5 mistakes to avoid when working with influencers

As the world shifts towards online advertising, influencer marketing continues to grow as a tool for reaching new audiences. However, it’s not without its risks.

Here are some of the mistakes brands need to avoid when aligning themselves with influential social media accounts and websites.

1. Forgetting to plan

It doesn’t matter what kind of PR, marketing or communications activity you are working on, it always needs to be planned. Even something relatively novel like influencer relations.

Make sure your collaborations are synchronised with other marketing and PR activities so they achieve maximum impact.

2. Picking the wrong influencers

Deciding which influencers to approach could make or break your campaign.

Those with the largest following may look attractive if you are after the prestige of working with a big-name celebrity. However, their audience may be so diluted that the chances of you reaching your potential customers are minimal.

That’s not to mention the cost of engaging celebrity influencers can be astronomical.

A more targeted and economical approach is to find micro-influencers. These are people with between 1,000 and 100,000 followers.

They tend to have niche interests and a more engaged following.

Finding influencers who have used and liked your product, service or something similar will mean your campaign resonates better for all involved.

Read more reading about choosing the best match for your business.

3. Making assumptions about what you’ll get

If you were commissioning a baker to create a birthday cake, you’d brief them on the design, flavours, any allergies that need to be considered and the date when it’s needed.

When you brief an influencer, you need to be just as thorough.

As a minimum, you must agree:

• The specific content you expect to be created
• Which channels or platforms it will be published on
• A tone of voice that fits both parties
• Competitor mentions that need to be avoided
• When the content should be delivered
• And, how you as the brand will use or share the content.

Contracts are becoming more common in influencer relations. At the very least, expectations should be written down and agreed upon by both parties.

4. Non-disclosure

Influencers were in the news again recently as the Advertising Standards Agency announced it was creating a ‘name and shame’ list for influencers who continue to ignore the rules on disclosing commercial relationships.

While the brands they worked with are not named, it doesn’t take much investigating to work it out. Being associated with an Instagrammer or blogger who has been called out for non-disclosure is not great for anyone’s reputation.

When you work with an influencer by giving them something – a payment, product or service – in exchange for coverage, this is an advert and must be disclosed.

And the responsibility isn’t just with the influencer. Brands must make disclosure part of their terms.

Find out more about the rules for working with influencers.

5. Forgetting to measure the results

Some businesses jump on the influencer marketing bandwagon because they see their competitors doing it. It seems like the ‘thing to do’.

However, if you don’t have a clear idea of what you want to get out of it, you could be wasting your time.

You need to consider what a successful influencer marketing campaign will look like to you. Do you want to raise brand awareness, drive sales or build your customer base?

Have a clear set of objectives so you don’t just end up with a nice set of blogs, videos and social media posts.

Find out more about the importance of measuring success in influencer campaigns and how to do it.

If you would like to discuss how influencer marketing can be integrated with your brand’s wider communications strategy, get in touch. Amplify PR is a Southampton-based content marketing agency offering PR consultancy, content creation and social media marketing.