Tips And Tricks Partnering With YouTube Influencers
With all the controversy on YouTube for the last few years as we know with Pewdiepie and Logan Paul, it is becoming more important in finding the right YouTube influencer to represent your brand. Hence, the following are tips and tricks in partnering with the right YouTube influencer to increase your ROI.
Let YouTubers be themselves
What makes YouTube more special compared to Television is that its content are made by normal people, for normal people. The YouTube platform enables personal relationship to be crafted between the YouTube content creators with their audiences. A lot of the audiences think of the YouTube content creator as their best friend, or even family member, such as a sister or brother, rather than seeing them as a celebrity. However, many of these YouTube stars have equivalent potential as a celebrity, due to their mass following base across their YouTube, Instagram, and other social medias.
Many companies are found guilty in comitting a big mistake in their YouTube partnership. When companies hire their YouTube influencer, they set down the rules for the content of the video. In addition, they provide a script for their influencers to go by. This is a huge mistake because what differentiates YouTube from other platform is its personality aspect. If you add in all these restrictions for your YouTube influencer, you are taking out the whole reason why people watch these videos.
You can suggest points for the influencer to cover. . .But let your influencer decide for themselves the style and the structure of the video.
Why is there so much hate around sponsored YouTube videos
If you watch YouTube, then you would know that many Youtubers will let you know if their videos are sponsored or not. There are a lot of hate and negativity around sponsorships. Bare in mind, a lot of viewers see their influencers as a best friend or a family member. When influencers upload a sponsored video, viewers may feel cheated. This can be explained due to the fact that they feel like the YouTuber is making money off of them.
Unethical and dishonest YouTubers further contributes to this plethora of hate. There are some YouTubers that accept sponsorships for the sake of profits, regardless of whether they actually like the brand or product.
One tip for you, try to avoid sponsoring influencers that already has a lot of sponsorships. If this influencer were doing a lot of sponsored videos already, viewers would think their video is all about the money. Consequently, reduce the trust between the creator and the viewer.
Give products for free
If you ask me, I think it is much more effective to give products away for free rather than sponsoring your YouTube influencers. That is, under one condition, such that you know your organization has an amazing product, that will get people to talk about it. This PR marketing strategy is very cost effective as long as the unit cost of your product is low. If the unit cost of the product is high, you better bet it is an amazing product for people to be raving about. However, it should be more cost effective relative to sponsorships, assuming your product unit cost is below $1,000. According to online sources, sponsorships range around $0.02 to $0.10+ per view.
Giving free products to YouTubers do not carry the same negative connotation as it does with sponsorships. Unlike sponsorships, where the perception is that people are being paid to say certain things about a product, giving away from free products gives the influencers the choice whether they want to speak or feature the product in their videos. Also, it does not have to carry a “sponsored” label, which can avert the viewers from the video.
Also another tip, if you do plan on giving away freebies to your influencers, it is best if your influencer feature the product in their video in a transparent matter. They should disclose that the product was sent to them for free, while there was no obligation to include it in their video.
Benefit from start-up YouTube influencers
A start-up YouTuber does not have much negotiation power due to its smaller number of views and following. In this phase, all they’re really trying to do is to show companies that they are capable of collaborating with another company and promoting their products. Since it is a start-up, many have small production budget. Start-up YouTubers are more likely to feature a free product that a company sent, in order to develop more content for their viewers.
Final words
Speaking for myself, when I see my favourite YouTuber rave about the benefits of particular product, the next week you’ll see me with that product. I also see that in friends as well. This is the kind of credibility, trust, and intimacy you can get from a source on YouTube. When deciding to invest in a YouTube influencer, do a cost benefit analysis between giving products away and sponsorship. Furthermore, ensure that the influencer truly embodies the brand of your product. I recommend you to use social blade (website) to measure the growth of the YouTuber considering the longevity of your brand strategy. Check out the blog post below that dives deeper into Social Blade.
I hope you find my content helpful and was able to apply it to your marketing strategy. Follow for more interesting future content. Also, if you want to learn more about me, the author behind this content, please check my website. Moreover, drop me an email on the contact page of my personal website for any topics you would like me to discuss on my next blog.
