It’s impossible to deny the impact influencers can have. After all, the influencer industry is set to reach almost £896 million in 2024! Influencer marketing can be far more successful than traditional methods of communication with consumers, as people are more likely to trust and engage with recommendations from someone they’ve chosen to connect with. In fact, 49% of people would go as far as to say they depend on influencer recommendations when making a purchase!
The right influencer can increase brand awareness and loyalty, as well as drive website traffic, sales and profits. And we’ve got the stats to prove it – one of our recent influencer marketing campaigns with organic plant food brand Phostrogen increased its reach to gardeners by a whopping 302%!
But before you DM the first influencer you scroll past, there are some key things to consider before you start reaching out to your next potential brand ambassadors.
1. Find your tribe!
Once upon a time, influencer marketing was only for the fashion and beauty industries. Nowadays, influencers and content creators come in all shapes and sizes. You name the sector, there will be an influencer for it! Particularly for more niche industries like gardening, influencers can be a gateway into a community of engaged and receptive potential customers.
For example, Instagram might not seem like the obvious place to find tree care experts, but there is a whole community of arborists and tree surgeons out there. Find your audience by searching hashtags relevant to your industry and scour the profiles of those who look like they could fit the bill to find other similar accounts. Look at what they are posting and pay close attention – it could provide insight into what your customers are engaged with too.
2. Does the influencer align with your brand?
Think about what their followers rely on them for. Are they going to be interested in a post about your product? What brands have they worked with previously? What kind of content do they create?
For example, if you’re a pet brand, then it’s not enough for the influencer to have a dog that occasionally makes an appearance in their stories. If their core content isn’t about their pet, then it’s unlikely that any of their followers rely on them for pet content.
Choose influencers that create content that caters to the audience you want to reach to get the maximum return on your investment. A disjointed partnership where the brand and influencer don’t align will only highlight that the content has been paid for and come across as disingenuous and inauthentic. It could even have the opposite effect and damage a brand’s reputation and public perception.
3. Are they already a fan of your product?
Influencer promotion will be far more genuine from a true ambassador and fan of your brand – preferably one who is already a loyal customer! It’s unlikely that you’ll always be able to cherry-pick individuals that already post about your product without any incentive (unfortunately!). However, by rewarding these influencers, regardless of size, and asking them to partner with you, you’re showing them and their followers that you value their support and loyalty.
Plus, it means they will be even more likely to post about your product without incentive in future and that content might be more genuine. It might also encourage others to do the same in the hope of being considered for future campaigns. They’ll be knocking on your door in no time!
4. Be clear on outputs
A detailed written agreement is vital as it acts as a contract between you and the influencer. It doesn’t have to be formal (although this could and should depend on the value of the product or payment being offered), but it must include what the influencer will receive, what content is required in return and when, and the stats expected at the end of the campaign. This way everyone knows what they are committing to from day one and it’ll prevent any disappointment or awkward conversations further down the line.
The only occasion that a written agreement is not required is if you are implementing an influencer seeding strategy, which is essentially the approach of sending free product to creators with no expectations for posts in return. This can be an extremely successful marketing method if you are looking to reach multiple smaller accounts or micro influencers, or if you have limited budget available for paid promotion. Of course, there is no guarantee of content being published, so you’ll need to go into these arrangements aware that you may not see a direct ROI from the product costs.
5. Consider enlisting an agency
There’s no denying that influencer marketing takes a great deal of time, from researching the right accounts, making initial contact and negotiating terms, to briefing in messaging, reviewing content and following up after the campaign has come to a close. And as influencer marketing grows, so too does the number of content creators out there.
That’s why we’ve launched the Honest Network, a platform designed to unite brands in the home, garden and lifestyle world with likeminded, quality content creators. The Honest Network is essentially a pool of talented individuals who are keen to collaborate, allowing us to identify the very best individuals for your brand and campaign with ease – those that align with your message and have an engaged audience of potential customers.
So, we can help you with product launches, social media campaigns, and anything in between! Enlisting the help of a specialist PR and social media agency (like us!) will not only save you a great deal of time, but it will ensure you get the very best results from each influencer you work with. After all, this is the kind of activity we deliver day in, day out!
If you’re considering running an influencer marketing campaign for your brand and you’d like some support from a specialist PR and social media agency, then we’d love to have a chat about how we can help.
