Influencer partnerships are not set-it-and-forget-it. Like any relationship, they require communication, collaboration, and nurturing to thrive and grow. Yet too many organizations focus all their energy on finding high-profile partnerships and think their work is over.
Given the investment enterprises are making in their influencer programs, the degree to which they are hands-off is somewhat shocking. Only 18% of companies feel able to measure the ROI of influencer campaigns, and 86% don’t even understand how influencers calculate their fees.
Getting the best from your influencers requires being a true collaborator throughout the partnership lifecycle. Your active engagement will not only increase the effectiveness of your influencer campaigns — it will also strengthen your relationship with the influencers you choose. Plus, when you can build on your initial success in future campaigns and understand what works and what doesn’t, you can take your partnerships to their highest level.
Of course, managing and optimizing an influencer partnership program requires good tools, workflows, and processes, but there are also some very basic best practices that can point you in the right direction.
7 Effective Practices for Better Influencer Brand Collaboration
1.Know what comes next
Don’t just focus on finding influencers — have a clear workflow for each stage of the lifecycle so you know what to do with them once you find them.
2. Nurture your relationship
Drive authentic relationships by creating a smooth onboarding process that will help each influencer to feel connected to the brand and provide them with the tools they need to
create powerful content.
3. Don’t try to make one size fit all
Customize and adapt content and assets to suit each influencer, their audience, and their market.
4. Get automated
Manual influencer campaign management is exceedingly time-consuming, inefficient, and often inaccurate. Invest in tools that will automate the process and give you an end-to-end view of the full partnership lifecycle
5. Measure carefully
Be clear on what metrics will give you an accurate picture of your campaigns based on your objectives, and use the right tools to track the full customer journey across devices
6. Keep communicating
Good communication is important to maintain influencer partnerships. Keep them in the loop at every step of the way with customized, relevant updates.
7. Diversify and scale up—or down
Implement a mix of micro- and macro-influencers to make sure your impact is both targeted and wide-reaching.
Get more in-depth tips for perfecting your influencer partnerships in our ebook, Are You Ghosting Your Influencers?, or contact a growth technologist at sales@impact.com to find out more about managing the entire partnership lifecycle.
