Tag: Baby Boomers

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Seven Influencer Marketing Campaign Types to Know About

When it comes to influencer campaigns, there are several types that you need to know about. Most people do a combination of these in order to help get the word out about their products and services. Mix and match as needed to develop a fun and effective influencer marketing campaign that works for your needs and the influencer’s needs.

 

The following are seven popular influencer marketing campaign types to learn:

 

  • Sponsored Content – With sponsored content, you simply pay the influencer to create a post, a video, or both that works to promote your product or service. The influencer will reveal to your audience up front that it’s a sponsored post. Depending on the rest of the deal, you can get a sponsored post starting at about 50 bucks and on up.

 

  • Reviews – One way to have an influencer recommend your product is by asking them to do an honest assessment of it. At the same time, they will provide an honest review. You usually pay a set fee for the review and offer a percentage of sales for their unique link.

 

  • Giveaways – You can also give the influencer a free product to give away to their audience as a way to boost your own sales. Usually, they’ll provide a review plus do the giveaway and have a link to those who want to buy.

 

  • Guest Blogs or Collaborations – Working with several influencers or doing a guest blog on an influencer’s website or channel, if you’re also a vlogger or blogger, is also a great way to use an influencer’s audience versa.

 

  • Platform Takeovers – Some people give the influencer the ability to take over their own platform to get the word out.

 

  • Product Seeding – Having an influencer simply wear your t-shirt, use your product, or otherwise show themselves using it without talking about it is product seeding. Again, you’re most familiar with this happening in tv shows.

The Keys to A Successful Influencer Marketing Budget

  • Ambassadors and Affiliates – Working with influencers as ambassadors and affiliates is a great way to work with them, too, because you won’t have to pay them until they make a sale with this method.

 

There are a variety of types of influencer marketing campaigns. The above are some ideas to try for helping you get the word out about your products and services.

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Five Tips for Working with Micro-Influencers

When you start seriously thinking about working with influencers, your thoughts probably go to a huge influencer that you really love. You may imagine them using your product, and the experience goes viral, and you make a million bucks. This can happen but not without a good plan and a lot of money.

 

Top reasons to work with micro or nano influencers:

 

  • They are more affordable
  • They have a higher return on investment
  • Their audience is more loyal and targeted
  • They are more genuine and authentic

 

The following are five tips for working with micro-influencers to gain a higher return on investment:

 

Be Niche Specific

 

Because nano and micro-influencers have a specific target audience, you want to be sure their niche matches yours. In other words, their target audience must match yours for it to be successful.  

 

Always Allow Creative Freedom

 

Be sure to avoid micromanaging. Just because they are a smaller influencer does not mean they are not professional. Guide them with the proper product and business information and expectations, but always allow for creative freedom. They have the targeted audience and loyal following for a reason, their content. If you take over, it will quickly come off as ingenuine to their audience.

 

Research and Watch Their Engagement

 

Micro-influencers have more time to engage with their audience by responding to comments and offering a closer friendship-like experience for their audience and followers. Due to this feeling that the audience is close to the influencer, they are often more likely to take the influencer’s recommendations on what to buy.

 

Consider More Than One

 

When working with small influencers, one way to compensate for the smaller audience numbers is to work with more than one at a time for a rolling campaign. For example, choose five influencers with small audiences of 10 to 50 K each and have each influencer start their campaign on a slightly different date to get the ball rolling.

 

Compensate Fairly

 

Just because they have a smaller following, subscriber base, or audience does not mean they deserve to be well compensated. Avoid product-only compensation models if you can. Giving them more for sales and just for trying can really help encourage them to do more.

 

Working with micro-influencers may actually be more beneficial for you if you have a smaller budget. Plus, studies show that micro-influencers have more responsive audiences than huge influencers anyway.

The Do’s and Don’ts to Influencer Marketing

 

 

 

 

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The Keys to A Successful Influencer Marketing Budget

One of the first steps to running a successful influencer marketing campaign is to set up the right budget. However, a large budget does not translate to instant results or a high return on investment either. For influencer marketing to work, you don’t need an outrageous budget to get started. Instead, you need the right budget that includes specific key information depending on your goals; this will and should vary.

