The 3 fundamental ingredients to build a successful influencer campaign.

I get often asked by brands what, based on my experience as a Senior Campaign Manager, guarantees a successful influencer campaign. Although I cannot give a unique answer and, as for any other social media campaign, the elements that make it successful are various, I have found the following three points fundamental to build up a successful and impactful influencer campaign:

1. Build authentic relationships with your influencers

The more the relationship with your influencers/creators is authentic and built up throughout time, the more likely they will create genuine and authentic content. First, because they will know you and your brand as if it was theirs and they will be able to express the brand’s essence better. Second, although influencers get paid for their partnerships, they show great appreciation and better results when involved in the brand’s events or when called in by brands for panel groups to give their feedback about existing or new products. 

My tip: since influencers themselves are and can be your consumers, why not involve them more into the creation or development of your product? The outcome of this will be a stronger relationship and super valuable feedback. And, I can tell you that more and more brands are currently doing this and asking me to help them find influencers to take part in their panel groups' events.

2. Brand affinity

Don't pay too much attention at the number of followers an influencer might have, but rather pay attention to their feed, their style, their voice. Are these in line with the values and the message that your brand wants to spread? If not, the creator’s followers will feel a mismatch between the product promoted and the person they are following and they will feel that as extremely inauthentic. Don’t take me wrong, it is common knowledge nowadays that influencers and social media creators get paid for products endorsement. However, if the product fits the influencer in terms of values, style, voice, the people who follow them will be more open to accepting the paid partnership and will trust the influencer’s opinion. 

To give you an example, last year I worked on a campaign for the famous Spanish wine brand "Campo Viejo". The goal of the campaign was to promote the new bottle created by graphic artists via an influencer activation. The bottle was a representation of the brand's values: vitality, color, happiness and freedom of expression. These same values needed to be expressed and represented by the selected influencers and this is why together with the brand we looked for those influencers with a high affinity to the brand. The outcomes were simply beautiful, natural and extremely authentic.

3. Let your influencers be the creators

If the above two points are strong enough, there is no need for you as a brand to superimpose your voice, your style or your feedback. Let your influencers create the content that best fits their feed, but which is still in line with the brand’s voice and style. If the influencers you selected are a great match for your brand/product, if they understand and feel engaged with the brand messaging and product, they will deliver great content as well as amazing results!