How to “Measure Benefits” and “Evaluate Effectiveness” of Influencer Marketing? As social media becomes an integral part of life, influencer marketing has become a pivotal brand strategy. However, executing influencer marketing involves numerous nuanced aspects. It is likely that brand owners have heard several “horror stories” related to collaborating with influencers, which can sometimes hinder brands from effectively executing influencer marketing campaigns.
To assist everyone in addressing concerns and issues during execution, KOL Radar has previously unveiled the “Influencer Marketing Platforms: Empowering Brands and KOLs” In this article, we delve into the communication, execution processes, interpretation of promotional efforts, and post-campaign effectiveness assessment when working with influencers. We offer new brand strategies and insights, enabling smoother execution of influencer marketing for future brands. Interested to know more? Read on!
Source：KOL Radar
As the formal collaboration phase begins, numerous issues surface, such as “discrepancies between expectations and delivered content” and “Can the range of endorsed products be expanded or modified?” These content-related uncertainties often trouble brands. What are the reasonable demands and which aspects of collaboration are potential pitfalls?
Cake, the Director of KOL Relationship at KOL Radar, offers advice based on their expertise and vast experience. Brands should treat influencer marketing as a formal partnership and establish contracts to protect the interests of both parties. In comparison to conventional media advertising collaborations, influencer marketing, which relies on individuals as the promotional medium, does provide greater flexibility and room for negotiation.
While brands indeed possess the right to propose modifications if the content quality is notably different from the specified guidelines, it is equally important for brands to adhere to contractual norms and respect the creators’ channel style and work schedule. Excessive and unreasonable alteration requests should be avoided. Allocating sufficient production time and flexibility allows creators to understand the product and showcase creativity. Naturally conveying collaborative content to the fan base is the key to achieving optimal marketing effectiveness.
Source：KOL Radar
How to Plan the Collaboration Timeline
After confirming collaboration requirements and content guidelines, setting a timeline is a crucial task. Planning a reasonable and ample proofreading period provides more flexibility for communication adjustments and possible unforeseen circumstances.
The collaboration timeline for each project can vary based on the “collaboration content” and “collaboration format.” For instance, beauty or skincare products often require time for creators to experience and test, while games may necessitate time for creators to practice and become familiar with the gameplay interface.
Additionally, the platform and format of collaboration between brands and creators can also influence the timeline. Drawing from KOL Radar‘s past collaboration experiences, the average timeline for photo and text collaborations is approximately 20 to 24 days, while video collaborations typically require about 25 to 38 days.
Considering the unique characteristics of their products and the chosen collaboration format, brands should allocate sufficient time for creators to thoroughly understand and experience the product. This allows for content planning and discussions with the brand, ensuring a seamless and successful partnership between both parties.
Attitude and Approach to Content Review
The most concerning issue for brands in influencer marketing collaborations is not achieving the expected results. Despite investing significant resources and carefully planning all strategies, brands may face situations where the creators’ interpretation of the product differs or the content style elements diverge from the brand’s ideal, resulting in imprecise promotional information. How should brands engage in discussions with creators?
After initially clarifying the desired content modifications, KOL Radar suggests that brands approach the situation with two overarching principles:
Firstly, consider whether there is a disparity between the content and the original choice of the creators (style, presentation, etc.). Sometimes, due to differing perceptions of the creators’ audience profile, brands may find it challenging to comprehend the unique communication approach between creators and their followers. In such cases, preserving the creators’ presentation style can often be more authentic and appealing to the fanbase.
Secondly, review the content guidelines and confirm if they align with the initial set conditions (e.g., mentioning moisturizing effects, presenting in a vlog/unboxing format, etc.). If discrepancies exist, brands can inquire if the creators have specific considerations and then proceed to discuss modification approaches. In cases where no violations occur, brands should provide detailed reasons and expectations for the modifications, assisting the creators in understanding the intended direction of the changes.
Source：KOL Radar
Creators may not possess a comprehensive understanding of a product’s concept, efficacy, or specialized functions. Similarly, internal brand teams might lack clarity on social media communication, video conceptualization, and the difficulty of modifications, leading to potential disagreement and misunderstandings in communication between both parties. This can result in a less smooth execution process and outcomes that fall short of expectations. Therefore, KOL Radar recommends entrusting these tasks to a professional influencer marketing team.