 

Here are the keys to creating a successful influencer marketing budget:

 

Understand Your End Goal

 

This is by far the most important step to your entire influencer marketing campaign. Without clearly defining your goals, you can’t know what materials you need or who you can hire for the project—leaving many costs unaccounted for.


Pick Your Influencer Campaign Strategy

 

Each influencer level comes with a different set of fees and expectations. Typically, the fewer followers you have as an influencer, the lower the rate.

 

The following are common set rates for each level of influencers for a single post on Instagram:

 

  • Nano – Influencers with 1,000 to 10,000 followers charge a rate of $10 to $100.
  • Micro – With 10,000 to 100,000 followers, they charge around $100 to $500.
  • Macro – They have 500,000 to 1 million followers and charge $5,000 to $10,000.
  • Mega – Over 1 million followers cost $10,000 and up.

 

These are just estimated ranges that many companies have reported. The numbers can still vary outside of these ranges due to their metrics compared to your specific campaign goals, what type of content they create, and the platforms they use. In addition, follower numbers do not automatically transfer into a positive return on investment. This means these numbers should just be used as a baseline or starting point.

 

Pick your Pricing Model

 

While many influencers will charge a set price, that doesn’t mean there are no other ways to do it. Here are some common pricing models to pick from:

 

  • Cost Per Engagement
  • Cost Per Acquisition
  • Cost Per Click
  • Cost Per Mentions
  • Set Compensation Package

 

It’s important to note that even if influencers charge a set price, you can use these payment models to determine if the return on investment is worth it. For example, if the influencer is charging 500 dollars for one post and your goal is to get at least 1,000 engagements, then the following formula can be used:

 

$500/1000 = 0.5 * 100 = 50%

 

For this example, your return on investment would be 50%. As long as the influencer can show supporting metrics or other information that the post will get that much engagement, this would be a great partnership and more than worth your money.

 

Determine Other Campaign Costs

 

Influencer compensation is not the only cost needed to run a campaign. Remember to highlight products used, travel expenses, tools, software, third-party services, and any other supporting material costs required.

 

As outlined above, your budget is determined and set by your campaign goal. Keep it specific and clear to easily determine the right costs and run a more successful campaign.

Define Your Influencer Marketing Goals

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Six Tips to Communicating and Collaborating with Influencers

Nearly 63% of top brand marketers have reported working with ten or more influencers at one time. Further making proper communication and collaboration paramount to your success. Every business should already understand the value of appropriate communication and take steps to learn how to do so for each goal and department of their organization, especially when it comes to marketing and communicating to your target audience.

 

Here are six tips to establishing proper communication with any influencer:

 

Keep Communication Type Consistent

 

If your influencer works mostly through e-mail, keep all the conversations there. However, if you work with several influencers, try to find one platform to keep everything organized. For example, you don’t want to talk to one influencer through Instagram directly while talking to another on Facebook directly.

 

Eventually, it will get too unorganized as you continue to add influencers to your team. Imagine if you had ten influencers on your team, each using a different channel or software to communicate. Over time this can get confusing and disorganized, easily providing an opportunity for missed information. Not a sustainable relationship for anyone.

 

Provide a Clear Plan or Roadmap

 

Tell the influencer exactly what you need and how their content can benefit your company. Highlight your goals and the metrics you are hoping to gain from the partnership. Be as clear as possible, ask questions and always follow up to ensure they know what the plan is or provide the influencer an opportunity to ask questions or offer suggestions.

 

Keep Communication Open

 

Allow space for your influencer to provide their opinion and be open to new ideas. The one thing that makes influencer marketing so great is its unique content. They also understand their audience and how they will react to certain information better than you would. They want to see success just as much as you. If they don’t produce the results needed, they will be without a contract or revenue.

