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10 Tips on Collaborating with Influencers in 2022

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10 Tips on Collaborating with Influencers

What is an influencer collaboration?

An influencer collaboration is a partnership where influencers are provided incentives by brands to create and publish content that aims to promote their products or services. This is covered by a legal agreement listing the terms and conditions that each party will follow, such as payment, the scope of work, and content requirements. 

10 Tips on Collaborating with Influencers in 2022

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Factors to consider before collaborating with influencers

Here are a few essentials you need to carefully think about before getting into an influencer collaboration: 

1. Does the influencer’s content shape the decisions of users? 

The content produced by the influencer should be able to effect behavioral changes or persuade your target market towards specific actions.

10 Tips on Collaborating with Influencers in 2022

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2. Does the influencer have a growing social media network? 

This isn’t about numbers per se, but rather the influencer’s strategies to grow their brand. Are they active in online forums? Do they participate in communities where they share, learn, and grow? You want to work with an influencer who already has robust connections that you can tap to build awareness for your brand.

3. Is the influencer authentic? 

One way to determine an influencer’s authenticity is their level of engagement. You can check out the frequency and types of interactions they have with their followers relative to their total following.

Top 10 tips on collaborating with Influencers in 2022

Before joining the brands collaborating with influencers, check out the top 10 tips for a successful influencer collaboration:

1. Set your campaign goals. 

Are you launching a new product, boosting your brand image, or looking to expand your reach? First, it’s important to decide what objectives to focus on from the start. This will determine what strategy to use and the types of influencers to partner with. In addition, you’ll be able to plan better and optimize your resources. 

2. Establish clear KPIs and monitor these.

You can’t achieve what you can’t measure. So ensure that you are able to define the metrics that will spell success for you, whether it’s generating leads or enhancing audience engagement. Invest the time and effort to discuss this with your partner influencer to guarantee that you’re on the same page.

10 Tips on Collaborating with Influencers in 2022

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3. Be open about the influencers’ ideas.

Remember that an influencer collaboration is essentially a partnership. So do keep an open mind about the recommendations of your content creators. As influencers are more “on-the-ground” and are seen as more socially relevant, they may even have a clearer understanding of your target audience than you do. Also, consider that influencers need to stay true to their creative identity. So, you may want to give them a bit of leeway as long as they don’t execute ideas that run counter to your brand’s image.

4. Think out of the box.

Influencer collaborations can bring many creative minds together. Thus, the expectation is that the output will be fresh and not just a mere rehash of previous campaigns. But, of course, you can still reference past influencer marketing projects that demonstrated success and use those to spark creativity.

5. Tap your influencers to be your spokespersons.

Consider tapping your influencers to be your brand ambassadors so you can leverage their clout to grow your brand. 

6. Check if the influencer is “niche enough.”

An influencer with a large following is a default draw for brands. However, evaluating if they’re “too thinly spread out is also critical.” They can be generalists connected to so many brands. As a result, your brand may struggle to stand out among the various products they endorse.  

7. Be supportive of your partner-influencer. 

An influencer collaboration requires that you support your chosen content creator and provide what they need to churn out a successful outcome. Invest in their onboarding, which should include product orientation. Maybe you have a hi-tech studio where they can do photo and video shoots. Whether it’s providing them with resources, giving them guidance when necessary, sharing their content, or showing your appreciation, treating them as trusted partners will help you build a strong relationship that can translate to successful campaigns.

8. Conduct some research on the influencer.

It’s always best to check if the influencer is a good fit for your brand. We’re not just talking about their stats or if you share the same target audience. Do you share the same values? What was the experience of other brands that previously collaborated with them? What is their style of communication? This information will help you determine if your influencer collaboration will likely succeed from the get-go.

9. Determine your non-negotiables. 

Knowing what your deal breakers are will help the influencer avoid them. One example is an influencer’s use of a competing brand or service. 

10. Do a SWOT analysis on your influencer. 

Consider your potential partner as an asset to your marketing campaign. As such, it would be best to do a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats). Being diligent about this will help you optimize your relationship with them and also avoid the possible pitfalls they can make. 

Types of influencer collaborations

Many brands collaborating with influencers can select from the following types of influencer collaborations:

1. Brand ambassadorships

A brand ambassador doesn’t just promote your brand but also represents it. Thus, they are perceived to have more authority and tend to have more extended brand partnerships compared to the average influencer.

10 Tips on Collaborating with Influencers in 2022

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2. Takeovers

It’s common for brands collaborating with influencers to use this popular strategy, where they allow creators to take over their social media accounts. One example of how they do this is by creating influencer content and posting it on the brand’s social media accounts.

3. Guest posting

Also called guest blogging, this type of influencer collaboration involves working with a set of influencers with popular or authoritative blogs (with a high domain authority score). The company or business then posts content on the influencers’ blogs to promote their brands.

4. Sponsored posts

Brands collaborating with influencers also use sponsored posts to promote their products or services. A sponsored post is paid promotional content that can directly be about the brand. Or the influencer can mention the brand in their videos, which is also a sponsored post. 

5. Gifting

Giving product samples as gifts to influencers is another typical influencer collaboration. This enables content creators to experience the brand for themselves and produce relevant content around it. They can even use these as giveaways for their followers, which helps raise further awareness for your brand.

Benefits of collaborating with influencers

Leveraging the influencer collaboration platform can deliver these advantages for the brand: 

  • Influencer-created content is perceived as more credible and trustworthy than brand-produced content.
  • Influencer collaborations are more cost-effective than traditional marketing methods.
  • Brands collaborating with influencers have the opportunity to expand their reach effectively.
  • Influencer collaborations can help gather user-generated content, which humanizes brands and increases their relevance.
  • Influencer collaboration platforms can drive brand engagement and loyalty.

Wrap up 

An influencer collaboration is one of the best ways to increase brand visibility, awareness, and relevance. It is also more effective, manageable, and cost-efficient than traditional marketing channels. By checking out the tips we’ve shared in this article, you can successfully join the innovative brands collaborating with influencers. 

For more influencer marketing hacks, check out the Net Influencer blog today.

karina gandola

Karina Gandola was born and raised outside the city of Charleston, in the beautiful mountain state of West Virginia. Karina loves writing about the influencer marketing space and an area she is passionate about. She considers her faith and family to be most important to her. If she isn’t spending time with her friends and family, you can almost always find her around her sweet yellow Labrador retriever, Poshna.

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10 Tips on Collaborating with Influencers in 2022