“Turnkey. Seamless. Set-and-forget.”
If you’ve managed even a “small” influencer campaign, you know these phrases are the opposite of what 99% of creator collaborations entail.
Because influencer marketing campaigns involve so many steps and moving pieces compared to other promotions.
Everything from finding creators to fulfilling orders is a time-sink even with just a few influencers.
And so the idea of influencer marketing automation seems too good to be true.
The reality? Brands are already putting the tedious pieces of their campaigns on autopilot. This results in serious time saved and more content, too.
Below we look at real examples of influencer marketing automation to explain how to do the same.
Skip to Section 👇How Brands Scale Content with Influencer Marketing Automation |
Let’s be super clear: “Automation” does not mean giving up control!
Think of influencer automation like your email marketing or CRM workflows.
Chances are you don’t manually review every lead or click by hand, right?
Well, you can do the same with your influencer marketing campaigns.
You just have to be strategic about what you put on autopilot. The more you automate, the more time you can spend on tasks that deserve your full attention.
Trust us: there’s so much you can (and should!) automate. We've learned this firsthand as our influencer automation software saves brands 100+ hours per month on average.
Where can you save the most time, though? Below we’ve broken down four ways that brands can use influencer automation effectively.
Imagine planning a wedding that may never happen. That’s exactly how influencer recruitment feels when you’re trying to hire 100s of creators yourself.
Now imagine doing it again and again for each campaign you run.
Yeah. Yikes.
Listen: coordinating with creators is a long and tedious process. This is true even with most influencer platforms as you audit influencers and conduct manual outreach.
And that’s before you even worry about negotiating or ironing out contracts.
Automating all of the above should be a top priority for any brand that wants to get influencer content at scale. Still, most brands are understandably concerned about removing human oversight from the vetting process.
This is why it’s key to couple your influencer marketing platform with your trusted creators or a creator community that’s already been vetted.
For example, here’s how Statusphere’s influencer automation platform handles this process:
The goal of influencer management automation should be to not only save time but also encourage better content. The process above balances automation with a human touch so you can streamline influencer vetting and recruiting.
The process of sending products to influencers is never as simple as it seems.
Especially if you plan on fulfilling 100s of orders consistently.
Despite being such a hands-on aspect of influencer campaign management, the fulfillment process alone has so many pieces that can be automated. Doing so can reduce headaches that also eat up your schedule, including:
Due to so many potential issues and time lost, this explains why most brands that do a high volume of product seeding campaigns outsource this process to a third party.
Still, fulfillment is another piece of influencer marketing automation that should require human oversight and a degree of personalization. It’s not just about getting products in people’s hands: it’s also about making an impression.
For example, Statusphere automates the entire influencer fulfillment process through our platform and wholly-owned warehouse.
Our technology gets orders out within 48 hours while providing real-time shipping updates and notifications. We also strive to balance automation with personalization by sending products with beautiful packing and custom instructions.
This results in a creator-first experience that delights our recipients and makes brands look like a million bucks by proxy.
A successful collab requires data to show what’s working and what’s not.
Trying to analyze your influencer success metrics by hand is overwhelming as you bounce between multiple platforms and profiles.
When you pull the numbers together from spreadsheets, you’re also risking inaccurate numbers, untimely results and a disjointed big picture.
That’s why it’s so important to look at your influencer marketing reporting holistically and also focus on the metrics that matter most for your team.
Automated influencer reporting should be an expectation much like any other form of marketing analytics. Brands should have a pulse on how their campaigns are performing in terms of engagement rate, content earned and reach.
For example, Statusphere’s automation tools streamline the process of reporting and gathering content by having all of your brand’s content and data in one portal. Brands can track their priority metrics and time saved in real time.
This level of influencer tracking is impossible by hand. More importantly, you’ll uncover the opportunities to optimize as the campaign unfolds.
Anything you can do to make your creators’ lives easier is a plus.
Much like yourself, many influencers are juggling multiple tasks (think: jobs, brand collabs) and want to streamline their own processes. You don’t want to dig through emails and neither do they.
This again speaks to the value of an influencer platform that streamlines and automates communication. This results in better influencer relations and massive time saved.
For example, within Statusphere’s platform brands can do all of the following with hundreds of creators in a matter of clicks:
Smooth communication and no back-and-forth negotiations make for a stress-free experience for everyone. That means you and creators can focus on what you do best.
Given how time-consuming influencer campaign management can be, it's totally understandable as more and more campaign managers are looking to automate as much as they can.
Again, the key is to find a balance between human oversight and influencer marketing automation.
There are so many repetitive tasks that shouldn't demand your schedule. Most of these are related to communication and fulfillment. On the flip side, duties like building rapport with creators or coming up with five-star promotions should be where you spend your time.
If you want to win back your schedule and earn content at scale, our influencer platform can help.
Our micro-influencer marketing platform ensures guaranteed delivery of your products to vetted influencers at scale. Statusphere’s software automates everything from creator matchmaking and management to fulfillment, reporting and beyond.
Our software supports an always-on approach to influencer marketing campaigns and can ship products to 100s or 1000s of creators consistently.
Want to learn more about how our platform works? Get in touch with one of our experts to learn how our software can help you earn 100s of influencer posts in a fraction of the time.