When executed correctly, influencer relations creates long-term relationships with content creators that often lead to a greater return on investment.
The term influencer marketing and influencer relations are often interchangeable, depending on the function of the business leading the campaign. Public relations professionals like me often brag that we were the original influencers. We have worked for decades to secure earned media and to engage thought-leaders (what we used to call “mavens”) with an audience.
Today, with the mass influx of content creators on social media, influencers are everywhere. Influencer relations is an evolution of media relations. More broadly, it’s a strategic approach to developing ongoing relationships with content creators who have an excellent fit with a brand’s products or services. Led by public relations or communications teams, influencer relations is a building block that can support effective influencer marketing campaigns.
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But Wait, Who Are Influencers?
An influencer is someone who has the power to affect purchase decisions of others because of their authority, knowledge or relationship with their audience. Back in 2010, bloggers were on the rise as the first type of influencers.
“Early in my career I was a digital marketer and helped execute campaigns with 80-100 bloggers at a time,” explained Jamie Reardon, FYI CEO and co-founder. “Bloggers are the original influencers, creating content that speaks not only to their life but to the products and services they really use.”
Today, Instagram is the preferred social media channel for influencer content. However, influencers are still very effective on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and even gaming platforms like Twitch. An influencers following can range from 10,000 to millions of followers, across multiple platforms.
Why do Influencer Relations Matter?
If you need to make the case for influencer relations to your CMO or CFO, it’s important to be able to explain why influencer relations really matters. When executed correctly, influencer relations creates long-term relationships with content creators that often lead to a greater return on investment.
Advertising and marketing campaigns are effective to deliver the company message. They help to drive potential buyers to take an action. Influencer relations leverages the right personalities to spark organic conversations that engage your target audience. An influencers followers have elected to follow the influencers content and are uniquely and authentically engaged.
And, an influencer’s content doesn’t belong only to them. When contracting with influencers, you can negotiate terms so that your brand can use the content too. An influencer will post their content during the campaign window and with permission, the brand can feature it later on its own social channels.
The best news for any CFO is that influencer relations campaigns can make a large impact even with limited budgets!
Influencer Relations at Work
Offerpad, a leading on-demand real estate technology company known for buying and selling homes online, partnered with Find Your Influence in 2019 to execute a series of influencer campaigns.
“When our team was setting goals for 2019, education and brand awareness were at the top of the list,” explains Cortney Read, Director of Communications and Outreach with Offerpad. “Prior to Offerpad, I worked at a PR agency. In that role, I came to understand the value of influencer relations and knew immediately this was the path we needed to take at Offerpad to reach our goals.”
In just three months, Offerpad’s campaigns generated more than 5.2 million impressions and more than 140,000 engagements. These came via multiple social platforms including Instagram, Instagram Stories, Facebook, Twitter and blogs. The biggest result? A 4:1 return on investment.
If you’re ready to make the case for influencer relations for your brand, let Find Your Influence know how we can help.