Hannah Monds is Managing Director of EMEA at Tagger by Sprout Social, a global technology leader in influencer marketing.
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With the influencer marketing industry expected to grow to more than $21 billion this year, it’s clear that it has secured a foothold in marketing. But while it’s proven its worth, businesses and influencers alike are still navigating some of the ins and outs of industry specifics, especially when it comes to upholding a brand.
Unlike working with ad and creative agencies, working with influencers involves more of a partnership than a contractor relationship. Brands don’t maintain complete control of the creative—at least they shouldn’t—as part of the allure of influencer marketing is bringing in an outside perspective or style. This can be a little daunting for larger companies and, frankly, outside of their comfort zones.
To ease your fears and maintain brand stewardship, you must understand your brand’s role in setting influencers up for success. You are responsible for setting clear campaign expectations, goals and guidelines. Laying sufficient groundwork and providing the tools an influencer needs to do their job not only helps ensure high-quality content, but it also sets the stage for a successful long-term relationship. Here are seven things you can do to set an influencer up for success after you select them for a partnership.
1. Provide Brand Standards
Any time your brand works with outside parties, you likely provide brand standards. Influencers shouldn’t be an exception. While influencers deal more in hashtags than logo placement, brand standards relay the heart of your brand, not just its look. Knowing a brand’s key messaging, mission and values helps inform the influencer’s content and provides insights into how their brand resonates well with yours.
Keep things simple by creating an influencer-specific branding deck or one-sheeter that covers everything they need to know, including talking points, brand messaging and hashtags.
2. Understand The Influencer’s Brand
In return, you should also try to understand the influencer’s brand. Research is an important part of the influencer selection, but consider going beyond the typical audience demographics and performance data. Provide examples of posts that caught your eye and explain why—was it the format, their expertise, their energy? Articulating specific reasons for selection can go a long way toward building a long-term partnership.
3. Develop A Content Brief
Separate from the brand standards, provide influencers with a detailed content brief about deliverables. Here is where you tell them what you’re looking for and what they can provide. Include any inspiration from their previous posts, competitors or other creators, along with specific details about what resonates—format, graphics, music, etc. The brief should also include any examples of content you do not want to see—for instance, if there are competitors you want to distance your brand from, if your brand doesn’t participate in viral trends, etc.
Another essential part of the content brief is explaining the campaign’s purpose. What is the overall goal of the campaign? What role does this content play in achieving it? What is the influencer trying to get the audience to do? While influencers don’t usually need a detailed campaign overview, they at least need to know their role in it and what you want them to do if you’re going to experience their best work.
4. Include Industry Specifics
Don’t forget to include any industry-specific issues they must be aware of, such as healthcare regulations. You don’t have to provide all the legal speak and contract language; a list of basic rules will do. Not only are these important for your influencers to know, but they can also affect their confidence in their ability to deliver the content. For example, an influencer known for posting satire might not feel comfortable posting healthcare content due to strict regulations around what can and can’t be said.
5. Provide Direction Vs. Instruction
Unlike traditional marketing channels, where brands control all the assets, influencer marketing is a collaborative tactic similar to business partnerships. In fact, the whole point of hiring an influencer is that you want them to apply their take on your brand. This means giving up some creative control. The audience can spot manufactured, hypercurated content a mile away, and authenticity is king in the world of influencing.
Striking this balance between creativity and brand stewardship is a huge obstacle in the industry. Still, you can make this balance easier by providing influencers with more direction and less instruction. Directions are more general, with room for interpretation, while instructions are very detailed. A direction-based approach can give influencers the creative freedom they need to create great content while allowing you to set some guardrails around your brand’s image.
6. Move Communications To A Dedicated Channel
Communication is a vital part of any relationship, but things can get a little spread out on multiple channels in the digital space. It’s common to approach influencers through direct messages on a social platform or through their provided contact information. Once you’ve established contact, move all communications to a dedicated channel, such as email, and communicate this to the influencer. The benefit of consolidated communication is that everything is in one place; this includes important documents like contracts and requests. Spreading things out between texts, direct messages and multiple email accounts can lead to miscommunication and contract disputes later.
7. Make Time To Meet
We’ve all experienced meetings that could have been emails, but when it comes to influencers, setting aside some dedicated time to meet and talk can go a long way. Every influencer relationship will be different, and every brand an influencer works with will be a bit different, too. Talking through expectations at the start of a partnership can save you a lot of time further down the line, and it ensures that everyone is on the same page regarding the deadlines, deliverables and the contract.
Successful influencer marketing relies on clear communication and collaboration. This includes efforts to maintain your brand. An influencer cannot meet or exceed expectations if those expectations aren’t clear in the first place. Make sure you do your part to provide the necessary information and guidance while leaving space for creativity and discussion.
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