With influencer marketing campaigns flooding our feeds, it is essential that influencers are creating personal and effective content that resonates with their own 'brand' in addition to the brand they are collaboratively working with. Consumers are savvy and acutely aware of brand endorsements and flat product mentions.
Over 60% of consumers believe authenticity is the most important attribute for an influencer campaign - Consumers are influenced by the creators they choose to follow, largely because they relate to them, and therefore trust them. Therefore, influencers need to ensure content is true to their own aesthetic, with the times and stands out from the crowd.
So, here are a few things to consider to spice up your coming brand campaigns.
Quality of content - explore video
In order to stand out from the crowd, it is important to think about the bigger picture with campaign ideation. We know that good creativity helps brands win the attention economy and influencers are best placed to deliver relevant content to their audience, helping brands capture it. In the current social environment, we often get distracted by the noise and block out 'blue sky' thinking.
There is no denying that video is the future of Instagram as the best form of 'digestible' content that drives targeted reach and engagement. YouTube is continually relied on as a form of media that educates consumers about products, shows the experience associated with the product and how it slots into an everyday lifestyle.
Investing time in learning how to take better photos, shoot videos and how to edit them is an essential learning process that is integral to being a content creator. Explore new apps like Tik Tok, and experiment with video in your Instagram feed and stories - stop-motion, cinema graphs, are all brilliant ways of using video to creatively put your message across. Do your research - look at other content creators and see what they are doing, look at the brands you want to work with and see what the talent they select create for them as inspiration.
Personalisation - authenticity is key
It is essential to consider who is at the heart of the story of a campaign, and providing an authentic, relatable side to a brand campaign through influencer marketing is becoming an integral part of brand marketing, in order to build trust and target a newer and larger community. Only 22% of people trust brands themselves, and the vast majority of modern consumers look to influencers for relatable and true feedback on products. The power of social influence relies on its authenticity, so it is key to put a personal twist on any campaign, so it fits well with the influencer's audience.
Trust is a key factor to successful influencer campaigns - not just in the approach and relationship marketers hold with influencers but in the content and messaging they authentically produce together.
It is vital to ensure you are showing both your personal voice whilst communicating about a brand. It’s important to be consistent and authentic, to make sure your point of view is clear and that you are invested in your audience.
We know that editing is part of the process, and this is all relative according to the type of content you create - if your USP is unedited raw images, then posting highly edited content is going to stand out for the wrong reasons. It's all about maintaining a balance, and ensuring you are true to yourself, and your audience.
Expressing yourself through copy
Captions cultivate a connection with your followers - if you are sharing how an image was made, offer advice or explain how you are feeling - they add value and help your audience to get to know you better. Captions give you the chance to offer your followers something more and allow your followers to accompany you on a journey with you, making yourself a little more relatable.
With the Instagram algorithm a hot topic amongst brands and influencers, we do know that the algorithm favours engagement. Ask questions, longer captions will ensure followers spend longer on your post-test and see what works better, whilst staying true to what you want to communicate. This combined with the right hashtags allows your content to be found by new consumers, and are highly relevant.
Interested in Influencer campaigns? Or looking to work with interesting brands to create authentic and creative content? Look no further, contact us today.
hello@theinfluenceroom.com
