It’s hardly surprising that this form of marketing is gathering momentum. Using the right content creators helps to boost your brand’s visibility, drive engagement and impact purchasing decisions for millions, if not billions, of users globally.
With 60% of influencer marketers admitting they struggle to find the right creators[2], here are five strategies to help you find the best fit for your brand.
When partnering with creators, you want to pinpoint the right people that align with your brand and its values. The mistake is to go with someone based on follower count alone. Instead, zoning in on their audience demographics, engagement rates, and location determines if a specific influencer fits your brand. For example, nano-influencers (those with under 5,000 followers) have the highest engagement rates at 5%, [3]which decreases as you move up to celebrity-level creators.
You want to use creators your target audience follows and ensure your products reflect that audience's needs. There’s no point in advertising an anti-ageing cream with a content creator whose demographic is purely teens and young adults. But the perfect people for your brand are more likely to influence their followers to purchase.
If you can identify and integrate these influencers into your campaigns, you’ll see a boost in brand awareness and a positive impact on your bottom line.
Let’s be frank – the UK is a sceptical country. We don’t trust very easily. The online community is hyper-aware of when they’re being sold to, as opposed to organic, honest product recommendations. As such, the value of content creators is that 61% of people trust influencers’ recommendations compared to 38% who trust branded social media content. [4]
However, this trust is easily broken.Choosing a creator with hundreds of sponsored posts on their feed may alienate your audience. Instead, focus on the creators who are more selective about whom they partner with and still see high engagement rates when they upload paid ads.
Use creators to build trust and loyalty to your brand. Let them review your products with loose parameters so their honesty shines, and it will reflect well on your brand.
You’ve found the perfect creator that hits your audience and aligns with your brand. So make a long-term commitment to them. A one-off campaign may work well, but create a series of content together over a few months (even a year), and it guarantees your content will feel authentic.
The risk of a one-time post or campaign is that it may disappear and get forgotten in the sea of other content your audience follows. But a long-term partnership offers more opportunities to be seen. Your products may appear in other content your influencer creates, building that brand trust and awareness.
Focusing on building relationships with creators will foster their natural affinity for your brand,which will seep out to their audiences too. A long-term collaboration allows for more time for organic brand visibility and credibility.
Influencers age out of their followers as their lifestyles adapt and evolve. Not only that, but the market evolves, and so do the creators as they change their content to reflect the trends that captivate consumers online.
You need to keep your finger on the pulse of which creators are striking the right content to match your brand in a never-changing platform. If you’re a food brand, you want to collaborate with creators who post about recipes, food hacks and inspiration. If they suddenly start changing to more dining table décor reels, you’ll likely see engagement fall and sales dip.
Instead of only focusing on what a creator can bring to your brand, attract the best influencers by having mutual benefits that appeal to both parties. Offering influencers value for their collaboration, such as exclusive access to new products, will attract the best talent.
80% of UK influencers state that creative control is their number one priority when working with brands.[5]Allowing your partners the freedom to create as they wish within the constraints of your campaign will keep them on the side, improving the credibility of the content they post for you.
Creator Kat Stickler said, “When I sense that there is restricted creative freedom, I immediately pull back because I don’t want to do just an ad. I want to do something that is funny,relatable, and promotes the company in my own voice.”[6]
With the ROI of influencer marketing 11x greater than some types of digital marketing,[7]using creators in your marketing plans is a must. Implementing these strategies to optimise how you integrate influencers into your campaigns will allow you to connect organically with your customers, building credibility and awareness and influencing purchase decisions.
[1] Statisa
[2] Insider Intelligence
[3] Hype Auditor
[4] Business Wire
[5] Smart Insights
[6] Traackr
[7] Mediakix
