Fabien
25 May 2020
Things to Keep in Mind When Preparing for an Influencer Campaign
So imagine this… you and your friend are onboard the influencer marketing mobile for a cross country road trip, but you two haven’t decided which landmarks to stop at. Now, you could decide to just go wherever the wind takes you. It’ll be a trip full of spontaneity but as a marketer working to build a brand, this idea might be anxiety-inducing!
The better idea would be to strategically plan ahead. Map out the journey and visit landmarks that are en route to your destination. This is sort of how you should think about an influencer marketing campaign.
Working with an influencer is about placing your brand on platforms where they fit most organically and building a strong rapport with your audience through a voice they trust and respect. Influencers can be of great value to your brand, but with influencer marketing as with taking a road trip, you have to collaborate.
No road trip is complete without a good playlist. The music on the ride sets the tone and vibe of the trip. This can be compared to preparing for your campaign; the content must be quality! You should definitely make sure that with your partnership you are choosing an influencer who you would be proud to represent your brand. Here are some things to keep in mind when selecting influencers to work with:
- You want to choose someone whose audience is representative of your customer base or target audience.
- You also want to choose someone who is intentional about engaging with their followers.
- You also want to choose someone whose overall image fits your brand.
As you and your friend (i.e. the influencer) embark on this journey you should both be prepared and fully aware of where you’re going. Each landmark you visit is like reaching a new milestone. This is the key to a successful campaign: setting and managing goals! Whether you’re trying to build loyalty with your customers, generate buzz about your brand or increase sales conversion rates, you should always remember these goals and allow them to guide your strategy.
Once you finally get going, maintenance is the most you usually need to worry about. That goes for the road trip and the campaign. You have to make sure you’re staying within the speed limit, and checking all of the signals on the dashboard. For your campaign these things would be your KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators). These could be anything from vanity metrics such as likes or followers to impressions, comments, etc. These help you keep track of the campaign’s progress. It also is useful in explaining the campaign’s ROI to those of your team members who are more numbers-based.
Your influencer campaign is a journey but the fact that you’ve decided to recruit influencers to help build your brand says that you understand the value of connecting with your customers. Being strategic during the planning process will likely reduce the amount of effort required during execution and make for a more successful and smooth campaign.
