Working with influencers, whether they be bloggers, YouTubers, instagrammers or snapchatters, is an important part of modern day public relations. PR is evolving and with audiences engaging in new ways we all need to be ahead of the curve with how we communicate to them.
The opportunity to create content with influencers is really exciting for PR’s and our clients. It gives us the chance to be creative, personable and engaging. When PR Moment announced their latest event ‘Co-creating partnership content with bloggers and vloggers’ we knew we had to head to London to hear from leading influencers and agencies on how they have co-created content that works.
Carry on reading below to see what our main takeaways from the event were…
1. Go where your audience is
It’s not all about ‘the blog’ there are influencers over all social media channels who your audience are following and engaging with, giving you a platform to project your message.
Do your research!
What are your audience’s favourite channels? If you haven’t used it for a campaign before, don’t be afraid to try something new, you could be a trendsetter. Who are your audience going to for information? There is no quick and easy way to identify this so browse keywords, hashtags and even check out what the competition is doing.
Remember that working with influencers will mean the way you receive ‘coverage’ will evolve. It definitely won’t be the traditional two page spread in a national newspaper, which leads us on to the next piece of advice…
2. What does success look like?
Does success of your campaign mean going viral, 1000 likes on Instagram, an increase in sales or more visits to your website? Decide on your objectives and communicate these to the influencer you are working with. They know their audience best and they know the ways in which to present content to encourage sales, retweets or video views. There is no written rule for measuring influencer campaigns as it all depends on your brief and your objectives, the top tip is to clarify these before getting started.
3. Authenticity and harmony
We read a blog, watch a YouTube vlog or scroll a particular Instagram feed because we like the content and what that influencer is doing, of course It is important to portray your brand messaging in the correct way but you won’t find success if this doesn’t fit well with an influencers existing content. If you are working with the right people and provide a clear brief your client/brand will be a natural fit targeting your desired audience.
4. The finer details
It is important to remember that bloggers are not traditional journalists and that they do not work for a newspaper or magazine, they work for themselves. The expectation amongst bloggers and influencers that they should be paid for their work is increasing year on year. Flesh out the details and allocation of your budget with clients beforehand. It is no secret that influencers are becoming celebrities in their own right and there may well be a price tag reflecting this.
5. Quality not quantity
When working with influencers the one piece of advice we hear over again is to not forget the micro-influencer! Those with a smaller following but with a really engaged audience can only mean success for a campaign done right. Working with a micro-influencer will also give your client/brand opportunities to grow with them and create a solid working relationship and advocacy for your client.
If you want to find out about how influencer marketing and blogger outreach could work for your brand please get in touch!
