Identification
First step is to identify what influencers you want to partner with. There are many ways to do this:
· Google for top influencers in your category
· Work with an agency that recommends influencers they represent
· Use influencer marketing software to identify influencers in your category
· Ask friends and family for people they know who may be a good representative of your company
Research
No matter how you identify an influencer, the most important step to a successful partnership is doing your research. Google search the influencer’s name, watch their content on all of their platforms, and analyze their data.
Make sure the person matches what you want to represent and be on the look out for any red flags. Things to look for:
· How often is this influencer posting partnerships? Who are they with? It is very common for an influencer to have many partnerships, so you want to make sure your ok being associated with the other brands they are promoting as well. Also, If the influencer is posting too many paid partnerships your event may get lost in the mix.
· Will this influencer reflect poorly on your brand? Are they associated with organizations that may cause backlash on your brand? Or has the influencer been outspoken about topics that you may not want to associate your brand with (ie politics, religion, etc)? Has the influencer been in the news for any negative issues (ie breaking the law, poor judgement, etc)?
· Is their content authentic? Is their personality to their content? Can someone relate to this person? If an influencer only has beauty shots or what appears to be staged photo ops, most likely the influencer will not be able to convince their audience to try your product or service
Data Data Data
An influencer can have an account that looks great from the outside looking in. However looking at an influencers data can show if an influencer is a fraud or the likelihood that an influencer will be successful for you. Data to look at:
· Audience Demographics (male vs female followers, age distribution of followers, followers by country, etc)
· Engagement rate (how many of the influencers followers like/comment on the influencers content)
· Non-follower Likes (if an influencer has 80% or more non-follower likes on their content, that means their followers are not engaging with this persons content. A red flag that something is wrong with the influencers account)
· Follower growth
All of these data points can be found using some influencer analytics software. You can also request an influencer audit report from us here.
Partnership Details
Once you have identified and vetted the influencer it is time to set up the details of your partnership with his influencer.
Picking the right content form:
Rule Number 1 – LISTEN TO THE INFLUENCER
They know their audience. They know where and when their audience engages the best. They know what content best resonates with their audience.
That being said different type of content has their advantages and disadvantages. If you are looking to
drive transactions from this partnership, you need the ability to have a direct call to action from the content the influencer posts. However, if you are looking to get awareness, you will want to pick other types of posts from the influencer.
Check out our Influencer Platforms & Content Forms Breakdown to learn more.
Negotiating Price
Typically the influencer will give you their rates for different promotion types (Instagram Stories,
Instagram Post, Instagram Reels, TikTok Post, YouTube Video, etc). These rates are negotiable. And you should do your research and math on how much you can afford for a partnership with this person.
Check out our guide on How Much Should I Pay For An Influencer to learn more on how much you should pay.
Do not forget to factor in how much it will cost you to send out samples to the Influencer (if applicable).
Contract
Most times there will be some sort of contract or agreement that is laid out (sometimes it will just be an email detailing what has been agreed to). This is very important so that both sides have expectations set correctly. You will want to make sure its clear what the expected date of the promotion is and what exactly the influencer will be providing that day (Is it 3-4 Instagram Story Slides, is it a TikTok Post with your link in their profile?). Make sure payment terms are properly communicated (you should be able to get most to agree to net 30 after the event goes live).
Prepping For the Promotion
Send Samples Out to Influencer/Provide Access To Your Service
You are looking for authenticity. The best way to achieve that is to make sure the influencer has experienced what you are offering.
Provide A One Sheet Of Talking Points
You will want to let the influencer talk openly and honestly about their experience with your product or service. But it is helpful to provide them the key selling points to your product to help them create their content.
Make sure it is clear what the offer is for the promotion (discounting in some form will get you the best results). Is it 15% OFF, or $15 OFF? You want to make sure this is clearly communicated by the influencer to their audience in the content.
Review and Approve Content
Before the influencer goes live with the promotion, you will want to review the content and make sure
everything is to your liking. Make sure your offer is clearly communicated in the content and it is clear how the user can get this promotion.
Custom Link For Tracking
If a link will be provided for the influencers audience to click, you will want to make sure you provide a
custom link with UTM parameters (see more on how to build custom links). This custom link will best allow you to track the success of the partnership on Google Analytics and other tracking platforms.
Other Considerations
Custom Landing Page
If you are driving traffic to your site from this promotion, it is best practice to create a custom landing
page. Make sure this landing page clearly and simply lays out the offer for this promotion. The audience clicked the link for a reason, you want to make sure they are met with what they are expecting.
Email Capture
You may not be able to get everyone to make a purchase when they first arrive on your site. However, you may be able to get them to give you their email address. You can use your email flows and funnels to educate this user more on your product or service and then convince them to make a purchase.
Try using a pop up that greats the user to the sale, and ask for their email if they would like to learn more about your company.
You can also have a section on the landing page to sign up to your email list (you should provide some sort of value add for them joining your email list).
Repurpose Content
During the contract phase, you should have it made clear if you can repurpose the content that the influencer is creating for you. You may even have it part of the deal that they make specific content beyond the promotion content to be used in other formats. You can take this content and use it for Facebook Ads, YouTube Ads, post on your social, and send out to your email list.
