Today’s consumers are heavily influenced by reviews and recommendations from creators – as much as they are by trusted friends, family and peers. In fact, 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations to inspire purchase decisions, while 69% of consumers trust what influencers say and suggest. This means it’s critical for brands to get the right partners on board. 

Here are six best practices to ensure you’re set for influencer success.

1. Define objectives

What are you looking to achieve? Do you want to increase brand identity, create an emotional connection through engagement, build sales, or a combination of all the above? 

Having well-defined goals from the outset will guide your strategy, define the type of influencers to partner with, and provide a path for success. 

In 2021, Aviva asked us to help promote its new ‘It takes Aviva’ ad campaign message and translate it to social media as a way to drive awareness and engagement. 

We created a social influencer campaign called ‘It takes two’ to run alongside an above-the-line ad campaign. Two mega influencers, Alison Hammond and Jordan North, were secured to drive positive sentiment and brand affiliation, helping to amplify the campaign’s message of expert guidance. They were both chosen as they fitted the target audience demographic, and the campaign went on to generate 2.5 million impressions. 

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2. Influencer selection 

It’s worth remembering that not all influencers are suitable for a brand. Knowing the difference between types of creators is key. Mega influencers can have millions of fans, macro influencers engage hundreds of thousands, whereas micro and nano influencers often speak to super-engaged, niche communities. 

Align your influencers so they match the brand’s target demographic and brand values, and never forget the importance of speaking to a diverse range of creators. 

Collaborating with a mega influencer like Alison Hammond led to a high number of social and media impressions. But there are huge benefits to engaging creators and influencers of a range of sizes to achieve different objectives. In the case of our international cruise and ferry client DFDS, it wanted to achieve high engagement with a macro group of influencers for a trip to Lille. Through careful selection we were able to achieve nearly 16k engagements and a 2.75% average engagement rate across 50+ pieces of content. 

Be sure to consider authenticity when selecting influencers. Ask yourself: if I saw this brand on this feed would it seem genuine? This will save wasting the time of both the influencer and the brand.

Always check the quality of content and ER% (engagement rates). Inflated follower counts are sometimes a result of bots and/or bought followers, so analysing the ER% ensures engagement is genuine. 

Finally, do your due diligence; check for negative content and any conflicting brand partnerships or scandals that could damage your client before you put any influencer forward.

3. Making contact

Once you’ve found the perfect influencer, the next step is to contact them. 

The initial email is an opportunity to make a good first impression, get the influencer (or agent) excited, and tease just enough information that they’ll want to hear more. 

Keep details concise, but share enough information to pique interest. Outline the brand and opportunity, and offer a call to go into more detail.

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4. Briefing time 

Make sure to set a clear and defined brief for a successful collaboration. Each influencer is chosen based on initial objectives, so it’s important to set expectations with both brand and influencer at the outset. It’s often important to  allow influencers to create content in their own style and without any heavy branding that can remove any authenticity and make it appear like an ad.  

Include the following elements when crafting a brief:

• Overview of brand/products/campaign
• Brand messaging – key things the content must include
• The objectives and aims 
• Creative idea or focus 
• Any dos or don’ts

Consider a brief as guardrails to ease the influencer in the right direction, while ensuring they have the freedom to create in their unique style. 

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5. Contracts and agreements

If you’ve followed all the steps until now, this should be an easy and straightforward process. Every contract and briefing agreement should follow a legal template, but be customised to the influencer. Make sure everything in the contract has been agreed with influencers/agents before to avoid edits or surprises that affect the overall project.

Consider the following:  

• Exclusivity: do you need influencers to work with the brand for a certain period? This will often incur an additional cost.

• Content duration: how long will the content need to be live? And when is it needed? 

• Media spend: will you want to use the content on owned channels and put media spend behind it? (Boosting a post on Instagram for £500, for example.) This will often incur an additional cost in influencer fees.

• Transparency: do you want the post to simply tag your brand in the copy, or is this to go live as a collab post? Be sure to include #AD to be compliant with ASA guidelines.

• Amends: how many rounds of amends will you need? Discuss in detail with clients to ensure feedback is consolidated and streamlined, minimising more rounds of amends.

The contract acts as a protection for the agency, client and influencer, ensuring all expectations are covered. This will avoid any misunderstandings should they arise further down the line.

6. Reporting and measurement

No campaign would be complete without reporting and measuring the success. When it comes to reporting on influencer campaigns, the report should wrap-up the entire campaign. 

You’ll need to show what went well, what didn’t, which influencers are great to work with, which aren’t, and the ROI of the campaign. Don’t overlook analysis and recommendations to see how these can be improved for future activations. 

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Meaningful relationships

Influencer marketing opens up valuable opportunities for brands to authentically connect with target audiences. By understanding the best practices for collaborating with influencers you can navigate this space effectively. Success in influencer marketing lies in building meaningful relationships with influencers and their followers, all while staying aligned with your brand’s values and goals. 

When approached thoughtfully, influencer marketing can be a powerful addition to your overall strategy, generating real results and fostering lasting connections.

‍For more examples of our influencer work at Battenhall, have a look at our case studies here. And to learn how our team can help with your influencer strategy, visit our website or email hello@battenhall.com.