How to Create Effective Influencer Collaborations

in Influencer Marketing

Influencer collaborations are a great way to expand your marketing efforts and reach for your business. More and more companies are hopping on the influencer bandwagon, and for good reasons. Lots of brands are seeing great success with influencer campaigns, like subscription-based company FabFitFun and so many more.

So what makes an influencer collaboration effective for your business? What steps do you need to take to make sure the partnership is worth your while and marketing dollars?

See below for strategies, ideas and more to implement within your team for your next campaign.

Finding the Right Influencers for Your Brand

A key part of effective collaboration is finding the right influencer for your brand. You want to tie yourself to influencers who not only understand your product or company but also your audience. Most influencers have a devoted fan base and understand their audience’s wants and needs.

Depending on your campaign or marketing budget, this will determine what type of influencer you can partner with. Your company may have the opportunity to work with a larger influencer such as a celebrity or need to connect through a smaller scale partnership with a micro-influencer.

Learn more about the different types of influencers out there through our Ultimate Influencer Marketing Guide!

Regardless of your budget or qualifications for your influencer, Sideqik can help you discover the perfect fit. Our platform’s Discovery feature allows you to search for relevant influencers with easy keyword search functionality. Search by interests, location, brand affinity, and more.

Sideqik Discovery also helps you understand your influencer’s audience to ensure they align with your brand to set your partnership up for success moving forward.

The Key: Treat Influencers as the Experts in their Area

Because they are! Your influencers have a more accurate picture of your ideal customer/audience because they interact with this group every day. Don’t overlook this super beneficial aspect of utilizing an influencer for your latest campaign or product launch. Begin a dialog with them to receive feedback about your promotional efforts to see what could work best for getting the word out there and increasing company sales.

You have to keep in mind that influencers aren’t just hired contractors–they’re part of your brand and your team. So long as you acknowledge the work and expertise that an influencer has, you’ll be able to use it to your business’s advantage. That kind of respect, after all, lays the foundation for a lasting relationship between your business and your influencer. If you establish it from the get-go, your consumers will come to see it, too.

Types of Collaborations

There are multiple types of collaborations out there that you can use for your influencer partnership. Review the various types below to see what is the best option for your business.

Discount Codes

Present your influencer with a unique discount code for them to share online with their audience. This specific code is a great way for you to track new customers that come to your business from the influencer, but part of your agreement with the influencer could involve a percentage or commission off of the sales completed using the code.

Giveaway Contests

Provide your influencer with a gift to share with their followers and give them the opportunity to enter to win your products for free. Guidelines for participating in the giveaway could include that they must follow the influencer on social media as well as your brand can lead to an increase in followers and extended exposure.

Live Stream Events

Your influencer can promote live stream events where they can complete an “unboxing” of the products you send them or share their experience with your brand during a live broadcast on their social channel. A live event is also a great way to partner with your influencer to see what ideas they come up with!

Encourage Influencers to Collaborate with Each Other

Another route you could take with your influencer marketing is connecting other influencers on your team with one another to collaborate on a campaign or new promotion. This is the perfect opportunity to allow your influencers to show off their expertise in this area to really connect with followers and expand your audience reach.

When it comes to your marketing plan, there is no “right way” to partner with an influencer, but there are certainly ways to make sure the partnership is a success by selecting the right influencer. Be sure to use the Sideqik platform to help make the selection process easier!

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Nancy Rothman

Nancy is a passionate, results-driven marketing executive with more than a decade of experience in building robust integrated marketing programs for brands of all sizes, with specific expertise in the martech space. Prior to Sideqik, Nancy held roles at four successful martech startups, each of which received multiple series of fundraising and included two acquisitions. At CallRail, specifically, Nancy served as the director of marketing where she built the company’s brand and established it as a leader in its space. She also held roles at MeetEdgar, where she oversaw the entire sales and marketing practice, increasing the company's user base and annual recurring revenue, as well as PureCars, which was acquired by Raycom Media in 2015. As vice president of marketing for Sideqik, Nancy is responsible for developing and executing on the company's marketing strategy to drive overall business growth.