a golden ticket to selling more stuff!
After all, like all marketing, there’s some key elements you need to have in place for a campaign to be successful.
From clear aims and solid strategy, to good targeting, plus strong analytics and monitoring, there’s a lot more to getting an influencer marketing campaign right than first meets the eye.
And, having been on the other side of the PR wheel in my role as a professional blogger, I know exactly what a good influencer campaign looks like in real terms… and what doesn’t!
So here’s my list of the 5 key things to get in place for a watertight and super-successful influencer marketing campaign…
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#1 Checking Demographics
It might sound obvious, but you wouldn’t believe how much this gets overlooked!
Yes checking the demographics of your selected influencer is absolutely crucial in assuring campaign success.
Firstly, does the influencer themselves fit your target market? And will your desired audience be able to relate to them?
Secondly, does their audience / readership / following also align with your target market?
Things to look out for here include age, gender and location, as well as their style and form of content.
On Instagram or TikTok, the key way to check these stats is to investigate an influencer’s following, finding out more about their audience and ensuring they match your target market in these crucial areas.
Don’t be afraid to ask for screenshots as part of this process!
For blog writers, you can use free software to analysis their readership, with number of pageviews, numbers of users, website DA and time on page also being important.
We offer this demographic checking service to all our PR clients; making sure we select influencers that will drive the right eyes to your brand and ensuring a far greater chance of increased sales as a result.
We also allow all our clients to vet suggested influencers to ensure they feel comfortable with our choices and to double check the influencer’s presence and account style fit their brand values and messaging.
#2 Reading Account Metrics Correctly
But it doesn’t just stop with making sure an influencer’s audience aligns with your own.
It’s also important to ensure their accounts stats are good.
Yes newsflash, it’s not all about follower numbers!
This is actually the biggest misnomer in influencer marketing.
Brands think because an influencer has a large following that they’ll automatically work for a campaign, but this just isn’t true.
Metrics such as reach, engagement and watch time are also absolutely crucial in selecting the right influencer’s that deliver results.
We firmly believe that follower numbers are far less important compared to these other data points and, very often, find smaller influencers can provide not only better results, but also better value for money too!
Balancing your investment in a campaign with the results you’re likely to see, is another critical factor we build into any PR campaigns we undertake; knowing that keeping budgets in check is key to getting the most from any influencer marketing efforts.
#3 Clearly Defining Deliverables
And the 3rd key factor to consider when working with influencers to promote your brand, is deliverables.
So often we see influencer marketing campaigns running even when the client has no real idea of what will be delivered in return!
Or worse, they have hopes or expectations about what will be delivered, but haven’t actually agreed this clearly in writing.
Crucial for ensuring you get the return you expect across a campaign, locking in the influencer’s deliverables (i.e. the work due in exchange for a free stay / service / product and / or financial compensation) is a fundamental part of successful influencer marketing.
And when we say “lock in” here, we mean, get specific!
If you’re looking for social media coverage, then laying out the types of content you require, as well as the number of content pieces and which platforms they will appear on, is a must.
With blog writers, number of articles, word counts and image stipulation are very important to lay out in detail too.
And don’t forget about deliverables dates as well!
By this we mean, what is the deadline for the deliverables being published and how will these be recorded and monitored?
After all, the work of any influencer marketing campaign is not limited to the logistics and set up.
Ensuring requisite deliverables are established, met, recorded and analysed is also critical!
In our influencer marketing campaigns, we take care all of this whole process for you; ensuring that, from start to finish, each individual process is planned and accounted for.
We’re passionate about establishing clear strategies and strong deliverables packages that deliver results.
And we lay these out in very clear terms too, so that all parties know what to expect and when to expect it by.
#4 Properly Managing Tags and Links
Considering properly managed tags and links in your influencer marketing campaign is connected to deliverables, but is even more specific.
And that’s because ensuring that any influencer deliverables correctly link or tag your brand is paramount in ensuring campaigns deliver on both their awareness and sales targets.
On social media, ensuring any deliverables tag your business correctly is key for referring potential clients / customers and, here at Puffin HQ, we ensure this always occurs by entering these specific details into all agreements.
Where blogs are considered, we discuss with clients the type of links they want back to their websites or booking pages, as well as the frequency and placement of these.
On more sophisticated influencer marketing campaigns, with also work with UTM tracking links, so that results from any article outputs can be monitored, recorded as well as analysed, and any resulting data relayed to the client in easy to understand formats.
And finally, we also make sure any deliverables are strictly inline with relevant advertising standards regulations, so that sponsorship declarations are both correctly made and upheld.
This is critical in ensuring professional and regulatory compliance – another key thing to consider in your influencer marketing endeavours.
#5 Ensuring Watertight Logistics
And last but not least, ensuring the logistics of your influencer marketing campaign are watertight is fundamental in ensuring all parties have a wonderful experience!
So often, clients don’t realise the background work that goes into building these sorts of campaigns, but trust us when we say they’re always heavy on the logistics!
From travel details to timelines, product postage to staff briefings, budgets outlines to contingency plans, monitoring all aspects of a campaign to regulatory compliance – there’s really is a lot of work that goes into organising a successful influencer marketing campaign.
And that’s without having the foresight to know where and when gaps, delays or errors might appear, and ensuring things run smoothly with a plan B when they do.
And when things run smoothly, influencers get the best experience (meaning they’ll showcase your products in the best light) and clients have a stress-free time (meaning they can showcase their products in the best light too!)
From choosing influencers to communications with all parties, transport bookings to product selections, defining deliverables to crafting strategy and reporting outcomes, we ensure every step of your influencer marketing campaign is thought through, monitored and mediated.
This means you can get on with doing what you do best, running a fantastic business and showcasing that to influencers!
And there you have it, our 5 key things to consider when working with influencers to promote your brand.
Involving a lot more than first meets the eye, we hope these tips will prove helpful in ensuring any influencer marketing campaigns you might run deliver the results you want for your business.
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