Launching your Brand's First Influencer Marketing Campaign?
Here’s What You Should Know…
Written by: Blair Mlotek
For a hot minute, influencer marketing was the trend that every business was trying to hop on. And for good reason–it worked.
Fast forward to 2024, there’s a lot of chatter about whether the influencer era is officially over.
But don’t let that scare you. As the founder of a digital agency, I can say with confidence that there’s still plenty of value in influencer marketing. As long as you’re doing it right.
So whether you’re scaling a new brand or just looking to add something new to your marketing mix, here are a few tips for ramping up your first influencer program.
Start with your Goals
The first step to a successful influencer marketing strategy is deciding what that actually looks like.
The thing about influencer campaigns is that there are truly a million and one ways you can approach it. By putting your goals front and center, it makes it easier to curate the right influencers, craft an effective brief, and measure your progress.
And while generating sales is a pretty universal business goal, it’s worth recognizing that influencer marketing is more than that. From building brand awareness to creating community, looking beyond just sales numbers is a better way to set your first strategy up for success.
2. Keep it Cohesive
It’s easy to get swept up in those flashy influencer marketing campaigns. But remember: it’s just one part of your overall marketing strategy. While there’s room for unique, out-of-the-box campaigns, it should still feel consistent with the rest of your marketing activities.
Ask yourself: where does an influencer campaign fit into the customer journey? Does the messaging match what they see on your website? What about your paid ads or email content?
The reality is, that no matter how successful your campaign is, if it feels too fragmented, you run the risk of reaching the wrong audience or losing customers before they find brand affinity or make a purchase.
3. Brief your Creators, but not too much
Every creator in your campaign should receive a content brief. The brief acts as a guideline to keep everyone on the same page and to help influencers create content that meets your needs.
Briefs typically include campaign details such as:
Brand guidelines
Common do’s and don’ts
Key talking points or product details
Thought starters
While briefs are important for helping influencers nail your messaging, they should also be…well, brief. You’re the brand expert, but they’re the experts of their content and their audience.
Unlike highly-produced brand content, you don’t need to get too in the weeds with scripts and storylines or force too many requirements. When briefs get too specific, it can leave influencers feeling boxed in and make the content feel inauthentic.
4. Show Influencers the Respect they Deserve.
This one sounds obvious, but the way you treat your creators behind the scenes can actually make or break your campaign.
While the life of an influencer seems glamorous, they’re ultimately just business owners. They work hard to deliver valuable content and deserve to be treated as such. The last thing you want is to build a rep for taking advantage of creators or refusing to negotiate in good faith.
And if you don’t have a massive budget? That’s okay! But that doesn’t mean you can’t—or shouldn’t—pay your creators fairly.
From building long-term partnerships to reducing scope, there are many creative solutions for getting the biggest bang for your buck. Just be transparent with rates and deliverables so everyone is on the same page.
5. Rethink your Definition of Influencers
We often like to only think of influencer marketing in the context of social media. But influence doesn’t just come down to the number of followers on Instagram or TikTok. It’s really all about building a network of people who your target audience trusts—both online and in their communities.
Brands have been known to tap into existing loyal customers or use brand ambassador programs to turn everyday users into brand champions. Even community or brand events are a great way to spread the word while still building on the concept of influence.
6. Measure, Optimize, and Try Again
With influencer marketing, it can be tricky to nail down the perfect formula for your brand right off the bat.
Fortunately, there’s no hard and fast rule for success here. There are a ton of different metrics you can use to benchmark and gauge your success. As mentioned earlier, don’t just look at sales. Consider user engagement, reach, and web traffic when evaluating what worked and what didn’t.
As they often say, you can’t fail as long as you learn something. So as long as you get insights from your first campaign, you’ll be able to iterate and develop an influencer marketing strategy that works for your business.
About Blair:
Blair is a writer, social strategist, and the co-founder of Cleo Social - a digital agency focused on growing organic online communities. After years of freelance journalism and managing clients in the communications agency world, Blair realized that one place always brought the highest success rate to her brands: digital marketing. Now, along with her amazing team, she continues to work with brands to grow their audience and continuously build a relevant customer base.
Cleo Social is a digital, content and communications agency focused on organically growing your brand on the platforms that matter most.
