Collaborating with influencers has become a must for brands looking to increase their visibility, brand awareness or sales performance. Far from an opportunistic approach, influencer marketing requires method, regularity and authenticity. Here are the 10 essential steps to building a relationship of trust with the influencers in your ecosystem.
1 – Identifying them
First and foremost, you need to define your objectives and the themes of expression that are consistent with your brand. From there, you can identify relevant content creators via search engines, social networks or by analyzing the influencers followed by your customers. It’s also a good idea to rely on an influencer marketing platform like Effinity, which offers powerful tools to facilitate this first detection stage.
2 – Assessing them
Not all influencers are created equal. The number of subscribers is not enough to measure the potential impact of a partnership. It’s essential to examine the rate of engagement, the quality of exchanges with the community, the frequency of publications and the relevance of content to your products or services. Give preference to those whose community is truly active and targeted.
3 – Getting to know them
Once you’ve built up your list of influencers, set up regular monitoring of their publications, whether on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, their blog or their newsletters. This will give you a better idea of their editorial style, the subjects that drive them, their values, and the tone of their relationship with their subscribers. You’ll also gain in legitimacy during the first contact.
4 – Contact us
An impersonal message is unlikely to elicit a response. Take the time to build a tailor-made message for each profile, based on what you’ve observed. Mention specific content, underline what you appreciate about their world. Don’t hesitate to interact organically beforehand (comments, shares) to initiate the link smoothly.
5 – Continuous feeding
A successful partnership is based on a balanced exchange. Regularly offer influencers original, relevant and exclusive content. Provide them with a digital library of high-quality visuals, videos, key figures and testimonials. The more you inspire them, the more they’ll be able to produce impactful content in line with your image.
6 – Encourage them to co-create
Involving influencers in strategic thinking is an excellent way to leverage their expertise while creating differentiating content. Co-designing a product, organizing a question-and-answer session with their community, preparing a launch together… these are all ways of strengthening their commitment and maximizing their audience’s support.
A good example is that of mommy influencers. Very active on the networks, they maintain a strong bond of proximity with their community, often made up of other mothers or parents looking for practical advice. Co-creating with these profiles enables us to produce content that is sincere, useful and emotionally powerful.
7 – Build loyalty
Building a long-term relationship is far more effective than a one-off partnership. Organize meetings (workshops, private events, live networking), offer them previews or personalized attention. The idea is to integrate them into your ecosystem on a long-term basis, treating them as genuine brand partners.
8 – Remunerating them
The question of remuneration depends on the influencer’s profile, the expected format, and the context of the collaboration. Some creators, particularly micro- or nano-influencers, may be interested in product exchanges or exclusivity, while others expect financial reward. In all cases, it’s important to clearly define the terms of collaboration, while respecting the work provided.
9 – Evaluating them
Like any marketing action, an influencer campaign needs to be monitored and analyzed. Set up a reporting system to measure the number of publications produced, views, clicks, interactions, and sales generated if possible. Ideally, you should combine qualitative (engagement, sentiment) and quantitative (reach, conversion) KPIs, with a multi-point tracking to assess the real impact on the customer journey.
10 – Listen to them
Finally, remember that influencers are also keen observers of their audience. Thanks to their closeness to their communities, they can provide you with valuable insights: consumer expectations, emerging trends, bottlenecks in your brand discourse, etc. Take advantage of this feedback to adjust your messages or enrich your overall strategy. Take advantage of this feedback to adjust your messages or enrich your overall strategy.
Collaborating with influencers is more than just a sponsored publication. It’s a partnership that needs to be built with care, taking into account the expectations, values and creativity of each profile. By following these steps and enlisting the help of experts, you’ll increase your chances of creating effective, authentic and meaningful campaigns.
