As we’ve learnt Influencer Marketing can be a great way to advertise your brand to new and committed audiences via a trusted source. But, if your brand is thinking about starting an influencer relationship then how do you actually go about doing this?
Here are our top tips;
1. Create Content to Build An Influencer Relationship
Content creation is a great way to develop link building. If you know of an influencer whom you think represents the key aspects of your brand or you think their audience would like your product, then start link building.
We would suggest creating a “Top 10 Bloggers” list or “Our Favourite Instagrammers” blog post. Remember to tag their websites or socials in the post to give them free publicity. Then share this on all your socials tagging their accounts. At the very least the influencer becomes aware of your brand. However, if the content is good this can encourage them to work with you, sharing your website on their accounts and building brand awareness amongst their followers. This little act of kindness and free publicity you create by writing a quick blog post can build up important influencer relationships who may help your brand in the long run.
2. Comment on Their Posts
This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many brands don’t even follower an influencer they approach to work with them. Show the influencer that you’re a genuine fan of them and give them free promotion by commenting on their posts, or sharing their content to your own followers. This then builds up a genuine relationship between Influencers and brands that actually like and work well with one another. And, the better the relationship is the more genuine and authentic the content you create together will be. Thus, the more their audience will believe it and trust their opinion on your brand.
3. Avoid Damaging Influencer Relationships Via Cold Calls
If you’re ready to approach influencers to avoid any mass cold calling with a lack of personalisation. Influencers tend to be a close community and, therefore, if your brand is known to send out impersonal emails to lots of influencers this can damage your reputation.
Decide on a couple of influencers you like, and approach them through the channels they want to be contacted via. This may be displayed in their social media bios and may include an email to their agent. An impersonal direct message may put this influencer off ever working with you, so contact them professionally. This is going to develop into a working business relationship after all!
Remember, Influencers are a great way to increase your brand awareness and target a niche and loyal audience. However, you have to develop an engaged relationship with the influencer for this to work. Audiences want to see authenticity so if a campaign lacks creative freedom and genuine passion your marketing strategy isn’t going to work. Therefore, use the above tips to help build relationships, creating the best working partnership possible, and reputation for your brand.
