Time for a crash course in influencer collaboration! Here are the biggest dos and don'ts brands should be aware of when collaborating with influencers.
Want to reach customers where they hang out the most? Influencer collaborations can help!
Food for thought: the average consumer is glued to social media for 2+ hours per day.
People aren't just scrolling through Instagram and TikTok for entertainment, either. They're discovering and engaging with brands in a big way.
And so social media is the perfect place to show off your products and share your latest promotions.
But as 88% of consumers trust people over brands, you need to consider who's doing the sharing.
That's why influencer collaborations are so powerful. Below we break down best practices and examples of brands collaborating with influencers.
So many brands want to work with influencers but don't know what to expect.
The good news? We've worked with thousands of influencers and hundreds of brands ourselves! We know firsthand what makes (and breaks!) a successful collab.
To kick things off, let's start with must-dos to ensure that your campaigns run smoothly.
First thing's first: communication between brands and influencers has to be crystal clear.
When 100% of your interactions are through email or DMs, details often get lost in translation. Brands need to make every message and sentence count. For starters:
Below is an example of an influencer collaboration message that's short, sweet and to the point.
If you haven't already, grab our collaboration message templates for Instagram and TikTok!
Chances are you aren't the only brand collaborating with any given influencer.
That's why it's so important to be explicit about campaign expectations. This includes:
Ideally, your campaign timeline should give your creators a few weeks of flexibility. Doing so accounts for potential shipping delays. This gives your influencers extra time to brainstorm their posts, too.
Brands collaborating with influencers shouldn't have to settle on subpar content.
Given the wealth of influencer talent out there, you have the right to be picky. Not every creator brings the same content quality (or audience!) to the table. When reviewing and vetting influencers, pay close attention to:
For starters, you need to find influencers that reflect your brand's voice and values. Their audience should reflect your audience. When an influencer is legitimately stoked about a product, they're more likely to create awesome content. In turn, their audience is more likely to check you out. It's a win-win.
Our advice? Look for relevant influencers with a few thousand followers. These creators' audiences are "small" enough that they can still engage with followers one-on-one. Likewise, these creators are often more authentic than bigger, celebrity-sized influencers.
Finding influencers that are a good fit for your brand can be challenging and time-consuming.
And once you find someone that clicks with you and your brand, you'll want to hang onto them!
Doing so makes it easier for them to create stellar content on your behalf in the future. The more influencers you have that know and love you, the easier it is to scale your creator campaigns. Maintaining those positive relationships means:
And hey, that last line actually leads us to our next point!
Remember that influencers are creatives.
So let them be creative! You want your influencer's content to be as authentic as possible, right?
Consider how influencers build their own engaged audiences from scratch. They know what their audience wants to see. In turn, they know what your audience wants to see. Empower them to deliver it!
Translation? You need to trust your influencers and give them creative freedom. That freedom results in unique posts, settings and applications of your product that you may have never thought of yourself.
Source: @athleticgreens
Of course, you still need to provide influencers with guidelines and expectations. For example, it's totally fair game to ask for close-ups or specific terms or benefits highlighted in their post captions. Just don't be too restrictive. Here's an example of an influencer brief that finds a good balance:
Like we said, influencer collaborations should be as painless as possible for creators. Brands can make life easier for creators by finding a balance between specific instructions and creative freedom.
Given the legwork involved in an influencer campaign, having defined business goals is a must-do.
Consider the many reasons brands collaborate with influencers, including:
Source: @drinkolipop
These goals might overlap and that's totally cool! One of the biggest benefits of influencer collaboration is that you can target multiple marketing goals at once.
Just like we've seen so many influencer collabs done right, we also know where they can go wrong!
Below are the most common mistakes and pitfalls that brands make (and how to avoid them).
Influencers get pitched all the time. Some brands mistake this as a reason to be as loud as possible.
Spamming is a surefire way to kill your collaboration opportunities. Some quick tips based on why influencers don't answer your emails:
This all seems like a no-brainer, right? Well, you'd be surprised!
Creating content is a full-time job. This is true even for influencers without millions of followers.
Think about the time, energy and effort it takes to put together a piece of content:
Phew! It's no surprise that influencers will expect some form of compensation (or free product).
Tip: Make sure to factor gifted products or creator compensation into your influencer marketing budget. Providing an incentive to influencers is something that many brands unfortunately overlook.
Fact: followers are not an accurate reflection of an influencer's value.
In our experience and based on industry data, less is often more when it comes to follower count. Consider that micro-influencers have the highest engagement rates on both Instagram and TikTok. Also, note that personal accounts on both platforms have way more reach than brand accounts.
That's because smaller influencers have engaged audiences that feel connected to them. Plus, the creativity and authenticity of smaller influencers are invaluable to brands. For example, check out the engagement on this post from Alpyn Beauty from a creator with <2,000 followers.
Source: @alpynbeauty
Although Instagram is still the go-to app for influencer marketing, it's not the only show in town!
For example, the power of TikTok creators is well-documented for both organic content and ads. There's a reason why brands leverage both platforms.
Source: @iliabeauty / @officialiliabeauty
Also, consider repurposing and promoting your influencer content throughout your marketing funnel. Some examples of this include:
There's so much value to squeeze out of your influencer marketing campaigns. Don't waste it!
Piggybacking on the point above, it's crucial that you obtain the proper rights to creator content before you promote it elsewhere.
This is something you'll need to outline in your influencer contracts. When in doubt, ask permission!
We recommend familiarizing yourself with the legal requirements of influencer content ownership. Asking for permission after the fact could incur additional costs and rights fees.
As a side note, this speaks to one of the benefits of working with Statusphere. We actually obtain the rights for your influencer campaign content for you. No chasing for permission required!
With more and more brands collaborating with influencers, you're probably eager to do the same.
Good! We understand that navigating the dos and don'ts of influencer marketing is a lot to take in.
And the idea of juggling all the above yourself is probably pretty daunting, right?
That's where Statusphere can help.
Having worked with countless brands and influencers ourselves, we know the legwork required to manage influencer collaborations at scale. Our full-service platform handles everything from influencer matchmaking and shipping to tracking the results of your campaigns.
Want to understand how the process works? Get in touch with one of our consumer-to-consumer marketing specialists today to see how we can get creators posting about your brand ASAP.
This article was first published in August 2021. It was last updated May 10, 2022.
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