How to Transform Your Influencer List Into a Loyal Creator Community

Building an influencer community doesn't mean getting posts from a list of influencers.

If you're tasked with scaling creator collabs, databases might seem like your only option.

Many influencer management platforms promote databases of "millions of creators." The reality, though? Collabs from unvetted creators are a time-sink for brands and creators alike.

Oh, and they're also a recipe for inconsistent campaigns.

Contrast this with a vetted influencer community you turn to with confidence. Over time, your loyal list of creators and ambassadors can…

• Promote product launches with quick turnaround times
• Learn the benefits of your products the more they post
• Seamlessly convey your brand voice
• Create repeat touchpoints with your target audience long-term

Source creators on-again, off-again from an influencer database, you’re starting from behind when it comes to community-building and scaling collabs with your best creators.

In this post, we’ll break down ways to build a much-needed sense of loyalty to turn your influencer list into an actual creator community.

1. Learn More About Your Creators to Improve Your Collabs

The more you know about your creators, the better.

The best time to learn is during onboarding. Empower creators to provide the right when you approve creators or upload them into your influencer management platform. 

For example, let’s say you’re a beverage brand. Based on a creator’s information you might send them an influencer seeding kit that includes their preferred sugar-free flavors of soda based on their dietary restrictions. 

On the flip side, blasting products at random is a surefire way to make creators feel like little more than numbers on a spreadsheet.

• Conduct a thorough influencer onboarding survey. Include questions about their favorite content formats, preferred brands and which platforms they primarily post on.
  
  
• Gather information about personal interests. For example, you can get context on their hobbies, daily routines and family life. This helps tailor your pitches to feel more personal.

• Accept feedback from influencers. Regular feedback helps you understand what they like and don’t like. This shows that you care and likewise makes the partnership feel more personal by default.

Simply put, learn your influencers’ preferences and what they want. Make it a priority! 

The more information you gather, the more personalized your collabs can get. For example, Statusphere’s platform allows brands to segment and target vetted creators based on 250+ first-party data points. This helps ensure relevant collaborations for both parties.

2. Get Personal With Your Influencer Community (Just Because!)

Anything you can do to personalize the creator experience is a plus.

Consider that your creators are likely partnering with multiple brands. Small personal touches can immediately make you stand out from the crowd and improve influencer relations, too. This creates a sense of trust and community that also results in great content.

Here are a handful of influencer engagement strategies that can help:

• Product gifting for creators’ birthdays. Send a thoughtful (and personalized) gift on your influencers’ birthdays. Simple as! This can be a freebie, exclusive or bundle.
  
  
• Let them choose which products to promote. For example, you might give them a selection of multiple variants of a product to promote instead of a single item.  This gives them a sense of control and respect for their preferences

• Holiday influencer gifting. Similar to birthday gifting, you can send personalized holiday gifts that reflect your creators’ interests or preferences.
  
  
• Personalized gifting notes: Include handwritten notes in your PR packages, acknowledging their work and expressing appreciation for their collaboration.

Again, take extra steps to make your partnership feel personal whenever possible.

Going above and beyond for creators doesn’t have to take over your schedule if you automate influencer marketing tasks like setting up creator rewards, gifting and seeding for product launches.

3. Give Your Influencer Community More Upside

Whether directly or indirectly, you are ultimately competing with other brands' offers and collabs with creators in your industry.

Providing upside to your creators should be a top priority. In turn, they’ll prioritize you and your collaborations because you’re offering a higher value exchange. Consider the following ideas to provide value to your influencer community:

• Timely compensation. No surprises here! This applies to both payments, gift cards and gifted products as part of your collabs.
  
  
• Quick shipping. Not having to wait for products means they can get posts back to you faster and put your collabs first. This is also a great way to leave a positive impression.
  
  
• Referral bonuses for influencers. Offer bonuses for referring other high-quality creators. This not only expands your network but also rewards your current creators.
  
  
• Early access for product launches. Provide your creators with access to new products to promote before they’re in stores. This makes them feel valued and also gives them exclusive content to share with their audience.
  
  
• Performance-based bonuses: Consider rolling out a system where creators earn bonuses based on the performance of their content. This incentivizes them to produce high-quality work and engage more with your brand.
  
  
• Ad payments. For example, you can run TikTok Spark Ads featuring creators where they are compensated for featuring their content. This boosts their reach and offers them additional income beyond your initial collab (see below).

The key takeaway here is that if you want creators to invest in your content, you likewise need to invest in your creators!

4. Offer Consistent Influencer Collabs to Retain Your Creators

This might sound cliche but a big way to build influencer loyalty is through consistency. 

Because consistent collaborations make creators' lives easier and keep you top-of-mind.

If you can deliver monthly collabs whereas other brands can’t, that’s a huge point in your favor. Ongoing opportunities mean you can likewise benefit from the reach and engagement of an always-on influencer marketing strategy. 

Ideally, you can provide consistent collaboration opportunities with creators through your influencer management platform. Tools such as Statusphere make it easy to repeat collabs with your best creators again and again. For example, our platform offers instant creator re-engagement with no outreach, negotiation or fulfillment required on your part.

5.  Make an Effort to Boost Your Influencer Content

This might seem like a simple tip but it’s worth repeating!

Especially for the potential payoff given how little time it takes.

In short, regularly engage with creators after they’ve posted their content. Further promotion is a nice added bonus for them and likewise is another way you can provide them with upside.

Some low-hanging opportunities to boost influencer content include:

• Social comments, shares and shoutouts. If you have permission, share their posts on your brand’s social media channels. This boosts their visibility and shows that you appreciate their efforts.
  
  
• Engage with their content. Like and comment on creators’ posts to help them earn more reach. A simple compliment or emoji can go a surprisingly long way.
  
  
• Weave creators into your promotions. Doing this depends on whether you have content usage rights. From Spark Ads to organic posts (think: sharing a creator promoting a product launch via Instagram Stories), you have plenty of options regardless of your goals.

How to Go From an Influencer List to a True Creator Community

We know firsthand how daunting building an influencer community can be. Especially if you're starting from scratch or need to scale beyond a handful of creators.

That said, one of the best ways to start is simply treating your creators like VIPs. That means seamless, always-on collaborations that result in ongoing content for your brand.

Of course, getting there on your own is a tall order if you’re already stretched thin.

But that’s exactly where Statusphere’s influencer marketing platform can save the day.

Our platform serves as an all-in-one influencer management tool for brands to build and manage their communities at scale without all the manual legwork. We eliminate time-consuming communication and automate the process of getting products into vetted creators’ hands ASAP.

Want to see how our platform works? Get in touch with one of our experts to see how Statusphere can help your brand build authentic connections with influencers at scale.