Influencer marketing is a huge part of a brand’s advertising strategy nowadays. And the effectiveness of this strategy has pushed brands to get into a long-term collaboration with the creators. Gone are the days of the “one campaign” arrangement. That begs the question: how can you, as a brand, build a community of creators that stays with you like true brand advocates.
How To Build A Community Of Influencers>
Collaborating with influencers for a single campaign is one #thng and hiring them for a long-term partnership like an ambassador program is another. With that as a backdrop, we give you 5 ways to build a community of influencers that sticks with you like a barnacle.
1. Have clear goals
As a brand, you must have clarity about what you wish to achieve from influencers. This includes the duration of the partnership, the number of influencers, and the niche you are targeting. Remember: the power of influencer marketing works in your favour only when you have clarity of goal.
2. Finding the right influencers
The second step to building a community of true brand advocates is finding the right creators. That means a lot of manual work for brand teams:
- Checking the accounts of established creators in a category and looking for synergy
- Wading through the pool of followers of established creators as it typically includes nano and micro-influencers
- Investigate popular hashtags used by creators in your target category, as well as your own branded #
Follow these steps to compile a list. Remember to always make a list of double the number of influencers you need because not all of them may say yes to long-term collaborations.
3. Prepare a lucrative pitch
The next step to building a community of influencers for your brand is pitching. It’s crucial because it determines whether you get a yes from the creators you want in or not.
Merely messaging them via social media DM or email won’t yield the desired results unless it is coupled with lucrative collaboration. Here’s how you get a yes:
- Make sure your brand is related to the influencer’s target audience.
- Make sure the niche matches. If you want to promote eyeliner, you have a better chance of getting a yes from a makeup and beauty influencer.
- Clearly states the deliverables.
- And make the campaign brief comprehensive with key features of the product and an introduction to the brand.
4. Establish a connection
Getting influencers on board is one #thng. Making them stay is a different ballgame. You have to consider their needs and choices, particularly when it comes to creating content. Brands that ignore what influencers ask for lose them faster than they can blink.
Yes, a legal contract may force a creator to stay for a pre-decided period. However, as soon as the contract expires, they will leave for good. And you’re stuck with starting the hectic cycle of finding suitable influencers and convincing them to get on board all over again.
So how do you retain the community of influencers after you’ve built it?
By making sure it is a two-way collaboration and not just an ad buy. You both should benefit from it. Make sure you provide enough resources to creators to create quality content for your brand in addition to incentives. This includes samples of products, scripts to follow, guidelines, etc.
5. Follow ASCI guidelines
Not following the ASCI guidelines for influencer marketing can lead to a lot of heartaches (and serious legal trouble) for you and your community of influencers. So make sure your brand advocates are aware of them and use paid partnership labels whenever they post sponsored content.
Building a community of influencers for brands is now easier than before
There are two ways to build a community of influencers. One is the old-fashioned route of looking for influencers through hashtags and whatnot, convincing them, hiring them, etc.
The other, safer and faster route is an influencer marketing platform like DYT that already has a database of creators who love your brand. You don’t have to commit time and effort to amass an engaged community.
The platform does it for you (and so much more)!
