Tips for successful social media influencer campaigns
Social-media influencers are becoming a phenomenon in Nigeria, just like it is in most parts of the world. It is a trend that is becoming popular among brand owners, who are now using influencers to reinforce their campaigns. According to a Ipsos study, 95% of branding professionals believe it is important for brands to engage with digital influencers.
Unlike a solo commercial that comes from a production studio or media agency, each content creator is his or her own production and distribution line. This enables brands with a big opportunity to expand beyond one large integration — one that gets, say, 1 million views in total — and establish a program that achieves 1 million views weekly or monthly across a variety of creators.
But like any emerging advertising category, this approach has its own pitfalls and therefore requires a lot of tact and strategic implementation. Below are five rules to successfully scale influencer campaigns.
Avoid one-off campaigns.
Many brands are enticed to do one-off videos with people with major social-media followings, this approach does not easily deliver the necessary wide reach. The results that may be achieved fade and get lost over time and the campaign is undermined.
Consistency is an important element in any campaign and also, using content from a variety of influencers can also work wonders. As it increases the likelihood of growing audiences seeing a brand’s message.
For brands to achieve their set objectives and scale singular integrations into full programs, another key is a hybrid approach that involves different levels of integration across various sizes of influencers. This allows brands to use many channels, from a low- or mid-tier family video blog, up to a top-tier beauty influencer.
Engage influencers who love what you have to offer
It is important for brand owners to look for influencers who match their brand’s values, who influence their target market, and who will promote their product with passion. The more influencers love your product, the easier it will be for them to promote it. “You want your influencers to feel as though, even if they weren’t getting paid, they would love the product and use it all the time. That is when you know you are getting top-quality content,” Joseph Steinberg CEO, SecureMySocial said.
Allow the influencer to be the creative director
No one doubts the fact that these digital influencers have an audience, and that is because of their unique creative style and content. So it is essential to allow the influencer to be the creative director. They built and know their audience; they are in the best position to know what language resonate with them.
It’s also important to strive for alignment between brand objectives, influencer vision, and audience expectations. When this alignment is the priority, the brand creates the objective, and influencers provide creative solutions. Viewers are happy that the brand has empowered the influencer’s content rather than disturb it. When content is elevated by the brand, engagement and positive sentiment toward that brand will always follow, creating the best kind of advertising.
Audiences are sensitive to disruptions, and easily identify when brands muddle with an influencer’s content.
Need for standardization and simplicity
The higher the number of content pieces created, the more the need for standardization and simplicity. This is more so when several influencers are involved in the campaign. Campaign message need to be digestible and translatable across a variety of influencers. Specifically, procedures protect the brand from having anything published that is outside of its expectations or requirements. For example, each call-to-action style should have a few basic talking points and a link in the description box; each themed video should have rough approved concepts. A good example of this was the Pepsi LongThroat campaign which was reinforced with #PepsiLongThroat. The message was simple and resonated with consumers easily. Several influencers were used in the campaign yet the message was not muddle up because there was a definite call-to-action style.
Some brand experts have suggested that for branding quality assurance, at least three sets of eyes should see every piece of content before it goes live.
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