In today’s market you need a dynamic and flexible strategy for marketing. It is essential to come up with a way to ensure that customers who visit your site are truly interested in your company and its products.
The influencer marketing industry is the route towards achieving that. The industry is expected to grow to a value of $13.8 billion by 2021’s end and if you’ve not tried it before, now’s the right time. In this article, we’ll go over four different kinds of brand collaborations that you can try with social media influencers.
Gifted products
This approach involves offering influencers your products for no cost. When you allow an influencer to try your product, you will have your brand featured through social media channels without any financial compensation.
The danger is that the influencer may not endorse your product or worse, post negative reviews. To prevent this from happening, establish a connection with the influencer beforehand. Be sure that they are aware of the brand’s goal. Inquire about which version of the product that they’d prefer to receive most, and then follow-up with them to ensure that they get it in time.
Another option is to set up an agreement with the influencer with respect to the quantity and kind of content. Like this, in exchange for your products, the influencer will create the content you require.
Micro and nano influencers (under 50K followers) typically agree to these partnerships. However, if you are working with influencers of the medium to the upper tiers (50k+ followers) expect to pay real money in addition to the gifted products.
Sponsor their content
If you’d like a more formal and overt relationship, you could consider the possibility of sponsoring content from an influencer. This type of collaboration is more direct regarding the reality that the company is paying the influencer in a manner to promote the brand.
Sponsorship may result in your brand being mentioned within their articles, or the usage of “paid partnerships” function on Instagram. Or TikTok creators or YouTubers may begin the video by stating that it’s sponsored by your company.
The compensation here is contingent upon the extent of sponsorship. Be aware that every kind of content has an individual cost. For instance, an Instagram story will typically be more expensive than a photo since stories disappear within 24 hours. Also, a 20-second TikTok video will cost less than a 20-minute YouTube clip.
TikTok creator Charli D’Amelio often posts videos featuring the products of Morphe Brushes.
Takeovers
It’s daunting to give over the reins of your account to someone not part of your team. However, influencer takeovers are an excellent way to draw new traffic to your site.
Takeovers are when influencers publish directly from your company’s account, and put their own twist on it. You could gain followers from different niches as well as create unique and authentic content that is different from what your company usually posts.
In order to set up the takeover, be sure you follow these steps:
- Set a time-limit for the takeover and make sure that the influencer knows when they are able to share their posts.
- Review any brand’s principles and values to ensure the influencer’s work is brand safe.
- Make sure you have a contract, or another type of written arrangement in the event there is a problem later on.
If you’re planning to host an online takeover, but you do not want to divulge your social media credentials, you can also request influencers get your approval on their content prior to publishing it.
Just be sure to not micromanage them during takeovers; giving the influencers freedom to express their ideas (while remaining brand-safe) will result in the most authentic content.
A takeover of the plant brand Bloomscape.
Brand ambassadorship
Having brand ambassadors can result in amazing outcomes. In this kind of collaboration, it’s crucial to select someone with whom you’ve had an excellent first contact.
Perhaps they worked on one-off campaigns that produced excellent results. Maybe they did another one of the collaborations on this list and they were easy to work with. If you want to turn an influencer into an ambassador for your brand, the bottom line is that you must trust them.
Brand ambassadors create a lasting connection with your company and their followers, since they see posts featuring you on a frequent basis.
These collaborations will require contracts with longer durations. Additionally, you must be more attentive to metrics and collecting results, so you can analyze these as the relationship progresses.
Sierra Schultzzie is a long-term brand ambassador for Fabletics.
Conclusion
Trying one or more of these collaborations can enhance your business’s online marketing. However, it is important to keep these three things in mind:
- Make sure you research influencers and their communities to ensure they are aligned with your brand’s mission and principles.
- The contract, the guidelines and expectations must be clarified from the beginning in order to avoid confusion later.
- Monitor your metrics and progress to determine which kind of collaborations, and which influencers best fit your brand.
With all this in mind, you’ll have an excellent foundation to build on as you enter the expanding and thriving industry of collaborations with influencers.