 

Form an Authentic Relationship

 

Just because it is business does not mean you can’t form genuine and strong relationships with influencers—the more authentic the connection, the better the content. If you truly care about each other, you won’t have any problems working together and getting the results you both need. So start engaging with their content and following all their social media pages. Like and comment on their posts and treat them just like any other friend or customer. Not only will the influencer appreciate it, but their audience will too.

 

Schedule Content Creation Time Together

Important Questions to Ask Before You Work with An Influencer

Brainstorm new ideas or content to use for the campaign together. Be open to creativity and innovation. The influencer is here to create content, so be sure they are involved during this process.

 

While you need certain information to be shared with their audience, this doesn’t mean it has to be a sales pitch or read from a script. The influencer knows how their audience digests information so let them do the bulk of the content creation. Just be sure to provide them any supporting materials and information they need. You need to guide them and educate them on your products and services, not micromanage them.

 

Create Personalized Incentives or Gifts

 

Send products or create unique promotion codes personalized to each influencer. The more you treat your influencer as an individual with their own feelings and thought processes, the better the relationship altogether. Don’t treat them like a corporation and dehumanize them.

 

Overall, taking the necessary steps to communicate with your influencer properly is vital to your campaign and collaboration success. Use these important tips the next time you reach out to an influencer.

 

 

 

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How to Create an Influencer Contract or Agreement

Developing your influencer contracts isn’t as hard as most people make it. The truth is that it’s always a good idea to get a lawyer to help you create your contracts but signing a document that you create is also acceptable in a court of law.

 

The following are the basic requirements for any social media influencer contract:

 

  • Parties To the Agreement – Include the legal names of the people subject to the contract terms, including their business name and entity type and address and contact information.

 

  • Terms Of the Agreement – One way to put all the terms you’ve agreed to in the contract is to just list out by number each person’s responsibilities in order of importance.

 

  • Timeline Of the Campaign – Dates and the timeline are imperative inclusions into any contract if you want it to be enforceable.

How to Search and Vet Potential Influencers

  • Content Creation Expectations – Be very specific about what you’re expecting the influencer to create for your payment.

 

  • Compensation Amounts – Describe not only how much but what signals the payment to take place and how it’ll be done. For example, you might want to pay them half up front, half after the campaign, or some other schedule.

 

  • Advertiser Policies – Always include any policies that you want to have, such as not including bad language, grammar, and punctuation, as Facebook’s Advertising policy states.

 

  • Confidentiality Agreements – If you have one, put it in the contract and be very specific.

 

  • Non-Disclosure or Exclusivity Agreements – If there is something you don’t want to be disclosed, such as the private marketing stats you provided to them, make sure it’s in the contract. Likewise, if you don’t want the influencer recommending your competition, make sure to say so.

 

  • Breach of Contract Clause – What happens if either party breaches the contract? If you describe what should happen now, it’ll make it easier should something go wrong.

 

  • Governing Law – Always include which state, city, and county (or country) law’s will be the guiding force of this agreement should there be a disagreement.

 

  • Signatures of All Parties – Don’t forget to get it signed. It doesn’t have to be notarized, but this can help. Using software to sign is also helpful.

 

Lawyers aren’t required to make contract legal, but they are required to know what you are permitted to put in the contract as you cannot contract illegal things. If you write an agreement on a napkin and sign it, it’s legal as long as the items put in the contract are also permitted. A self-designed contract is better than no contract, but it is advisable to seek help from an attorney or paralegal to perfect your arrangements.

 

 

 

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Four Things You Should Always Provide the Influencer

When you start working with influencers, it can be tempting to keep it very informal, but the truth is, contracts and information help you avoid problems. This is good advice whether you’re working with influencers, service providers, or consultants. Contracts and clear information make all the difference.

 

Here are four things you should never neglect providing an influencer:

 

Contract or Agreement

 

Once you have hashed out all the responsibilities of each party to the contract, make sure to put it in writing. Don’t be scared of contracts. List each person’s information and list the responsibilities for each party to the agreement along with timelines, due dates, and any pertinent info needed to fulfill the contract accurately. Plus, describe exactly what you’ll want to do if there is a dispute to prevent any unforeseen problems.

