How To Navigate The Influencer Relationship

February 14th, 2017 | Sean Goodall, Account Manager, The T1 Agency

Reaching a target audience through a well-known personality is not a new tactic for marketers, but where influencer marketing may seem familiar, the tactical application of it is what differs significantly and can ultimately lead to the success or the demise of a campaign.

EMarketer reported that 48% of brands plan to increase their influencer marketing spend in 2017; therefore knowing how to properly navigate these relationships is essential to the authentic integration of your brand within their content.

The most difficult hurdle to overcome is allowing the influencer to speak to their audience, their way. Allowing these content experts to create is the best way to ensure your brand shines through their complex content calendar. In fact, many influencers now refer to themselves as “creators” due to the individualized craft that goes into publishing material that appeals to their target demographic. Passing the reigns of your brand is certainly not the most comfortable of actions, so here are some tips to ease the concern:

Identify The “Must-Haves”

Don’t over-demand. Instead, identify concise, must-have points of communication in your influencer briefing. It’s easier for them to deliver genuine brand integration if they understand exactly what you’re trying to achieve and feel as though they can help you do it without sacrificing the integrity of their content.

Establish Review Policies

While feedback should be specific to how your brand is portrayed and not of the creative direction, always establish review timelines and policies before entering into an agreement. This allows for collaboration and constructive feedback before the piece goes live.

Choose The Right Partner

Properly vetting influencers, before engaging them, is essential to the proper portrayal of your brand. A vetting checklist should include their interests, follower demographic and reach potential.

Compensation has increasingly become a sticking point i during the negotiation of influencer contracts. With packages ranging from pure product donations to multi-thousand dollar payment deals, how the influencer is paid will directly affect the end product. While influencers more often than not request financial compensation, what is often under-valued is the impact a brand can have on helping the influencer speak with their audience. Leveraging these non-monetary offerings can help decrease overall investment, while simultaneously strengthening the partnership:

Give Them A Setting

Influencers are constantly looking for unique and exclusive content settings and experiences. Help them find it. This is equally as beneficial for the marketer, as you’re able to customize the space or experience to better reflect your brand’s values and story – without forcing the narrative.

Make Them Feel Special

Offering up a product or service ahead of the scheduled launch can help enhance the influencer’s image. Tying in perfectly with their innovative and forward-thinking persona, it can also drive pre-launch anticipation.

Make it a Partnership

As in many partnership deals, there’s power and efficiency in longevity. Entering long-term deals shows the influencer you’re serious about the relationship and promotes a more tailored integration of your brand within their content.

Influencer marketing is here to stay and with the average brand receiving $6.85 in earned media value for every $1 spent on influencer marketing, there’s a lot to gain. As the landscape continues to evolve, the relationship a brand has with an influencer will become increasingly important in order to break through the clutter. Recent amendments to Advertising Standards Canada’s Canadian Code of Advertising Standards introduced the requirement to fully disclose all paid endorsements, meaning a strong partnership is needed in order to avoid inauthentic brand pull through.

Plan ahead, help add value to their work and work with them collaboratively, as a partner.

Sean Goodall is an Account Manager at the T1 Agency who specializes in fostering strong influencer relationships for clients.