So you’re getting ready to embark on the journey of paid influencer campaigns. It’ll be easy, right? There are a few things you should know before diving into the paid influencer marketing space. Thankfully, we’ve collected a few tips and tricks we’ve learned to help prepare you! 

Objectives

What’s the first step? Many might think the immediate answer would be to start researching  influencers. While researching seems like the right first step, it is even more important to first understand your campaign and objectives. There are a few things to consider; 

1. You want the content to resonate authentically with audiences without seeming too ad-like, so identify what creative direction you will provide your influencers with.
2. What are the KPIs you’ve set and most importantly, what is the overall objective of the campaign? Understand how you will measure your results when developing your KPIs – is it CTR (Clickthrough Rate), CPC (Cost Per Click), CPM (Cost Per Thousand), CPV (Cost Per View), impressions, reach? Once you’ve identified what it is, establish a benchmark to measure your success up against.
3. Once you identify the key objectives of your campaign, you’ll need to evaluate which platforms you want the campaign to live on – will it be TikTok? Instagram? Both?

In reviewing these considerations, you’ll start to develop an idea of how the content should be delivered and inspiration will start to flow, just in time for the next step; sourcing!

Sourcing

Now it’s time for you to source! Since you’ve already decided which platform you want the content to live on, you can dive into the platform of choice to understand who and what type of content is being shared and understand industry standards and benchmarks to measure against. Influencer selection is important because not only will they create and share content, but the creators you select will be the face and tone of your brand, and your campaign. For example, if you’re looking to target a Gen Z audience, you’re going to look for the influencers who create relatable Gen Z content who have engaged followers. If you’re looking to step into a niche category, think creatively about who you want to work with and which angles they can work with to create engaging content. Think about how your brand can be integrated authentically into their content! 

Contracting

You’ve finished your list – GREAT! Now you’ll need to lock in those influencers. Before reaching out, you should already have a creative brief drafted which includes must-haves! Whether you’re speaking to an agent or the talent themselves, providing background into the brand and highlighting the key deliverables you’re looking for helps with negotiating! The campaign you’re working on is important, and so are the creators you’re working with, so this helps tell them exactly why you want to work with them and provides them the information they need. During the contracting process, it’s crucial to be transparent, understanding, and fair. Being honest with the influencers and their agents will make the entire campaign process easy, and most importantly, it’ll help maintain great relationships! 

Content Creation

Sponsored posts can sometimes perform at a lower rate in comparison to organic content because audiences don’t love interacting with advertising content AND because the platforms may have some regulations when it comes to ad content. That’s okay, it’s still possible to execute a successful campaign especially when you leverage the type of content the creator usually creates.  Successful sponsored campaigns should always resonate with audiences first as engaging content, and second as an ad. For example, in a recent Ring Pop Dip N Stix campaign, influencers showcased how they control their sourness by sharing their ‘dip’ in a cool location or in the act of the skill they’re known for. This campaign leveraged the anywhere, anytime and anyhow versatility of the product. The positive audience sentiment around the campaign highlighted how the delivery of the content was engaging, authentic and not ad-like! 

Reporting

Once all of the content has gone live, there’s just one more step – reporting! This is your opportunity to highlight the success of your campaign and evaluate key learnings that will be helpful in the next campaign. When you’re reporting, you should take into consideration a few things: first, you want to evaluate your KPI’s, how did your campaign measure against the KPIs you set at the beginning? When reporting it’s easy to phrase analytics as matter of fact, but your client will want to understand the how and why. Do a deep analysis of why certain pieces of content performed extraordinarily and identify reasons why some pieces of content may have fallen short of the results you were expecting. Your client will appreciate the insights you offer and you can use your learnings in the next campaign!

Now that you have an understanding of the necessary steps to take when it comes to planning and executing an influencer campaign….you’re ready! Good luck!