 

Contracts need a starting and ending date, names of all parties involved, payment amounts and due dates, penalties, or changes if breaches, missed deadlines, or disagreements.

 

Clear Expectations

 

Before you even approach the influencer to work with you, develop your expectations to be clear to yourself. That way, it’ll be easier to communicate what you are expecting from them. Always ask them if they understand what you are saying and listen to them.

 

If you have formal meetings, record the information you gather at the meetings, and then agree to what has been recorded, it’s easier to make sure everyone is on the same page regarding expectations.

 

Compensation

 

Be very clear about how you’re going to compensate your influencers. Do what you say you will when you say you will. Don’t necessarily try to go for the cheapest deal when it comes to influencers. Instead, go for the best return on investment.

 

One way to ensure that you’ll receive a good ROI is to compensate influencers in multiple ways, from product sales, free products to a flat fee to commission as an affiliate.

 

Content and Other Supporting Materials

 

Once you’ve settled the contract and everyone is clear about what is expected, make sure you deliver the content and supporting material as soon as possible. Then, if you meet your deadlines, you will ensure that they meet theirs too.

 

Furnish your audience persona and other information you want to be provided to your audience through the influencer so that they can design the promotion based on the research you’ve already done.

Start with the Right Influencer and Target Audience

Influencer marketing is an effective way to get the word out about your products, services, and offers. But you must plan beforehand and do your due diligence to ensure that the people you work with are up for the task.

 

 

 

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Important Questions to Ask Before You Work with An Influencer

The following are important questions to ask your potential influencers and key information they should provide back to ensure you pick the right influencer for your campaign:

 

  • Who Is Your Target Audience? – Ask them if they have an audience persona created or if they can provide audience demographics so you can be sure their audience really will want what you have.

 

  • How Does Your Target Audience Algin with My Brand and Message? – You need your own brand message and reason for existing, and it should align in some way with the influencers you choose to work with. Let them explain how they align.

 

  • What Type of Content Do You Produce? – It will help you to know the type of content they can produce to start with. For example, some influencers do life-like vlogs and don’t do scripted commercials or advertorials. Work with influencers who give you what you need but be open to new ideas.

 

  • How Often Do You Publish Content? – Knowing their production schedule can help you ensure that your campaign is launched at the right time.

 

  • What Is Your Engagement Like? – They should tell you about some actual numbers regarding their engagement but understand if you choose to work with new influencers (which works great, by the way), they may not understand yet, but you can show them.

 

  • Have You Ever Worked with My Competitors Before? If so, Why and Why Do You Want to Work with Us Now? – This can help you ensure that they’re going to be upfront and honest with their audience about their recommendations.

 

  • Have You Worked with Similar Brands Before? How Successful Were You? – Getting these stats will really help you project the type of response they might get for your campaign.

 

  • How Often Do You Share Sponsored Content or Affiliate Links? – You want to ensure they have a good ratio of information and sponsored content or affiliate content. This will help you determine if they have staying power.

 

  • What Are Your Overall Expectations for Partnering with a Brand? – You want to know from them what they are expecting to gain from this too.

 

  • What Are Your Thoughts About Exclusive Brand Partnerships? – If you want them to work with you exclusively and not another brand that competes with you, this is good information to know.

 

  • What Is Your Content Creation Process? – Understanding their process can help you understand how you’ll work with them, including timelines and other info.

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  • Do You Want to Work with Us to Create the Content and Share Before Posting or Be on Your Own? – How autonomous will they want to be, and are you okay with this method? Of course, you can’t make them work how you want to work, but you can judge whether you can work together or not.

 

  • What Are Your Fees and Other Compensation Needs? – Try to get them to give you a fee schedule instead of telling them what you’ll pay. Not only will they feel more in control, but it’ll make working together easier.

 

  • What Sort of Timeline Do You Need to Get to Publishing? – Knowing the timeline will help you get your information to them promptly.

