Chapter 10: Influencers
When it comes time for the influencer posts to go up, there’s a couple things to keep in mind. First, make sure your company social media accounts are tagged both in the caption and in the image (if on Instagram). Influencer promotions can be a great way to drive loads of traffic to your social accounts, providing you with a solid chance to legitimize your social presence and gain your following. This is why it’s so critical to have a robust social media strategy for your brand. If traffic from influencer promotions points towards a crappy looking brand account with little engagement, followers, or social presence, your conversion rate from the promotion could seriously suffer. Always make sure your social accounts (and website) are prepared to receive high levels of traffic from promotions, so you can maximize social proof and minimize your bounce rate.
Another cool feature that influencers may offer is the “Business Partner” tag on Instagram. When an influencer posts branded content, they have the option to add your brand as a “Business Partner”. The post will display a badge showing “in paid partnership with _____”, and will actually allow you to promote that post via IG post promotions. This means you can run ads through the influencer’s social account, leveraging their social standing and credibility to gain more eyes for your branded content. Putting money behind a post from a well-known name can be a huge opportunity for boosting brand awareness and conversion rate.
The final and most powerful type of tag on social media (Instagram specifically) is a “Collab Post”. Collab posts show up both on your profile and the influencer’s, with the top of the post showing both of your accounts as the post originators. This is the most seamless type of integration Instagram offers for branded content, and also allows you to have the post display on your own profile, boosting your engagement and account activity drastically (assuming the influencer is more popular than your brand account).
Not all influencers will be willing to offer all of these integrations, so this is something you will need to go over in the negotiation process with the relevant agents.