INFLUENCER MARKETING: How to Effectively Collaborate with Influencers?

Can influencers genuinely and more authentically promote products and increase sales?

Influencer marketing is becoming an increasingly common strategy used by companies that want to reach their target audience in an authentic and effective way. It involves leveraging the popularity and influence of individuals known as influencers to promote products or services.

Influencer vs. Celebrity – What’s the Difference?

An influencer is someone who has built an engaged community around themselves by sharing valuable content online. Unlike celebrities, influencers often aren’t widely recognizable outside their social media platforms, but their strength lies in authenticity and direct contact with their audience.

Number of Followers

Depending on the number of followers, influencers can be categorized into several groups:

• Nano-influencers: 1,000 – 10,000 followers
• Micro-influencers: 10,000 – 100,000 followers
• Macro-influencers: 100,000 – 1 million followers
• Mega-influencers: over 1 million followers

Classification by Topic

Influencers can also be classified based on the topics they specialize in. Countless categories, such as beauty, lifestyle, or parenting, are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many other areas where influencers can be involved, from travel to fitness, culinary arts, and technology. Before deciding on a collaboration, it is worth considering whether the topics addressed by the influencer align with the values and image of our brand. Do the content they create match our product or service? Is their audience our potential target market?

Types of Collaborations

Collaborations with influencers can take various forms, tailored to the goals and strategies of a given brand.

1. Short-term campaigns: Often involve single or multiple posts promoting a specific product or service. While they can yield quick results, there is a risk of losing authenticity, especially when the influencer collaborates with many brands in a short period.
2. Long-term partnerships: More effective for building lasting trust and authenticity. These collaborations may include regular posts, product reviews, or even creating dedicated products or product lines by influencers.
3. Product samples and reviews: Brands often send products to influencers for them to test and share their honest opinions with followers. This can increase trust in the brand and its products.
4. Events and happenings: Inviting influencers to company events such as product launches, new store openings, or promotional events. The participation of influencers can increase the reach and visibility of the brand among their followers and provide attractive content for their channels.

A well-planned and diverse influencer collaboration strategy can bring brands several benefits, including increased brand awareness, consumer trust, generating sales, and building a positive brand image in the online community.

Common Mistakes and Challenges in Influencer Marketing

Common Mistakes in Influencer Marketing

1. Lack of clearly defined campaign goals: A campaign without a clearly defined goal can lead to wasted resources and a lack of measurable results. It is crucial to determine whether the goal is to increase brand awareness, sales, or engagement.
2. Lack of agreement and detailed arrangements: Inaccurate agreements can lead to misunderstandings regarding the scope of collaboration, copyright, and content usage.
3. Failure to set success metrics (KPIs): Without established KPIs, it is impossible to effectively assess the success of the campaign. It is important to define which indicators will be monitored, e.g., reach, engagement, number of clicks, or sales.
4. Lack of flexibility: Imposing too rigid guidelines on influencers limits their creativity and authenticity. It is best to collaborate with influencers who know their audience and know how to create engaging content.
5. Lack of partnership: Remember that influencers are partners. Flexibility and openness to their ideas can lead to more authentic and effective campaigns.

Challenges in Influencer Marketing

At first glance, influencer marketing may seem like a simple strategy: we pay the influencer, they publish a post promoting the product, and that’s it. In reality, however, it is a complicated process consisting of many stages and sub-stages, where unforeseen difficulties can arise at every step. Below we discuss various surprises and challenges that may arise during the implementation of influencer campaigns.

Unforeseen Situations

One common problem is random situations such as the sudden dropout of an influencer from the campaign. In such cases, we must quickly decide whether to abandon the collaboration or find a replacement. Another challenge is the compliance of content with the campaign vision. Sometimes we receive materials that do not fit our concept at all, despite previous arrangements. In such situations, we must skillfully negotiate changes, while ensuring client satisfaction and maintaining the influencer’s style.

Emergency Plan

It is also worth having an emergency plan in case of negative feedback after publication. When working with controversial brands, we must be prepared for potentially unfavorable comments and have response scripts developed. For some campaigns, we prepare a multi-page action plan in case of a crisis, which may prove necessary.

Step-by-Step Implementation of an Influencer Campaign

Step 1: Define the Campaign Goal

The first step is to clearly define the campaign goal. We must ask ourselves what we want to achieve. Is the goal to increase brand awareness, sales, website traffic, social media interactions, or gain new followers? It is important to define the goal clearly, as this will help in further stages of planning and implementing the campaign.

