MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The reality of an influencer marketing campaign versus what actually happens behind the scenes can be murky to most people who do not work directly on such campaigns. With technology further widening this gap, it’s important to remember that more often than not, influencer marketing is a two-way relationship between a brand and an influencer. However, what goes on outside of each party’s purview can be better understood to deepen brand-influencer ties.
Here, AnyMind Group dives into what actually goes on behind the scenes for an influencer and discusses the importance of maintaining an influencer’s originality versus requirements and expectations of brands, all in a bid to balance the understanding on both sides of the brand-influencer equation.
Understanding the Execution Steps of an Influencer Marketing Campaign from an Influencer’s Point of View
During the ongoing pandemic, influencer marketing played a bigger role in the overall marketing landscape in the Philippines than anyone could have imagined in 2019. In fact, the growth of this industry opened opportunities for people who lost their jobs due to the pandemic and also provide new opportunities to those who are working from home. Since the lockdown, influencers in the Philippines have continuously grown in number, creating content across varied themes or verticals. In fact, our recently published influencer marketing report for the Philippines revealed that not only did influencers in the Philippines grow by close to 20% from 2020 to 2021, but also that influencers have grown their followings and moved into higher influencer tiers in the past year. From celebrities starting their own YouTube channels to professionals educating people through TikTok videos, this space continues to thrive and surprise.
A mid-tier influencer from the Philippines shared with us that: “influencer marketing is one of the commonly used strategies now by brands all over the world. It has been proven that through influencers, brands can achieve the goals of their campaigns with a more intimate approach to the market, and not to mention how it’s also cost-efficient.”
But what are the goings-on for influencers that marketers seldom have insight into? Here’s a typical process on how an influencer marketing campaign actually works from start to finish, as told from an influencer’s point of view:
- Project Inquiry – All campaigns start with a project inquiry. Brands would reach out to influencers to inquire about a certain campaign and ask for their rate. Influencers then ask for more details about the campaign and provide the rates depending on the deliverables asked. They sometimes ask the following questions to brands: “Is there a lock in period?” “Will I get to try the products?” and “What’s the timeline that I’ll have to adhere to?” Usually project inquiries are not yet final and are still pending the brand’s approval; at this point, brands are normally unable to commit to providing specific details yet.
- Campaign Confirmation and Briefing – Next will be a waiting period for the influencers about whether they will receive an update from the brand and if they are approved for the campaign. Then, he/she will receive the final brief with all of the specific details including the campaign objective, content requirements as well as the timeline.
- Production – Once both sides come to an understanding on the requirements, Influencers start to create their content for the campaign. This starts the process of storyboarding (if needed) and planning details such as sets, props, lighting, shot composition, and more. Some of them can be simple while some can be creative when it comes to creating content that is visually pleasing. There are also constant checks on whether the content fits the requirements of the brief and brand. Do take note that influencers don’t produce random content. They make sure that it fits their theme and feed, especially on Instagram.
- Draft Approval – Finishing a content doesn’t mean it can be posted immediately. Influencers still need to submit drafts to the brand for approval to get the final go-ahead.
- Revisions – Not all content is perfect, some need to be edited in order to get what the brand envisioned. Influencers revise their content based on the feedback and comments of the brand. It can be about product placement, the color of the clothes, the background, or the actual mood of the content. Revisions can also depend on what kind of content an influencer created, whether photo or video content. Usually, an acceptable number of content revisions to an influencer is around two revisions.
- Final Approval – Upon revising the content, influencers would pass it to the brand for final approval. This would determine if the content passed the expectation of the brand and is good for posting.
- Ready to Post – For the next step, the approved content can be posted by the influencers on their social media accounts. However, that’s not the end of the process!
- Keep Track of How the Content is Doing – Like marketers, influencers also keep track of how their content created on behalf of a brand (and of course other posted content) fares. Is it gaining follower reception and meeting the influencer’s expectation? Is there any negativity from the post that is brewing? Having a longer-term brand-to-influencer relationship means that the influencer can also provide a heads-up to the brand if reaction is not as expected.
- Usage of Learnings from this Post to Guide Future Posts – That’s not all influencers do! From learning about brand styles and expectations to seeing the intended impact amongst followers, an influencer will be able to form a more well-rounded base and learnings around the brand and even their overall content strategy.
Knowing this process and these steps would help brands understand more about how influencers work on their campaigns/projects. Creating content is not that easy, it needs a lot of effort, time, creativity, and passion in order to provide the best content for a brand.
On the other hand with influencer marketing platforms, especially those that build an ecosystem between brands and influencers, this process is made much more efficient around coordination and measurement of impact.
Balancing Brand Expectations Vs Influencer Originality
On both sides of the brand-influencer relationship equation lies the need to find balance. Balance between a brand’s expectations and an influencer’s identity. Both parties rely heavily on setting expectations: brands want to make sure that the performance metrics established with influencers for a specific campaign can be met, such as the quality of content, posting habits, and smooth execution of the campaign. Influencers on the other hand, do not only look at fair compensation for producing and publishing the desired content, but also whether the brand’s product offering matches with their followers, and the influencer’s expectations of that brand and their relationship towards the brand.
When brands allow influencers to creatively produce their own authentic content around liberating guidelines, the relationship between the two will flourish. Having a good relationship with each other means influencers will be more enticed to help strengthen the brand. In fact, we would go as far as to say that a brand should first influence an influencer before the influencer can influence their audience.
In this relationship, brands need to think of it as more than just a one-off promotion but a long-term relationship with influencers and their communities. Brands will definitely see wonderful results with their influencer marketing if they allow campaigns to be approached creatively by influencers, as long as they meet timelines and expectations. By creating this type of relationship, the outcome can effectively move the emotions of audiences, which is the goal of influencer marketing in the first place. So, building a strong rapport with the Influencers is crucial.
A common issue that we often hear from brands and influencers is around time. For influencers, there is an immense amount of time needed (and of course workload) to produce the best content that resounds with their audience, and so there is an expectation for brands to give them enough breathing room to create quality content. For brands, it’s all about getting the work done on time. There are cases wherein they have urgent timelines, which inadvertantly has a knock-on effect on the quality of content being produced.
The key takeaway from this is that it is always important for a brand to build a relationship with the influencer, and let the influencer connect the brand to their community. By turning an influencer into an advocate for your brand and convincing an influencer’s audience to become passionate about your brand and products, future campaigns will be more effective and impactful not just for branding but also for business results.
Rounding things up
It’s common for brands to lose sight of what happens on the other side of influencer marketing. For brands, it’s a matter of keeping in mind that you’re tapping on influencers to help you communicate to their audience. Their own relationships with audiences are not just one-off communication, but an ongoing conversation that creates intended actions or reactions. Brands that grasp this early-on stand to win in the long run.
