Every day, more and more brands are looking to collaborate with established social media influencers. Influencers can raise brand awareness, boost engagement, and drive traffic to your website.
In fact, 49% of consumers today depend on influencer recommendations. However, it’s important to choose the right influencers to work with. Not all influencers are created equal, and not all of them will be a good fit for your brand.
That’s why we’ve compiled a list of 10 questions to ask before collaborating with influencers. These questions will help you determine whether a potential influencer is a good fit for your brand and your target audience.
1. Who is the audience?
If you’re considering working with an influencer, you should already have a good idea of who their audience is.
This is the first question you should be asking yourself when considering an influencer for your campaign. The audience that the influencer has built will be the most important part of your campaign.
Making sure the influencer’s audience aligns with your target customer is the most important part of the vetting process. If it doesn’t, then the rest of these questions won’t matter.
2. What is the goal of the campaign?
Influencer marketing can be used to achieve a wide range of goals, from boosting sales and increasing brand awareness to growing your social media following and driving traffic to your website.
Before you start working with influencers, you need to clearly define the goal of your campaign. This will help you determine what type of influencer you should work with, what metrics you should track, and what success looks like.
3. What is the call to action?
We’ve all seen the influencer posts that get tons of likes and comments but don’t lead to any action. While it’s great to get your brand in front of a new audience, you want to make sure that the influencer includes a call to action in their content.
Whether you want to increase your social media following, drive traffic to your website or get more leads, your call to action should be clear and easy to find in the influencer’s content.This call to action often directs users to a specific landing page, so it’s important that the page is optimized for conversion, which is where an AI landing page generator can be a major asset.
4. How will you measure success?
In the discovery phase, it is important to outline your goals and KPIs. This will help you determine which influencers to work with and what type of content they will create.
For example, if your goal is to drive traffic to your website, you may want to work with an influencer who has experience creating blog content. If your goal is to increase brand awareness, you may want to work with an influencer who has a large following on social media.
Once you have determined your goals and KPIs, you will need to decide how you will measure success. This may include tracking things like engagement, reach, traffic, and sales. Be sure to discuss this with the influencer before you start working together.
5. What is the budget?
Influencers aren’t free, and the top ones can command a significant fee. But there are also other ways to compensate influencers, such as providing them with free products, gifting them with an experience, or paying them a small fee.
It’s important to be upfront and honest with your budget. If you don’t have a budget, you can ask the influencer what their rates are. If you have a budget, you can let the influencer know what it is and ask them what they can do within that budget.
6. How much creative freedom will the influencer have?
Influencers are experts when it comes to their personal brand and their audience. They know what type of content performs best and how to communicate with their audience. This is why it’s important to give the influencer creative freedom.
If you have strict brand guidelines or content expectations, make sure to communicate that with the influencer before the campaign. You should also ask the influencer how much creative freedom they typically have when working with brands.
7. What are the deliverables?
The term “deliverables” refers to the specific content the influencer will produce as a part of the collaboration.
For example, if you’re partnering with an Instagram influencer, the deliverables might include a series of Instagram posts, Instagram Stories, and a Reel.
If you’re partnering with a YouTube influencer, the deliverables might include a dedicated video, a series of YouTube Shorts, and a call-to-action in their video description.
This is where you’ll want to get specific about the type of content you’re looking for and how much you need.
Many brands also streamline influencer partnerships by using tools like ReferralCandy, which lets you manage influencer campaigns alongside referral and affiliate programs making it easier to track deliverables, measure ROI, and reward results in one place.
8. How will you disclose the relationship?
Influencers are required by the FTC to disclose their relationship with a brand. However, that’s not to say that they always do. It’s important to talk to your influencer about how they plan to disclose your relationship.
Most influencers will have a standard way of doing this, but it’s still worth asking. If they don’t have a standard way of disclosing their relationships, then you should discuss this with them and come up with a plan together.
9. What are the legal considerations?
There are a few legal considerations to keep in mind when working with influencers. For example, you’ll want to make sure they disclose that they are being compensated for their work. This can be done by including #ad or #sponsored in their social media posts.
You’ll also want to make sure you have a contract in place that outlines the terms of the collaboration, including payment, deliverables, and timelines. This will help protect both you and the influencer in case anything goes wrong.
It’s also important to make sure that the influencer is not making any false claims about your product or service.
Sometimes the hardest part is just getting in touch. Many brands reach out to influencers directly with a cold email. Simple, clear, and often more effective than a DM.
10. What are the PR and crisis management implications?
Influencers are their own brands, and when you bring them into the fold, you’re effectively merging your two brands. With that comes the potential for PR and crisis management implications. If an influencer you’re working with has a scandal, it can affect your brand, and vice versa.
Before you start working with an influencer, it’s important to have a plan in place for how you’ll handle any potential crises. That means having a clear line of communication with the influencer and their team, as well as a plan for how you’ll respond to any negative press.This also includes having robust customer support channels, as using AI conversational assistance can help manage negative feedback and resolve issues before they escalate publicly.
Conclusion
Influencer marketing is a powerful strategy that can help you generate leads and sales for your business. But, you need to choose the right influencer to collaborate with. If you ask the questions above, you’ll be able to ensure you choose an influencer that aligns with your business and marketing goals.
