Branded content engagement is becoming increasingly difficult. With “brand blindness,” even a slight hint of bias can turn off shoppers and turn them away. Hence the popularity of influencer-generated content. User-generated content is more influential than branded content, according to OfferPop via Adweek. It is more authentic, inspired, and genuine.
Create more creative control over your influencer marketing content if you want to reach skeptical hard-to-reach consumers.
How Do You Create Successful Campaigns?
Influencers are people who are followed and engaged by social media users who are looking for recommendations and unbiased advice. They also form tight-knit communities that make it difficult for brands to join in.
Putting influencers in charge of content creation is the best way to engage their followers. Let the influencers speak; their followers will listen.
Consider the following points to start your campaigns off right.
1. Loyalty
Avoid influencers who are a one-hit wonder and jump from brand to brand. While some one-time exposure is good for your brand, look for influencers who will grow with you as your brand grows. While it may not be possible to determine an influencer’s full loyalty up front, consider those who may fit that role in the future and work to develop a long-term partnership.
Look for influencers who breed loyal audiences. The more loyal and close-knit the followers, the more likely they are to act on advice.
2. Trust
The two go hand in hand. Working with new influencers can be risky because you don’t know how their content will portray your brand.
However, when choosing influencers, keep in mind that trust is important for ROI. You have done most of the work if you choose the right influencer and follow the steps outlined in this article.
Past performance and reviews will also ease your concerns as you select your influencers. You will trust more if the influencers have vetted positive feedback.
3. Tracking
Even if a campaign yields positive results, which influencer drove the most engagement? Do influencers promote different deals? Various web pages? Which directly impacts your sales?
You need to know the answers if you want to control what works and what doesn’t. Spending money on influencer marketing campaigns without knowing how to adjust is a waste of money.
Here are three ways to measure influencer campaign success:
- To track your campaigns, use Google UTM parameters and add specific tags to your tracking links. When people click on these links, the data is sent to your Google Analytics account for analysis.
- Coupon codes – Create unique coupon codes for each influencer to track campaign efficacy.
- Cost Per Engagement (CPE) – This metric is more difficult to calculate because engagement is not a number. Manually calculating this metric is as simple as comparing the amount spent on a campaign to the number of engagements (likes, comments) received across all posts. Note: Automated software that can easily calculate total engagement is best for tracking ROI.
Conclusion
These three points are the core of an influencer-generated content campaign. Pay attention to each as you seek out the best influencers. It takes time to find influencers who fit your brand and culture, but don’t skip a step. The extra time and effort put into the search will pay off in the end.