The Top Do's and Don'ts for Influencer Marketing Campaigns

With influencer marketing blowing up as much as it has been in the past few years, tons of brands and marketers are new to the space and therefore haven’t gone through the trials and tribulations of knowing what to do, or not to do, in an influencer program.  To help you navigate the ever-evolving world of influencer marketing, here are the top Do's and Don'ts for successful influencer marketing campaigns. 

Don't forget to check out the content examples through the link at the end of the post to get a visualization of the type of content that resonates and connects with audiences.

Don’t Forget These Key Recommendations and Strategies for Partnering with Influencers

Partnering with influencers goes way beyond just sending someone some product and a few key talking points to post on their channel.  There are so many different strategies and recommendations for brands to create value and optimize their influencer content.

Some key things to keep in mind:

1. Repurpose influencer videos onto product pages & brand-owned channels.
   • Influencer content is incredible for scaling overall content production.  Here's a Forbes article with more on including influencer content into the overall marketing mix.
     
     
2. The more content you make, the better.
   • Working with multiple influencers instead of just one or two ambassadors gives your video content a much higher chance of going viral.  Especially on volatile platforms like TikTok.
     
     
3. Make sure you give the influencers room for their creative process.
   • Including key talking points is important, but what's more important is how well the content connects with the audience and establishing authenticity.

When first jumping in, a common mindset for marketers is that they need to have an extremely hands-on approach to the content generated by the influencers that they hire. It’s natural to want to ensure that the photo or video is created in the way that you’re envisioning and you’re not wrong for thinking that. In the end, you’re paying for the content and if you want your message conveyed in a certain way, then it should be. 

However, there is a fine line between the above, and being overbearing to the point where you’re losing that natural value that comes with hiring an influencer. The influencer knows how to best reach their audience, and sometimes that may differ from the exact type of photo or video that you had in mind. The trick is to let the influencer control the creative direction in a way that conveys the message you want to send, in the way that they know best works for their following. 

Controlling the creative process too much prevents influencers from: 

• Sending your message to their audience in a way that they know will generate a positive response. 
• Quickly producing the asset, causing a delay in content production for what can often be an overall negative impact to the asset itself. 
• Wanting to come on as a brand ambassador for future content. 

Don’t Forget to Be Up Front About Your Campaign Goals and Expectations

Tailing off the previous point, influencers want to convey your message in the best way that works for them. A huge part of their ability to do that comes from knowing exactly what your message is, and what you’re trying to achieve. 

Established influencers are incredibly in-tune with what resonates with their audience, proven by the fact that they built their audience in the first place. 

There are a few things that you want to make sure you’re upfront about in every influencer campaign: 

• ROI expectations 
• Type of promotion (product placement, promotion in front/middle/end of a video, etc.) 
• Timing needs 

A partnership based off of communication will only result in great things and is much appreciated on the influencer’s side. Not only will you have a better experience as a marketer, but the influencers will be more inclined to come on as a brand ambassador should you decide to go that route. 

Don’t Focus on Vanity Metrics Where You Can Optimize Performance Marketing Metrics Instead

This is another extremely common rollover for brands and marketers that are newer to influencer marketing. You may have been utilizing display media, native advertising, PPC programs, or anything else where the goals and buying methods are specifically laid out. 

Influencer marketing is a bit different. A low CPM isn’t the end-all-be-all. It is absolutely possible to achieve amazing CPMs and CPEs from influencers, but keep in mind that you’re losing the value of what makes influencer marketing so amazing if that’s your sole ROI consideration. 

The ability to track sales per influencer and per post is an unmatched performance indicator that allows brands to track and optimize based on what most people are after... online sales. Brands don’t have to worry about connecting traffic per month to sales per month and do some back-end math to see what marketing efforts are working. With tools like gen video’s Traail, you can see what type of content, and what type of influencers are actually selling. 

Top 10 Do's for brands to remember for influencer programs

Successful influencer marketing is a dynamic process, requiring adaptability, creativity, and a deep understanding of your audience and brand. Here's our pick for the top 10 best practices you'll need to be well-equipped to launch impactful influencer campaigns that drive brand growth and connect authentically with your customers.

1. Define Clear Objectives: Start with a well-defined set of goals for your influencer campaign, whether it's brand awareness, lead generation, or sales.

2. Know Your Audience: Understand your target audience's preferences, behaviors, and the influencers they follow.

3. Prioritize Authenticity: Authenticity breeds success in digital content marketing.  Encourage influencers to create genuine content that resonates with their audience.

4. Create Detailed Briefs: While creative freedom is important, so is direction.  Provide influencers with a comprehensive campaign brief outlining objectives, expectations, and content guidelines.

5. Embrace Long-Term Partnerships: Nurture ongoing relationships with influencers for sustained brand advocacy.  Longer relationships with influencers develops brand recognition and will help streamline your programs overall.

6. Invest in Content Rights: Secure the rights to repurpose influencer-generated content for other marketing channels.  Agencies like gen.video take care of this step for you to make sure your contracts set you up for success.

7. A/B Test Multiple Areas: Experiment with different influencer strategies to identify what works best for your brand.  This can be testing different platforms, asset types, influencer verticals, paid strategies, and more to find the perfect cocktail that works for your brand.

8. Diversify Platforms: Regardless if you're A/B testing with a current push, utilizing multiple social media platforms in general is recommended for diversification of brand presence.

9. Engage Your Community: Encourage influencers to engage with your audience, responding to comments and questions.  You can (and should) do this as well through your brand channels.

10. Feedback and Adaptation: Continuously gather feedback from influencers and your audience, adapting your strategies for improvement.

--------------