Want a successful influencer marketing program? You only need to make one decision.
Run a quick Google search on influencer marketing, and pages of headlines will pop up.
“10 Steps for the Perfect Influencer Marketing Program,” and “5 tips to nail your next Influencer Marketing campaign,” or the tantalizing, “Insider Secrets of Influencer Marketing.”
There is one secret we can share with you now: there are no real “insider secrets” when it comes to influencer marketing.
There are no ten special steps, 5 top tips, or ultimate guide that needs to be memorized to secure success.
There is only one decision you need to make for your influencer program: do you want to pay an influencer just to produce content, or do you want to pay for the performance of that content?
If you are okay with just paying for the content, then this could entail spending between $1,000 – $5,000 for a single blog post or video and upwards of $500 for sponsored Instagram or Snapchat post.
These offerings are simply content buys and they have no guarantees of engagement, impressions, reach or any other kind of ROI. In addition, many influencers who charge flat fees for creating sponsored content will not allow you to repurpose this content either, or you will have the rights to re-use their content in a very limited capacity.
Ready to see what’s behind door number two?
Paying for performance is the number one, bulletproof way to have an influencer program that you will be proud to show off. It means that instead of compensating influencers just for creating the content, you compensate them for delivering results (e.g. visits to a landing page, impressions, comments, social shares, conversions, etc.)
Because the influencers you work with are only compensated for the actions that people take around their sponsored content, they have a real stake in the outcome of the campaign. They will create their content with performance in mind, as your success is now their success.
Influencers have become influential because they understand how to create content that resonates with their followers, and this is exactly what they will create for your sponsored program. If you structure the campaign with the right goals and incentives, then the text, imagery, and other multimedia assets will be fine tuned to share your story or message in a way that draws in a reader and leaves a lasting impression.
To learn more about the results that we’ve has been able to drive for leading national brands through performance-based influencer marketing, check out Linqia’s Campaign Spotlights.
