originally posted to www.carnsight.com

As Digital PR continues to be a success, more and more brands are looking to influencers to help amplify their message. This can be a highly effective way of building credibility, but you have to be careful. It’s always best to take your time when planning a collaboration, as a rushed partnership could associate your brand with someone who doesn’t actually align with your brand’s core values and messaging.  

Here are our top tips for fostering creative collaborations: 

Make sure the influencer collaboration aligns with your goals and audience. 

Not every partnership would be beneficial for your brand’s message. If you want to promote a beauty product targeted at middle-aged women, then a young male influencer is going to create a disconnect. Make it clear what it is you actually want to achieve through a collaboration with an influencer. If you want a specific influencer, who has never done a product review on their socials, then the chances are they won’t promote your product either. However, that same influencer may be helpful in boosting your overall engagement, or increasing your brand awareness. But remember, define your goal before you pick your influencer; don’t pick an influencer and try to define a goal around them.  

Research, research, research.  

Your influencer won’t be a quick Google search away, so be prepared to dedicate time and resources to finding the perfect creative collaboration. Your research should be thorough: Is the influencer linked to any controversy that could negatively impact on your brand? What platform is the influencer most active on? Does this influencer align with your brand? Does this influencer’s audience align with your brand?  

It’s also important to look back through their previous collaborations – do they seem like a genuine, trustworthy person? What was their engagement rate like on collaborations for previous companies? This is where follower count is not overly important, but more so how active their audience is. A smaller following with higher engagement will deliver better results than influencers with large but passive followings.  

Show the influencer you’ve done your research. 

There’s no point doing a deep dive into an influencer’s background just to send them a generic message. Tailor your message to show you understand the influencer’s content, audience and style. Be complimentary, but not overly eager! Just highlight what exactly it is you admire about their content, and how that aligns with your brand’s values. After you propose the partnership, make sure you explain the mutual benefit for both you and the influencer – they have to know what’s in it for them.  

Some influencers may be hard to reach, especially with the rise of closed DMs. In some cases, it may be easier to find their agent, as their agent is more likely to have a visible email address.  

After the creative collaboration is over, make sure to keep in touch. Maintaining relationships is key, and will save you much more time if a second collaboration rolls around. And if you want to track the success of the collab, have a look at Leigh-Ann’s blog on social media statistics, and what goal they are useful towards.  

For more ideas, have a look at Modash, which gives a complete guide for collaborating with influencers.

About Carnsight Communications

At Carnsight Communications we create strategies and campaigns to showcase our clients’ brilliant work through PR, content and social media. We help them get noticed by the right audience, at the right time. We specialise in creative agency PR.