Turn customers who are loyal to your brand into brand advocates.
The Sperry campaign, as mentioned above, is an excellent example of using existing audiences who are primed to sell your items. If your brand currently has a high level of social media interaction, you may not need to employ an influencer—your next brand ambassadors could be right in front of your eyes.
“If you take the time to get to know your loyal consumers, they can become your influencers for a fraction of the cost of major influencers.” — Keshia Solomons, social media manager and founder
Everyone has the ability to influence others.
Glossier is another brand that has fully embraced this influencer marketing method. The greatest recommendations, according to CEO Emily Weiss, come from “actual people” who aren’t compensated in any way. That’s why, rather of focusing on highly polished influencer accounts, the company prefers to repost material from average customers.
Glossier’s method appears to be working. The brand’s Instagram account had just over 300,000 followers a few years ago, but now it has 2.7 million. Thanks to social media, the company’s revenue increased by more than 99 percent in 2018, while the number of buyers increased by 86.7 percent.
Delegate creative control to influencers
It’s tempting to tell an influencer exactly what kind of material you want them to create once you’ve identified one to work with. However, specialists advise that you resist the urge:
“Giving influencers as much creative power as possible is critical since they know their audiences better than anybody else.” Allow them to work within a broad framework and develop material that they know will resonate with their audience.” – Robson, David
The benefit of influencer marketing is that you’re promoting your business through a trusted source, someone with whom your target audience already has a personal connection. As a result, you must have faith in their ability to communicate with that audience.
Subaru’s campaign with prominent YouTuber @devinsupertramp is an excellent example of how to offer influencers creative power. To date, the video he made has about 1.3 million views, and it features the Subaru brand in the context of his typical entertainment.
Use your imagination to stand out from the throng.
Creative thinking is always valuable, but it’s much more so in a crowded field like influencer marketing. While this method may have looked groundbreaking a few years ago, it is now widely accepted by audiences. They’ve become acclimated to it, though, and that’s the problem.
Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed even more businesses into social media marketing, intensifying the rivalry.
“A lot of influencers talk about the same things and have the same aesthetic. It’s rare these days to see people truly acting outside the box, and this is something I always expect of the influencers with whom we work.” Piera Valentina Toniolo, Piera Valentina Toniolo, Piera Valentina Toniolo, Piera
Stir up some controversy.
Multiópticas, a Spanish eyeglasses business, recently ran a wonderfully interesting campaign. It sought the help of influencer mums to generate interest in a new product line: cribs and highchairs with built-in screens to keep kids entertained. The followers of the influencers were taken aback, and a storm of criticism developed.
Multiópticas admitted it was a fraud a few days later. “Fortunately, our items don’t exist yet,” the fictitious company’s Instagram profile says. The goal of this campaign was to reinforce the company’s principles in an unexpected way, rather than to promote a product. Influencer marketing was the backbone of the entire enterprise.
Establish a win-win partnership based on common ideals.
When it comes to picking an influencer, it’s critical to identify someone who shares your brand’s values and identity. And this is true in both directions: financial incentive isn’t the only reason influencers will want to collaborate with you. Every influencer has carefully crafted their image, and they must maintain that image.
Influencers should be able to develop their bonds with their audiences, increase engagement, and attract followers through your marketing strategy, but it should also be pleasurable for them. You must provide a positive experience for them and demonstrate that you actually want to collaborate with them because you admire their work.
Stradivarius, a Spanish clothing brand, welcomed a group of influencers to the island of Capri in May 2018. They took advantage of the chance to launch #TheSummerExpedition, a seasonal campaign based on content made by influencers like Valentina Ferragni.
Clearly, this was a win-win situation for both the brand (which was able to reach Valentina’s 3.7 million followers) and Valentina, who was able to provide compelling material for her audience (not to mention an island getaway).
Make the most of each relationship with an influencer.
Don’t pass up any opportunities to cooperate with an influencer once you’ve developed a relationship with them. Rather than merely posting a photo to promote your product, have them make a video, write a story about it, or include it in an interactive poll.
Invite the influencer to an event (in person or online) and have them write content about it. You can even ask them to collaborate on future initiatives, turning them into a brand ambassador in the process.
Amazon Espaa, for example, has enlisted the help of influencer Laura Escanes as a brand ambassador. Her profile spans fashion, beauty, travel, and parenthood, resulting in a diverse audience with a wide range of interests—ideal for a corporation like Amazon.
Amazon requested Laura (along with several other influencers) to work on a live event for this year’s Black Friday campaign. She not only helped market it ahead of time, but she also made a live video to unwrap a present box supplied to her by the company. This provided far more opportunities for audience participation than a single branded post could.