On one hand, brands can leverage KOL Radar’s extensive brand collaboration experience to understand the creator’s style and characteristics to ensure the quality of the outcome. On the other hand, our team is well-versed in the language and ecosystem of creators, aiding brands in effectively reducing communication costs related to modifications. This approach ensures that influencer marketing achieves its best possible outcomes.
Get Started with Our Free Consultation Service for Seamless Influencer Marketing Launch! https://www.kolradar.com/my/solution
Non-content Detail-Related Alterations
In the contract, many non-content-related details are typically outlined in detail, such as product items, promotion launch times, and exposure platforms. However, if there is a need for additional requirements or unforeseen circumstances arise, can the brand adjust these demands?
Based on experience, KOL Radar does not recommend making last-minute requests or modifications during collaborations, and there are two reasons for this:
Firstly, brands should approach influencer marketing with a formal partnership mindset. Influencers have their own work schedules and progress plans, and last-minute changes can inconvenience them and affect the brand’s image in the influencer’s eyes, potentially harming possible future collaboration projects.
Secondly, influencers have their own channel management strategies, such as posting at specific times (peak traffic periods) and controlling the number of endorsements (reducing commercialization). After confirming a collaboration, influencers take these factors into consideration. Introducing sudden changes like replacing products or forcefully altering launch times not only disrespects the influencer’s strategy but may also diminish the effectiveness of the collaboration.
However, given the presence of many external uncertainties, situations, where adjustments or modifications are necessary, cannot always be avoided. In such cases, brands should make efforts to minimize the scope of changes and collaborate with the influencer to find the most suitable solution for both parties.
Collaborative Promotional Period: Enhancing the Value of Influencer Marketing and Other Considerations
After the collaborative content goes live, many brands choose to leverage their partnership with influencers by further utilizing the produced content on various promotional channels to expand their reach and impact. What specific techniques can be employed for this purpose, and what precautions should be taken?
When establishing marketing objectives, brands should consider a comprehensive influencer marketing strategy (including SEO, offline events, advertising, etc.) to maximize the benefits of influencer collaboration. It is crucial to note that the reuse of influencer content should be discussed and clearly outlined in the contract before the collaboration. If a decision to reuse the content arises after the content has been published, it is essential to communicate with the influencer. Discussions about authorization and associated fees should take place to ensure that there are no concerns regarding copyright infringement.
Strategies and Approaches to Amplify Creators’ Impact After Going Live
Based on KOL Radar‘s experience in influencer marketing execution, it’s common practice to design marketing strategies early on. This not only makes influencer marketing more efficient but also allows for the designing of content and licensing fees when inviting influencers, enabling them to better leverage their social media influence. Reusing influencer content in alignment with brand marketing strategies can be achieved through several feasible approaches:
- Creator Community Advertising: Retargeting the existing original content of creators for precise engagement with the target audience.
- Brand Website Promotion: Utilizing the influencer’s reputation to enhance brand trust among consumers.
- Brand-Owned Media Reposting or Repurposing: Combining brand and product information with creators’ experiences and reviews to strengthen brand reputation.
- Sharing on Relevant Communities and Forums: Employing the influencer’s content to spark discussions within communities or forums, generating more significant brand visibility.
- Application in Offline Promotions: Utilizing creators’ collateral materials in physical channels, such as in-store signage, standees, and posters, to maximize the conversion of creators’ social media influence into offline advertising power.”
Respecting Influencers’ Intellectual Property Rights
Regardless of the chosen marketing approach, if there is any intention to utilize collaborative content with creators on channels not specified in the contract, it is essential to obtain the creators’ explicit consent before proceeding. Brands should establish a proper understanding of intellectual property rights: the intellectual property rights of the collaborative work still belong to creators and their teams.
In any subsequent usage, brands must meticulously confirm the acquired materials and the authorization terms for their application across different media channels, to prevent inadvertently infringing upon copyrights and potentially triggering legal or public relations issues for the brand.
