Tips for Working with Influencers: Building Successful Partnerships

So. Your sales have plateaued. Your product is slowly heading for the dark side of the moon where no eye can see. Your audience is reaching more and more for those, let’s face it, inferior products from your pesky competitors. Nobody is trusting you, who likes brands these days? Brands, yuck! Are you a has-been? How can you turn this around? 

Que your saving grace - influencers. 

Before we get into the how, why should you even consider working with influencers?

• It’s a great way to reach new audiences that are more likely to watch and listen

• Your product will be recommended by a trusted voice

• It comes across as personal

• High quality content from a professional content maker

• It can look aspirational to own your product if shown in the right way

• You can reach niche audiences easily

• It’s a different approach that’s often creative and different. 

• Your pesky competitors aren’t doing it! Yet.

How to work with influencers. 

Working with influencers can be an intimidating lane to get into. Who do you choose? How do you collaborate with an influencer? How much creative freedom should you give them? How do you set clear goals and expectations? What platform should you focus on? 

Let’s have a look:

1. Choose the right influencer

Choosing the right influencer is probably the most important step for the success of your campaign. 

The first things to look at are the influencer’s values, audience demographics and content style. They should all align with your brand. If you’re a beef burger restaurant chain, you should stay away from vegan influencers. If you are selling fine wine from Italy, make sure the influencer’s main audience is above legal drinking age. You get the jist.

The second most important thing to do is to avoid getting number-blind. The number of followers can become almost irrelevant if your target audience isn’t part of those followers. Micro-influencers, who have smaller but highly engaged audiences, can sometimes be more effective than influencers with millions of followers. 

Finally, do your research to ensure that the influencer has an authentic connection with their followers, creates high-quality content, and has a history of successful collaborations. Checking their previous partnerships and reviewing engagement metrics like comments, likes and shares will help you determine if they are the right fit for your brand.

Ok so you’ve picked your hero. Now to give them a mission. 

2. Establish clear goals and expectations

While creativity is important, it’s equally essential to establish clear goals and expectations from the start. Otherwise you might end up with an outcome that you didn’t need and all you’ve done is make a dent into your marketing budget. 

Start with defining the purpose of the collaboration. Whether it's increasing brand awareness, driving traffic to the website, or promoting a specific product or service. Share these goals with the influencer so they understand what success looks like for this collaboration.

Then, set clear expectations regarding timelines, content formats (videos, posts, stories), and key messages or hashtags you want to be included. Having this clarity will help ensure that both parties are aligned and can avoid any misunderstandings or miscommunication down the line.

3. Encourage creative freedom

One of the most important aspects of working with influencers is trusting their judgment. They didn’t get this far without knowing what they’re doing. Influencers have built their audiences by sharing authentic, relatable content, and they know what resonates with their followers better than anyone else. 

Giving them the creative freedom to produce content in their unique style allows them to infuse their personality and creativity into the campaign which makes it more likely that the content feels genuine and engaging to their audience. And just like that, your product will look more appealing to that audience too.

Instead of dictating every detail, share the campaign’s objectives and key messages, then let influencers shape the content. This approach not only enhances authenticity but also builds trust between your brand and the influencer, leading to a more collaborative and successful partnership.

4. Find the right platform

TikTok and Instagram are two of the most popular platforms for influencer marketing at the moment, but they each offer unique opportunities.

• TikTok Influencers: TikTok is known for its short, viral videos that are driven by trends and challenges. Partnering with TikTok influencers allows your brand to tap into this fast-paced, trend-based environment. Successful collaborations often involve fun, creative videos that seamlessly incorporate your product or message into TikTok’s highly engaging content style. TikTok influencers excel at making content feel organic, and brands that embrace this playful, spontaneous approach are likely to see the best results.

• Instagram Influencers: Instagram remains a powerhouse for influencer marketing, offering a mix of feed posts, stories, reels, and IGTV. Instagram influencers are particularly effective for brands that rely on visual storytelling, such as fashion, beauty, travel, and lifestyle brands. Instagram also offers strong features for shoppable content, making it easier for influencers to drive direct sales. Collaborating with influencers on both Instagram posts and stories allows for a mix of long-lasting content and immediate engagement with their followers.

Unlock the power of influencers

Working with influencers can be a game-changer for your brand’s marketing strategy, but it’s important to approach these partnerships thoughtfully. 

If all goes well, a great influencer campaign can pave the way for future collaborations, giving you a pool of easily accessible, highly engaged audiences that are keen to cast their eyes on you and what you’re offering time and time again. Who knows, you’ll maybe even make lasting business relationships with a few influencers who will skyrocket your business.  

No more dark side of the moon, thank you very much!