Here's what you need to know to maximise influencer marketing:

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How to Negotiate with Influencers on a Reduced Budget?

Usually what we recommend when working on first time collaborations with a new influencer is to ask for IG story posts. A story post is often easier to get as the commitment from the influencer is lower. Keep in mind that the feed is often a holy place for influencers.

The pictures which will be posted on the feed are often well thought through and only the best pictures make it to the feed. This puts additional pressure on the influencers when creating product placed / promotional content. As a story post expires after 24 hours the influencer is often more lenient to smaller budgets as it is more convenient for them to post.

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When to Offer Fixed Payments to Influencers?

‍When working on seasonality campaigns (e.g. Black Friday, Mother’s day, Valentine’s day) and with influencers (which are performing well), it is often more cost effective to bundle the posts together into a package. Think how the offer towards the influencer is perceived. With a package the total earnings looks more attractive and they might care less about posting a couple of times.

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How to Maximise ROI with Influencer Marketing?

‍There are always influencers who ask for fixed payments and influencers who are open to working with you on a product exchange basis. In your initial outreach when working with new influencers it could be beneficial to only mention the product, affiliate commission and the discount code.

This way you can onboard the influencers which are open to post based on a product exchange with affiliate commission. You could offer a fixed payment in your follow up email or if the influencer mentions that they only work with fixed payments.

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What Medium Should You Use for Influencer Marketing?

‍On Instagram, we usually recommend to leverage story posts over feed posts. The main advantage of story posts is the CTA (Call to action). Using link stickers you can direct the traffic to your store in order to maximise conversions. When working with feed posts or other media types if the CTA (direct link to your store) is missing it can have a negative effect on conversions.

In order to maximise your ROAS with influencer marketing, leverage stories where you can make use of link stickers to direct the traffic directly to your store. Another advantage of Instagram story posts is that it is often easier to receive a post. The cost is often lower which can be explained by the fact that it is more convenient for the influencer to post a story.

At the same time the fact that the story expires after 24 hours creates FOMO (fear of missing out) and urgency which are both strong drivers for conversions.

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Use Exclusivity to Improve Performance

‍One of your objectives is to set up a system which enables you to maximise the closing rate (the number of influencers which want to work with you). Once you have convinced influencers to be part of the campaign, making it an exclusive campaign and giving it certain perks helps to increase overall influencer excitement for the campaign which translates into higher campaign performance overall. Create certain perks, special offers and VIP access for influencers so they get the special treatment they deserve.

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Personalisation is Crucial

‍Personalise as much as you can. Whenever you can use personalised data tags use them. No one wants to be treated just like one of many, especially not influencers. If you are able to personalise the package you ship to the influencers we would highly recommend putting that extra effort in.

Add a personalised card thanking them for the partnership and use the most premium packaging etc. which can further help to increase the performance of the post. If you are using a 3rd party fulfilment centre which makes it tricky to add personalised cards we recommend using thanks.io which enables you to automatically set up a flow which sends a personalised postcards to your influencer using data tags.

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How to Work with Talent Managers and Agencies Representing Influencers?

‍Talent managers and talent agencies are often the gatekeepers for larger influencers. Whenever you receive a reply from a talent agent or manager you know that the negotiation won’t be easy. The simple fact is that the talent manager / agencies are in most cases compensated by taking a percentage from your budget.

This means that their main objective is to maximise your spend. The interest of the influencer and the manager / agent is not always aligned. In order to succeed we recommend always keeping the influencer in CC when talking to a manager / agency. Keep in mind that the value of the products you offer has no value at all for the manager.

Keep the Influencer in CC

By keeping the influencer in CC, if the influencer is interested enough in the product and notices that the deal is not going through because of your limited budget, they might inform their agent / manager that they would still be interested in the partnership. Once you are working with the influencer make sure to build up a relationship with the manager / agency as well.

Offering a free product for the manager as an additional gift or offering other forms of benefits for the manager often help to win them on your side. Always consider the interests of all parties involved in order to come to an agreement.

Read a step-by-step approach for creating a performance-driven influencer marketing program in our Ultimate Influencer Marketing Guide here.