How can you ensure influencer creativity meets your brand expectations?

I can’t emphasize enough the importance of the work done upfront to be clear on the objective, goals, KPIs. This will enable you to have focused conversations with the influencer(s) and answer their questions. Equally it will allow you to determine which influencers are the right fit for you. Before you commence be sure to also discuss your proposed influencer work with leadership, legal and compliance to prevent issues downstream. At the same time, save the actual content development and campaign activation until you’ve found the influencers as you want to involve them from the start. Co-creation will result in a better program, it will optimize the use of influencers and maximize business impact.

Having worked as a social media manager and as a content creator, the bulk of the work done up front by the brand & their social media marketing agency determines the outcome of the campaign. More than simply defining ROI goals, you need to clearly identify your target audience for that specific campaign, the exact tone of your brand messaging, and carefully research influencers who reach those audiences and already match your brand tone. If you have done your research and hired accordingly, then allowing influencers creative freedom with a few general guidelines outlined in the brief, along with timely & clear communication throughout the campaign timeframe, should yield authentic, positive results for all parties.

Just like any other digital campaign, it's vital to have a clear understanding of the objective for influencer marketing campaign. These could be based on different themes and one can have successful campaigns only when the audience is intrigued enough to engage/act/react which highly depends upon the choice of influencer. The higher the resonance of influencer with the brand's objectives and event-based targeting, better the engagement.

One of the things that I’ve always realised is that an influencer is like media. Their content, audience and popularity are why they are relevant to brands and marketing teams. For some reason brands seem to forget this and end up using the influencer to sell their product or service. This doesn’t work because the audience realised that they are being tricked and the content isn’t genuine. The question I think marketers must ask themselves before approaching an influencer is this - will the influencer make this piece of content even if we didn’t approach them. If they would then you’ve struck gold. But if the answer is no then there is something wrong with your influencer strategy.

I think a solid knowledge of your brand, what it stands for, and who your main target is going to be crucial. Once that’s defined, you know what creative would be optimal for your brand. A way to do this is making a list of keywords that define your brand, and then look for influencers and creatives who are a match. Finally, I’d look for creatives that one can trust to have a long-term relationship. These days it’s easy to determine the type of work ethic and level of professionalism an influencer has had in the past, as an indicator of how things might turn out in the future.

This is the most important take in this article. You are hiring the influencer because they built an audience using THEIR creativity and THEIR voice. Some of the best influencer campaigns we’ve done barely touched on product but it drove joy and engagement which ultimately lent itself to positive ROI. Let the creators create!

Influencers aren't just a powerful distribution channel; they're content strategists, production experts, social media marketers, and community managers. Influencer campaigns yield the best results when a brand gives talent creative freedom. This means trusting the creator's instincts and creative process, and making your resources available to help bring the creator's big ideas to life.

There is a reason why they became influencers in the first place. You have to do proper research to see of your product or service matches the target group of the influencer and its that match that can increase the chance of a win win between the both of you.

100% you need to respective creative freedom BUT this is our secret sauce to getting the best creativity. Setup the box for which they can create in. Giving most creatives & creators carte blanche is a mistake. They need to know the purpose, goals, messaging and general direction you want them to go in. THEN let them take that framework and put it into THEIR voice. That's how you get great content that meets the needs of the brand & the creator.

As someone who has worked on both the brand side and as an influencer, I understand why brands' are protective over how they're spoken about on social channels, and also that sometimes this can make influencers feel stifled creatively. Keep in mind that you're hiring the content creator to speak about your brand in their voice, not to speak in your brand's voice. Allowing influencers creative freedom will result in the most authentic content, allowing your brand's message to resonate more deeply with the influencer's curated audience. As long as you are clear about what information you want communicated, influencers are adept at determining how to deliver the message.