Step 2: Choose the Influencer

Choosing the right influencer is a key element of an effective campaign. Pay attention to the influencer’s statistics, community demographics, engagement, and image. Analyze whether the influencer fits your brand. Check their recent collaborations, view counts, and engagement of posts, as well as their reputation – make sure the influencer is not associated with any controversies. It is also worth negotiating costs and considering whether working with several micro-influencers might be more effective than with one macro-influencer.

Step 3: Prepare the Agreement

Draft a detailed agreement that clearly defines:

• The scope of the influencer’s activities (e.g., number and type of posts, stories, etc.).
• The right to authorize materials before publication.
• Publication deadlines with the possibility of flexible changes.
• Rights to use the influencer’s image and content in the brand’s own channels.
• Requirements for reports containing key indicators (reach, engagement, etc.).
• The way to mark the collaboration according to the recommendations of UOKiK.

Step 4: Create a Brief

The brief should include:

• Information about the brand, product, and campaign goal.
• A creative concept that may be imposed by the brand or developed jointly with the influencer.
• Content guidelines, including hashtags, key messages, tags, and deadlines.
• Examples of actions to take (do’s) and avoid (don’ts).
• Information about deadlines and content authorization requirements.

Step 5: Content Verification

After receiving the materials from the influencer, thoroughly analyze the content to ensure that the product or service is presented as expected. Check for risky contexts or factual errors, and assess whether the content contains an interesting story or insight that engages the influencer’s community.

Step 6: Publication and Monitoring

After approving the content, proceed to the publication stage. Monitor user reactions and comments, responding as a brand to increase engagement. Track campaign results, checking the impact on website traffic, sales, and social media engagement.

Step 7: Report and Analyze KPIs

At the end of the campaign, prepare a final report. It should include an analysis of achieved KPIs (reach, engagement, number of clicks, sales), the overall impact of the campaign on the brand, and conclusions and recommendations for the future – what went well and what can be improved in future activities.

Successful Influencer Campaigns in Our Agency

Valio Profil Protein
One of the most important and longest-lasting collaborations was the campaign for Valio Profil Protein. For six years, we consistently built brand recognition among fitness influencers and gym-goers. As a result, Valio has become a love brand among fitness enthusiasts in Poland, despite a competitive market and no mass media advertising. The client often emphasized that we managed to create a strong brand among fitness fans, which is a huge success considering the limited promotion budgets.

Remington – Mother’s Day Contest “Mom’s Style”
The campaign for Remington, a leader in hair styling equipment, was very engaging and had excellent results. We organized the “Mom’s Style” contest, encouraging participants to recreate their mothers’ hairstyles from their youth based on old photos. Lifestyle influencers such as Anna Banaszewska and Agnieszka Niedziałek promoted the contest. The campaign achieved a huge reach (almost a million people) and gathered many high-quality submissions, earning Remington a special award.

Decathlon – Campaign “Why Do You Need This?”
For Decathlon, we conducted an educational campaign with ambassador Maciej Stańczak, a well-known climber. The campaign was about hypothermia in the mountains and aimed to educate about safety in mountain conditions. The engagement of climbers and mountain lovers was huge, and the campaign enjoyed great interest. The topic “Why Do You Need This?” perfectly fit the specificity of the mountain community, yielding very positive results.

Goldsaver
During the launch of the Goldsaver online store, which allows purchasing gold bars piece by piece, we collaborated with financial experts such as Maciej Samcik (Subiektywnie o Finansach) and Dorota Sierakowska (Girls Money Club). Thanks to their authority in the field of savings and finance, the campaign attracted many interested customers, effectively introducing the new product to the market.

In Conclusion

Collaborating with influencers can significantly strengthen a brand and open up new opportunities, but it requires adhering to certain principles. It is important to remember that every action taken carries the risk of errors, so decisions.

FAQ

1. What is influencer marketing?
   Answer: It is a strategy involving collaboration with influential individuals on social media who promote products or services.
   
2. What are the benefits of influencer marketing?
   Answer: Increased brand awareness, reaching a new audience, building trust, and boosting sales.
   
3. How to choose the right influencer for your brand?
   Answer: Select an influencer who fits your brand and has an engaged audience that matches your target group.
   
4. What types of influencer marketing campaigns are there?
   Answer: Short-term campaigns (single or multiple posts) and long-term partnerships.
   
5. How to measure the effectiveness of an influencer marketing campaign?
   Answer: Analyze reach, views, engagement, number of clicks, and conversions.
   
6. What are the costs of collaborating with influencers?
   Answer:Costs depend on the influencer’s reach, the type of campaign, and content requirements.
   
7. Is influencer marketing suitable for every industry?
   Answer: Yes, influencer marketing can be effective in various industries if the influencers are well-chosen to fit the brand and its values.