5 Ways Not To Derail Your Next Influencer Marketing Campaign
Influencer Marketing campaigns are tricky. At times, it can be inundating balancing brands and influencers. I’ve worked on hundreds of campaigns both large and small, ranging in scale from 2 to 100 influencers. With those experiences, here are five tips that I’ve learned to help both new and experienced campaign managers navigate the waters of Influencer Marketing.
Learn To Work With Influencers
First things first, know thy influencer. The key to succeeding at influencer marketing is knowing how to work with influencers. It’s important to remember that you’re not hiring a machine or a software. We’re working human to human here. Influencers are people. While they are contracted to work on a campaign, they still have other responsibilities and obligations too. Sometimes a campaign manager can function as a liaison for influencers, as at some point some will run into a situation that keeps them from delivering their activations on time. Keep this in mind when working with them, both the client and the influencer will come to appreciate you for it. At the end of the campaign, a happy influencer is just as important as a happy client. Many successful campaigns we have run have actually converted the influencer into becoming true consumers and believers of that campaigns’ featured product.
Understand the Client’s Goals
No lie — KPI is everything. Be sure to completely understand what a client’s KPIs are. Achieve those KPIs to the best of your ability. Obviously, there are specific things like a guaranteed number of clickthroughs that no one can promise in an influencer campaign. So it’s good when you have clients that are aware of this and understand the various metrics of success. For instance, say a client’s goals are to get a certain number of clickthroughs from a particular social channel. Sometimes this is a little difficult because audiences on different social channels digest digital content in different ways. Perhaps the consumer sees a tweet and doesn’t interact with it but keeps it in the back of their mind for later. That’s not a metric that campaign managers can keep track of but it’s still something that’s valuable to the brand in the long term. It also emphasizes the importance in matching the right type of influencer with the right social channel to achieve the client’s goals. This might take a little practice and experience but knowing things like the fact that Instagram is well suited for the fashion/travel industries, Twitter is good for quick buzz, and Pinterest is good for generating clicks is an invaluable skill.
Know Realistic Prices
Keep your eye on influencer cost within the industry. Know how much a dollar will get you when partnering with influencers. Know the difference between working with micro-influencers versus top tier. Know the cost difference between influencers in verticals such as fashion, food and parenting. You have to come in as the product and influencer marketing expert. Oftentimes, we suggest things to clients to try to get them the most bang for their buck. Sometimes this means suggesting an influencer or type of campaign that the brand might never have considered before. Some clients have their expectations a little more set in stone than others. That’s also perfectly fine. If they want to go with their gut on something or don’t feel comfortable trying out a new influencer or a new sort of activation, don’t push them.
Know How To Build Relationships with Clients & Influencers
Learn it, think it, believe it — customer service is the end all be all of building relationships. Marketing dollars are expensive. No one wants to spend them on subpar service. Be as transparent as possible. Keep the channels of communication open between you, the client, and the influencer. Be certain that the client is onboard with everything that you’re doing. They’re the one who makes the final decisions so put everything on the table. Always be upfront with intentions, opinions, etc. Good campaigns offer clients a variety of options they themselves can choose from while we offer guidance and best practices from our experience and industry knowledge. Ensure that campaigns are compliant with FTC and social platform policies. Take a second to educate your clients about these policies and how important it is to abide by these guidelines. Teach them the rules of the game. At the end of the day, the best way to service the client is to provide the information to make them feel empowered to make the best choice regarding their campaigns and their brands.
Understand How To Use Team Specialities To Your Advantage
Word to the wise — work smarter, not harder. Figure out the best way for your campaign management team to run as efficiently as possible. Here at Bloglovin’, everyone on our team has specialities. We divvy things up across verticals: food, shopper, etc. This allows our campaign managers to become specialists within their verticals. As a result, in a way, every manager is an expert among experts. That expertise combined with our solid, broad-reaching platform and strong influencer relationships makes us incredibly adept at handling campaigns and special situations.
— Sugee Kim, Account Manager at Activate by Bloglovin’
Many thanks to Samone Wheeler for her contributions to this article.
Want to learn more about Bloglovin’ or Activate? Just drop us a note at advertising@bloglovin.com.
