It’s easy to feel daunted by the world of influencer marketing. Every industry has different standards, and every creator has a different price-scheme and way of working. Influencer marketing is one of the best ways, when done correctly, to build trust and create authentic content. It helps reach audiences in an authentic way that you may not have reached organically. At Giraffe, we’re veterans in the influencer arena. That’s why we want to help you avoid a few common missteps businesses make in their early influencer collaborations. If you are using influencer marketing, read on to discover our guide to the easiest influencer marketing mistakes to avoid.
Not Setting a Budget
The cost of influencer marketing is by no means a clear-cut system. Unlike paid advertising, where there is a clear-cut standardised cost that is determined by algorithms and bidding systems, influencer rates are shaped by an individual’s opinion on their value. Every influencer values their time and deliverables differently dependent on experience, niche, demand, production quality etc. Two influencers with identical audiences and engagement rates will likely quote you different prices.
The key to navigating the arena is setting a budget. Decide how much budget you are willing to spend over a set period of time, and within that, set individual project budgets. When you reach out to influencers, ask early on what content they would be willing to provide within budget. If they quote above what you’re offering, negotiate. Consider combining up to two of your ‘project budgets’. You can often modify the deliverables/ number of posts to suit your budget better. But avoid getting overexcited and throwing all your money at one project as it will rob you the benefits that come with experimentation. Testing different creators, audiences, content styles and platforms allows brands to discover what genuinely resonates with their audience.
Not Experimenting
There are so many kinds of influencer out there, and it’s impossible to immediately know what type of collaboration will work best for your business. Influencers vary depending on how much loyalty their audience has, audience size, content style and demographics. This is why researching influencers is really important. Spend plenty of time researching your industry and its resident creators before starting your first partnership. Look beyond just the follow count and look at how the influencer communicates with their audience, how much engagement they get, how their style of content would align with your brand’s content. Consider the adjacent interests your audience might have. If you sell sustainable cleaning products, influencers in both the sustainability and interior design niches could work well.
The same goes for account sizes. Partnering with several micro-influencers could work better than one significant partnership with someone at the 50K level. Sometimes a smaller account actually has a higher engagement rate than a larger account. Experimentation is key, and one of the early influencer marketing mistakes to avoid. Just because you are looking for a specific niche doesn’t mean you only have to look for influencers in the bracket, many influencers have multiple interests and understanding those adjacent interests can provide more authentic collaborative opportunities. Ignoring these audiences can be another big mistake.
Making Inappropriate or Unclear Offers
While all influencers charge differently for their services, there is an element of common sense to be used when making budget offers. Don’t offer someone with hundreds of thousands of followers a £100 budget. Influencer campaigns are time-consuming, don’t waste precious time on wild goose chases. Inappropriate offers also run the risk of offending an influencer, which is something to avoid at all costs. After all, you don’t want influential people to think or speak negatively about your brand.
Within reason, it’s okay to try your luck. But it’s always best to lead with your budget and find out what the influencer is comfortable creating for that fee. If it is too low, the influencer will either ignore your request or quote you a more reasonable cost. If you bury your budget two or three emails into the exchange, you run the risk of wasting both parties’ time and sparking negative brand sentiment.
Not Handling Influencers with Care
For many businesses, an influencer partnership is different from anything they’ve previously undertaken. It is essential to remember that these individuals are not like ordinary suppliers. They are creatives with high levels of influence and often other work or commitments vying for their time. Success in this industry requires the building of relationships, finding common ground and an element of flexibility. Being a fun, understanding and pleasant brand to work with will make securing ongoing partnerships much more possible. If an influencer likes you, they might do a couple of extra deliverables or pitch you a special rate for a specific campaign. It doesn’t require much imagination to figure out what they might do if they don’t like you.
Not Allowing Enough Time for the Process
If this article is the first you’ve heard of influencer marketing, you might be starting to realise there’s more to it than it seems. It can take weeks or even a few months to initiate, negotiate, deliver and report on a successful collaboration. Managing campaigns of this nature require significant time-allocation and headspace. This time-allocation is why so many businesses outsource their influencer marketing.
Not Reposting Content
Any social media professional will tell you that content generation is a never-ending battle. Influencers are specialist content-creators by trade. So, not repurposing the assets they make is one of the top influencer marketing mistakes to avoid. Resharing the posts which an influencer uploads to their own channel helps maximise campaign effectiveness. Your entire audience won’t see the posts in their first iteration. Sharing high-quality third-party content on your profile will lend more credibility to your brand and boost campaign awareness. Working this into an agreement as standard will ensure reposting is possible and protect you from any legal or IP issues further down the line.
Not Signing an Agreement
While building a good relationship with an influencer always helps to get things done, good faith is not enough to guarantee delivery. As with any exchange of services, having an agreement in place is the best practice to protect all parties involved in an influencer transaction.
It’s not necessary for most gifting arrangements. Gifting collaborations tend to occur under the condition that there is no obligation for the influencer to post (although the chances of them doing so are good). If high-value goods or sums of money are changing hands, it is worth drafting an agreement. There are templates available online. But if in doubt, or if the budget involved is very high, consult a legal professional.
In Conclusion
Working with social media influencers is a specialist field which is continually evolving. The process is time-consuming, and it’s easy to waste valuable budget and time if you don’t get it right. If you’re new to the influencer arena and seeking support, contact us to discover how we can help you outsource the entire process from research to reporting. Or follow us on Instagram to catch more of our helpful insights.
