Hi!

“I found some of them rude, dismissive and stuck-up. They would only accept invitations to Michelin stars, insist on certain dishes and would take a long time to feed back any reviews at all.”

What Influencers say about the brand relationship

What brands say about the influencer relationship

Why it’s important to get the relationship right

How to get it right …

How to work with influencers

effectively

“I can’t pay the bills with goodie bags, and products worth 10p.”

some of the issues brands need to address to achieve successful influencer relations

budgets creative

control Irrelevant

approaches Press

releases…

irrelevant approaches

“I write about life after the

death of my child.

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve

been offered toys or clothes for him

to review.”

“I get an email that

doesn’t have my name on it, I know they

haven’t looked at my blog properly

and they follow up with

‘I love your blog’, well you quite

clearly don’t as you don’t even

know my name!”

irrelevant approaches

Common gripes

Unclear pitches waste influencers time (20 hours) and put them off responding (20-100 brand emails a day)

“Dear Blogger”.. Lack of research Not reading ‘about me’ section, reading posts or Watching recent vlogs to ‘get them’Not aligning brand with area of interest

Blanket Press releases

irrelevant approaches

  

“If you have a successful blog,

it’s really easy to get insulted if they reel off a

list of demands and then say

they’re going to share it on their

social media channels as a

reward. There’s no payment or

benefit apart from ‘exposure’. It’s easy to get annoyed with

offers like that.”

inadequate budget/expecting

influencers to work for free

“When you realise how much is spent

on events you think, why did you

do a launch event...

Why didn’t you just pay your influencers?

Especially when you’ve paid to get

there and arranged

childcare. This is one of the

reasons I’ve moved away from

working with brands.”

Just, no…

Assuming exposure on your social channels is ‘payment’ or enough

Confusing hobbyists from business bloggers

Thinking press relations and influencer relations are the same

Acceptable budget for blog or vlog ill understood

Brands not paying

High Demands for low reward

inadequate budget/ expecting influencers to work for free“What tends to happen is you get

along the line discussing the project but the brand will say: ‘we don’t pay influencers’

or ‘maybe payment is

something for the future,’ but for now,

if you just do this for us.”

What about editorial and creative control?“I switch off when they

approach with a list of demands; you must attend

this launch event, you must say this, this and

this, you must achieve this

much engagement,

but this is what’s in it for you. It’s never

worth anything.”

What about creative and editorial control?

It’s not a creative ‘partnership’, you’re following guidelines and broadcasting for them

They think they have rights on your opinion

My community wants to hear what I have to say, not what a company wants to say

selling out and managing fall-out with followers who complain

View from a vlogger

“I found some of them rude, dismissive and stuck-up. They would only accept invitations to Michelin stars, insist on certain dishes and would take a long time to feed back any reviews at all.”

What brands said…

What brands said.. “It is hard to

know whether the influencer

you are approaching is

going to want a fee or will be

offended by the suggestion that this would be a

commercial relationship.”

What brands said.. “Influencers can extend your reach, widen your audience base and

ultimately, increase your profit through word of mouth alone but we always ensured they mentioned us in as organic a way as

possible.”

It’s difficult to know How to approach and build a relationship

A poor review could have severe consequences for our business

I don’t know if I’m offending them if I offer payment

Bigger influencers are hard to work with

What do brands really think about working with influencers?

Why getting the influencer relationship right is important• Introducing centennials…

• The oldest of centennials are just starting work

• Centennials are first mobile native generation and grew up with social

• A PowerReviews study found 52% of centennials seek reviews on third party blogs before they make a purchase.

• a Forbes study found 33% of millennials rely mostly on blogs before they make a purchase.

• Social media, YouTube, unboxing videos, blogs, reviews, are an important step in the buyer’s journey

• Digital stars becoming more popular than mainstream celebrities taking over influencer lists (Variety survey)

How to get the influencer relationship rightBrands need to Send a clear pitch.

Detail what you want, by when, and with what budget

But Influencers also need to be upfront about fees and expectations from the outset

Review influencers content across ALL their platforms to understand who they are and if you align before approaching

Give more editorial freedom to create unique content. co-create it. no-one wants manufactured content

Avoid quick-hit engagement and focus on building longer-term relationships

Thank you!

@contentprlover@brandcontentuk