 

Use these questions to figure out whether you can work with the influencer in a seamless way that matches your own needs and includes their needs. You’ll be very glad you took the time.

 

 

 

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Affiliate Vs. Influencer Marketing: Key Differences to Know

While you will likely give your influencers an affiliate link to help them make money marketing your products and services, there are some differences between straight affiliate marketing and influencer marketing.

 

Let’s explore some key differences between affiliate and influencer marketing:

 

  • Costs – Most likely, it’s going to cost you slightly more to work with an influencer, at least initially. The main reason is that affiliate marketers do not charge anything up front, but influence marketers often make money both up front and per sale depending on the deal you make with them.

 

  • Compensation Models – You will pay your influencer a set fee according to their schedule to create the video or images or review for you. The cost depends on how many subscribers or followers they have, how much engagement they receive, and how motivated their audience is to follow them to purchase. You never pay affiliates anything unless they make a sale and how they make it is not usually your concern.

 

  • Marketing Goals – When you work with affiliates, you don’t involve yourself in their marketing or creation other than to provide the tools for them in your affiliate dashboard. Still, they promote when and how they want to within those guidelines. If you work with an influencer, it’s more likely that you’ll have more control over when they promote your products and services per your contract.

Are You Being Realistic About Your Goals?

  • Performance Tracking Metrics or KPIs – You probably don’t look at the stats of your affiliates as closely as you will your influencers. Mostly because you’re going to work with far fewer influencers over your business life than you will have affiliates, affiliate marketing is more hands-off.

 

  • FTC Guidelines Abidance – There are many guidelines for promoting products and services that you need to follow, and they all actually boil down to the same thing. Don’t lie, don’t mislead, and tell the truth. You may get away with an affiliate breaking a few rules against your TOS, but if an influencer you work with does it, it’s going to affect you more.

 

Both forms of marketing, affiliate, and influencer, can cross over. An influencer may ask for an affiliate link, and an affiliate who is doing an amazing job may actually be an influencer who found your product on their own. All types of marketing are essential to use, but the subtle differences need to be known.

 

 

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Influencer Marketing Vs. Brand Ambassadors

It can be easy to think influencers and brand ambassadors are the same thing. They promote your products and influence your audience in some way. However, influencer marketing and brand ambassadors are not interchangeable as they have many key differences.

 

Promote Vs. Example

 

Ambassadors promote your products and are seen as the experts on the product. This is made into a full-time position for larger brands where the company provides them the details they need to know to become a master. They are the ones consumers can go to and get almost any question answered.

 

While influencers show your audience by being the example and sharing how and why they use your products or services, they may love your products and understand them quite a bit. Still, for the most part, they don’t have the extensive knowledge brand ambassadors gain when working with one or a few brands.

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Influencers tend to work with many different brands and campaigns over the months and years, making it impossible for them to be a real expert on all the information your brand has to provide.

 

Long-term vs. Short-term

 

As stated above, influencers typically work with more than one brand or company. On the other hand, brand ambassadors only work with your company to master the knowledge and understand how your products and services work.

 

Influencers may recommend your business once or twice while brand ambassadors repeated it daily. They are your brand loyalists or journalists and will find them at the top of the pyramid of influence right above influencers.

 

Audience vs. Experience

 

Brand ambassadors are sought out due to experience and devotion to the product. They are committed to your brand and truly believe in the benefits. They are likely coming to you or directly applying. On the other hand, influencers are contracted due to their audience, engagement rate, or other important conversions you need for your business. They do not have to have tried your product or care too much about it. These conversions give you a clear insight into what kind of return on investment you can expect to see.

 

Their Similarities

 

Both brand ambassadors and influencers want to promote your product and see you succeed. Each can be added to your marketing campaign to drive more engagement, traffic, and brand awareness. However, they both need to sign agreements to protect their rights and promote your product authentically and enthusiastically through unique and creative content.

 

Overall, it is important to understand the difference to choose the right person for your campaign goals. Each offers many similar benefits, but the type of relationship, compensation, and metrics needed will determine who is right for the job.