3 Helpful Influencer Relationship Management Tips

We had a fantastic Consumer Influencer Marketing Huddle a couple of weeks ago, with insightful workshops, talks and panel discussions on influencer marketing that we have to share. An interesting section of the morning was our influencer panel, where we invited industry-working influencers to share their thoughts on influencer relationship management (IRM) best practice.

We asked 3 influencers who work in the fashion, travel and lifestyle sectors their opinion of how to get the most out of a brand and influencer collaboration. Lizzie Woodman who is a lifestyle freelance writer and blogger, Rohiny Belani who is a fashion/travel influencer and Claire Durrant who focuses on health and lifestyle. Here are some of their key insights:

When brands choose influencers, what do you think are the most important metrics?

Follower count is no longer a top priority. Many brands still believe this to be the most important metric but, as the industry is maturing, we are seeing more brands choose nano influencers – those with fewer than 10k followers – to promote their brand, which is an approach that OST advocates.

There are several other metrics that brands refer to in selecting influencers. The main one our influencers focused on was their engagement level. How many engagements do they typically get per post? What is this as as percentage of their followers? Brands also increasingly look at how much influencers engage with their audience. Do they reply to comments? Do they comment on others posts?

That said, follower count is still used as the primary means of categorising influencers. Not sure how influencers can be categorised? Try OST’s handy visual guide below:

When it comes to their fee do you base it on audience size, or just pay for their time?

Influencer payment has always been a grey area. There is no standard price guide for payment; it’s very individual to each influencer, brand and campaign budget.

Audience size does play a part in payment calculations, but brands are increasingly looking at more sophisticated validation that the content will actually gain awareness. Influencers that command highly engaged audiences can often bargain for larger fees.

Brands are also becoming more aware of the time it takes influencers to create content. Fees can vary based on questions such as: What type of content do we need? (e.g. video, photos…) Is it just one post, or a series of posts? How many social channels are included?

Lizzie explained that she creates a ‘package’ where one price covers a certain number of social posts, a blog post and several images. She gives the brand the right to use her images and their fee covers her time to create the content. This is a clear way of making sure both sides know exactly what the price and output is.

How can brands maintain their relationship with influencers in between paid opportunities?

Influencers understand that brands have different budgets for their influencer programmes. However it is important to maintain a relationship even if the brand isn’t paying the influencer every time. Just keeping up to date with the influencer’s posts and engaging with them can keep the door open for next time.

Gifting is also a great way to keep a relationship going. If the relationship is strong, sending the influencer new products to try without offering a fee, can result in organic stories/posts. Or why not take it old school? Simply calling or emailing regularly to keep up-to-date with their current projects and areas of interest is a great way to keep that relationship strong.

For more insights, head over to one of our previous posts – e.g. 6 tips for influencer marketing. If you need influencer marketing advice or support, feel free to contact us.