It′s a good practice to have an expert agency helping you with influencer campaigns - but if you want to ensure great results with low risks, you need to be communicating directly with them, and offer an open channel for their questions or suggestions. This is not traditional paid media - this is someone using their face, name and channel to talk about your brand. This is intimate, personal. They risk their credibility and community for your brand, so you need to be there for them if needed.

From storytelling point of view it might be helpful to see it like there is two storylines merging, and start by sharing these stories to gain better understanding. What is the influencer's story? And what is the company's story, and what is the shared framework we can work together to create another story together? I also think it is important to give influencers creative freedom, to get best results and keep your influencer's happy, too :)

Don't just give the influencers a brief and then expect them to come up with the perfect content on their own. Collaborate with them to get their input and ideas. This will help to ensure that the content is authentic and engaging, and that it meets your brand expectations.

To ensure influencer creativity meets brand expectations, the process goes beyond the campaign launch—it extends into measuring and optimizing. Monitoring campaign performance against predefined KPIs is vital to gauge its effectiveness. Use analytics tools to assess factors like engagement rates, reach, and conversion rates, providing insights on what's working and what needs adjustment. If the campaign doesn't align with goals or resonate with the target audience, collaborate with the influencer to refine content or messaging. Continuous measurement and refinement ensure influencer creativity not only meets but exceeds brand expectations, delivering desired results and ROI.

Build genuine relationships with your influencers. Approach influencers with a genuine interest in their content and values because you should work with them to create contents that resonates with their audience while showcasing your brand. Encourage creativity and authenticity. Lastly, define deliverables, timelines, and compensation terms in writing and contract. This will ensure that you and your influencer are on the same page to avoid misunderstanding.

Finally, it's important to measure the results of your influencer campaign to see if it was successful. This will help you to determine whether your goals were met and whether you need to make any changes to your approach in the future.

Simply put: Identity high performing content & review low performing content. However, evaluate your audience selection as well, to ensure that it is not sub-optimal demographics that are giving skewed statistics.

Measuring and optimizing influencer campaigns is crucial for ensuring alignment with brand expectations. By tracking metrics like reach and engagement, and evaluating content quality and audience sentiment, you can refine strategies and tailor influencer creativity for better results. This data-driven approach fosters ongoing improvement, making it a vital practice in influencer marketing.

Here's What Else to Consider: You should also consider the cultural context, ethical considerations, and the evolving social media landscape. Flexibility, openness to innovation, and a commitment to mutual growth foster a thriving influencer-brand relationship.

One of the top reasons why influencer marketing falls short for organizations is because they control the influencer program & execution too much. They hire influencers for content amplification rather than true influencer marketing which is rooted in empowering creators. For many brands, amplification will give them a boost but it’s short-lived. Done well influencer marketing is a relationship with creators based on trust, shared values, and one that is a long term co-creation partnership and not campaign by campaign. Long term programs also more often include influencers getting to know leaders, building relationships with them, your SMEs and employee advocates through social interactions. So when your program ends, advocacy continues!

As with any transactional relationship, there is always a question of ‘What’s in it for me?’ - a question that brands should anticipate from qualified influencers. As we contemplate on influencer creatives meeting brand expectations, brands should engage in meaningful conversations with influencers to truly understand whether the brand can satisfy the expectations of a chosen influencer’s pool of followers. Collabs shouldn’t reduce to you-show-I-pay exercise.

Making sure that the influencers understand the product or service to the T. For example, if it is a skincare brand, the influencer should have a top line understanding of the R & D process and what ingredients are used for that product. This tied with the messaging will show that it’s not just influencing but also an expert ‘of sorts’ I that field.

Your deal with influencers will involve cost and that should fit in your advertising budget. It is important to identify the right Influencers by conducting thorough research to find influencers whose content, values and creativity align with your brand. Look at factors like their niche, engagement rates, and follower demographics. Consider different types of influencers, such as macro-influencers (celebrities), micro-influencers (niche experts), and nano-influencers (ordinary people with a small, highly engaged following), based on your goals and budget.