Are social influencers becoming too obvious? How to make it work!

Social influencers to many are a new phenomenon. Appearing from the depths of Youtube and Instagram, they’re the trendy new way of marketing your brand. Where years ago you may have gone to a celebrity to endorse your product, now the ‘go to’ people to approach are social influencers.

In recent weeks, we saw socialite and ex husband of Kourtney Kardashian take to Instagram to promote Bootea. However as well as posting the caption he was told to he also accidentally posted the instructions he’d received as well. Cringe.

And with that we have a perfect example of how many people believe social influencer marketing to work. However it doesn’t have to be like that, brands don’t need to spoon feed influencers, working with others should be natural and reflect your companies values.

Be transparent

If it’s an ad, say it’s an ad. Legally, paid for or sponsored youtube videos have to be declared as an advert. Failing to declare this can lead to hefty fines, for your company and for those you’ve worked with.

Not only is it the law, it also makes you business look pretty shady not being honest about your advertising and despite what you might believe, it’s very obvious when an ad is an ad and not an original post.

Work with the right influencers 

Don’t just work with an influencer because of their follower count, whilst having a large number of people to reach out to is important, more importantly you want to work with people who represent your values.

If you’re a company who works in the health and wellbeing industry, then you should align your brand with someone who’s values reflect that same as yours, such as a fitness blogger or health writer. Don’t just work with those who are trendy or popular, do your research and find the right influencer for you.

More than paid posts

Be creative with your marketing, your brand has so much to offer than paid or sponsored posts. Whilst paid posts are great, you should have a much more thoughtful and compelling idea when it comes to influencer marketing.

Everyone can offer paid posts, a quick little Instagram photo or youtube review, won’t cut it. With so many people now paying influencers to do these things, to stand out you need to be different.

Trust your influencers 

Unlike Bootea, you need to trust your influencers, trust them to write their own messages at a time they choose. You don’t have to tell them exactly what to say they’re capable of promoting your brand in their own words, making the ad seem more natural and relatable.

If your influencers reputation on the line as well as yours and if they want to stay credible then they need to do a good job too, it’s unlikely your influencers would do something you wouldn’t.

Working with influencers can be great for opening doors, however you need to remember not to overdo it, don’t just work with anyone in order to get found, create a plan and stick with it and you’ll be reaching new audiences in no time.