How influencer engagement can make (or break) your PR efforts

?Influencers are a great way for brands to reach new audiences, build credibility, and amplify their messages. With their trusted voices in various communities, they offer brands a powerful tool beyond traditional PR.

?However, it’s crucial to choose the right influencers for your campaign. It’s not just about follower count or popularity—what matters is how well they align with your objectives. When selected thoughtfully and strategically, influencers can greatly enhance your PR efforts. Poor choices, however, could damage your brand's reputation.

?Make or break

There are many pros to working with influencers. These include the ability to measure results. Influencer campaigns, especially with the technology and influencer management platforms that exist today, are easily measurable, allowing PR professionals to track engagement, reach, conversions and the return of investment for clients. This means that brands can adjust their influencer engagement tactics along the way to ensure they are meeting their goals effectively.

?Feel real?

Another major benefit of influencer engagement is the authenticity factor. When they post about a product or service, their audience views it as a personal recommendation, and not necessarily advertising. This authenticity helps build trust and credibility, which is crucial for any PR effort. In fact, according to a recent Nielsen study, 92% of consumers trust influencer recommendations more than traditional advertisements, making influencer engagement a powerful tool for reputation management.

?On the other hand, paid partnerships with influencers that don’t align with a brand’s core values or target audience can feel inauthentic or forced, leading to negative feedback and a potential loss of credibility among audiences. For instance, a fast-food chain wouldn’t typically partner with a fitness influencer like South Africa’s beloved Gloria Ngcobo, as this could seem disingenuous and potentially harm the brand’s (and the influencer’s) reputation.

?However, a collaboration between Gloria and a sports or fitness brand would be a natural fit, aligning with the authentic image she portrays. Her followers appreciate not only her funny dance moves but also her inspiring fitness journey, making this kind of partnership resonate and come across as genuine with her audience.

Mistakes happen

It's also important to keep in mind that influencers are human and can sometimes make mistakes. It’s crucial that brands do their homework on influencers by conducting background checks and monitor influencers’ activities, tweets and social media posts for any negative publicity and controversies that may result in the brand being caught up in the crossfire of media and public backlash.

The perfect fit

Influencer partnerships can also go pear-shaped when there is a lack of clear communication and understanding between the brand and the influencer. If the influencer does not fully grasp the campaign's objectives or the brand’s core values, their content may not hit the mark in terms of the brand's messaging, and this can dilute the campaign's impact. So, it’s very important to go through their content with a fine comb to make sure they align with the brand values and guidelines.

For example, it wouldn’t make sense for an influencer to shoot and post content for a children’s toys or brand with alcohol in the background. Or imagine an influencer posting brand collaboration video content for a beer brand known for positioning itself as “best served ice cold."

?If the influencer simply unboxes the packaging, pours a warm beer into a glass, and appears to enjoy it or worse, has previously stated they don't consume beer, this would be a clear case of a brand and influencer mismatch. It’s important to go through their content to prevent these glitches from creeping up.

?Influencer engagement has been a game changer in how brand can communicate with audiences and having a public relations partner that understands how to leverage this powerful tool to help amplify a brand’s message and drive great results is vital to make and not break your PR efforts.