Get Started with Our Free Consultation Service for Seamless Influencer Marketing Launch! https://www.kolradar.com/my/solution
Concluding a Collaboration: Interpreting the Effectiveness Data at the Conclusion of the Campaign
After the completion of any marketing project, assessing the effectiveness of the concluded campaign is a crucial step in the marketing process. Which metrics can help brands analyze and optimize their next marketing plan?
KOL Radar recommends that brands, upon concluding a campaign, first clarify the meaning of each indicator and categorize similar metrics for comparative analysis. Firstly, brands should gain an initial understanding of the campaign’s marketing performance, then delve into interaction effectiveness, gain insights into consumer preferences, and finally, compare the project with similar ones in the broader community. This approach enables a precise assessment of the value generated by the collaboration, helping to determine whether the marketing budget was well allocated. KOL Radar has compiled a list of various metrics and their representative meanings at the conclusion of a campaign to aid in a systematic analysis of project effectiveness.
Common Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Project Effectiveness
The effectiveness indicators for influencer marketing can generally be categorized into three main groups:
- Interactive Data: These statistics measure the interactive effects of creators’ collaborative content within the social community. They quantify the volume of conversation and consumer interactions generated by the collaboration.
- Performance Data: These metrics analyze numerical outcomes of the collaboration’s effectiveness. They evaluate the social media influence of the marketing campaign from a percentage perspective.
- Conversion Data: These metrics focus on cost-effectiveness by assessing the price-to-volume relationship and for example, evaluating whether the execution of influencer marketing strategies aligns with cost-effectiveness, such as Cost Per Engagement (CPE).
Source：KOL Radar
Collecting diverse data often requires a significant amount of time, and with the rapid changes in social media, continuously updating real-time data can burden marketing personnel and consume resources. Brands might consider using digital tools to assist with tracking and analysis. KOL Radar‘s Deep Report employs exclusive AI crawling technology to comprehensively consolidate various interaction performance indicators within creator collaborations. It automatically calculates performance data, aiding brands in swiftly grasping the ultimate outcomes of each project!
Read more:《AI Tracks Real-time Data and Automates Campaign Report for Influencer Marketing 》
Get Started with Our Free Consultation Service for Seamless Influencer Marketing Launch! https://www.kolradar.com/my/solution
Comment Text Cloud Analysis: Targeting Community Word-of-Mouth Benefits
By analyzing fan comments under creators’ posts, it’s possible to track the quantity and frequency of brand products and content-related keywords mentioned in the context of the current marketing campaign. This allows observation of the direction and sentiment of discussions among users about the collaborative content.
Leveraging this feedback helps gauge whether the creator has successfully aided the brand in creating a positive and effective product discourse within the community. Utilizing cutting-edge AI crawling technology, KOL Radar automates the collection of comments under creators’ project posts and compiles them into word cloud visualizations.
This assists brands in understanding the natural word-of-mouth benefits achieved through influencer marketing campaigns and aids in identifying optimal future collaboration candidates.
Taking a Holistic View of Comprehensive Data to Optimize Future Marketing Campaigns
In addition to analyzing social metrics for collaborative content, it’s essential to collect overall industry-wide creators’ performance data for the same time and context. By examining influencer marketing project effectiveness data from a panoramic perspective, brands can gain a comprehensive view. Using KOL Radar, brands can compare various project outcome indicators against industry benchmarks and provide more precise insight into project performance. This assessment can then guide the optimization of strategies, such as creator selection and platform choices, for more effective execution of influencer marketing in the future.
Source：KOL Radar
With an expert team specializing in influencer marketing, KOL Radar leverages its extensive experience and exclusive AI-powered influencer database of over 120,000 profiles to offer comprehensive influencer marketing services to brands. From initial planning and execution to concluding phases, KOL Radar effortlessly addresses all complexities of influencer marketing, ensuring brands achieve more efficient and seamless execution of their influencer marketing strategies.
Conclusion
Executing influencer marketing campaigns often comes with various uncertainties. When communicating and negotiating with influencers, the primary approach should be treating the influencer collaboration as a formal partnership. Adhering to the contract and empathizing with the other party’s perspective is crucial. Maintaining a positive working relationship allows both sides to work harmoniously and achieve maximum effectiveness in influencer marketing.
Interested in learning more about influencer marketing content strategies?
Feel free to consult with KOL Radar for free: https://www.kolradar.com/my
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