Influencer has become a bad word.
Even local influencers in Trinidad & Tobago don't use the term to describe themselves and businesses have their hesitance when working with them.
Yet, there is no denying the high return on investment that can be obtained from a good brand relationship with an influencer when it's done right.
Here are some reasons people shared with us about their hesitance to working with an influencer and how you can work around it:
Fear of Bad Publicity
This was the most voted reason why companies did not want to work with influencers. This is a justified fear and one we see time and time again with YouTubers and brands. However, there are ways to avoid it.
First off is research, companies should do thorough online and person to person research to gauge how that influencer is perceived by the public and if they have any prior bad publicity. This is a typical practice for many businesses however, it needs to be a thorough sweep of the influencers prior posts, tweets about that influencer and any articles discussing them and their work.
This is one of the best ways to ensure that your company avoids a PR nightmare and more importantly it will also help the company gauge whether the influencer is a good fit for their goals and overall brand image.
No Return on Investment
Especially with local influencers, many companies aren't sure how they will see any benefit from the partnership. This can all be solved by two factors:
Potential Target Audience: research and ensure that the influencer you are working with has a following that matches your target audience. This is will help increase chances of conversions because you already know that the audience matches your ideal target market. In many cases, you can request that the influencer give you certain statistics on their audience such as age, gender, interests and location and this will help you verify if their audience is the right match.
Set Metrics: to track if the partnership was worthwhile companies have to use data. This data can be found by using certain metrics such as affiliate links, trackable links, website click metrics, discount codes specifically for their audience and more. Using metrics like these will help the company measure the success of the campaign and that data can also help the company and influencer see what could be done better in the future for more conversions.
They Will Affect the Brand's Identity
One of the most important factors to any partnership is brand alignment. No matter the size of the company, there must be an effort to ensure that the influencer aligns with the brand's identity and values.
For example: if your brand stands for honesty and integrity then working with an influencer who is known for being funny and edgy may not be a good fit.
Finding someone who reflects your company's values is a sure way to ensure that the partnership is effective and avoids any miscommunication with the public about your brand. This step also requires research and often conversations with influencers to determine whether the partnership is worth it.
What other factors do you think businesses should check before working with local influencers?
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