From the OG days of RSS feeds to today’s highly monetized ecosystem of LTK and sponsored posts, we’ve had our fair share of experience in the influencer marketing world and have our own expert opinion on how to navigate it. Haute In Texas CEO and Founder, Aquila Mendez-Valdez gave her own take in The Telegraph’s recent article, ‘Inside the grubby world of influencer advertising.’ after a UK influencer was caught up in a bit of a scandal.
The Basics
Let’s start with what influencer marketing and advertising is. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, influencer marketing is the process of promoting and selling products or services through individuals capable of driving action from your target audience. The definition broadens even more when you get into the differences between micro, macro and mega influencers, as well as brand ambassadors. If you’d like to read up more on these, check out our blog Influencers vs. Brand Ambassadors, what’s the difference?
Strategies
The Telegraph article states that “within the world of influencer advertising, there are an array of approaches and strategies a company can take. Mendez-Valdez states, “We worked with an automobile company that flew a bevy of influencers out to Los Angeles for the launch of their new model, and the only requirement they had was for the influencers to enjoy themselves and post if they’d like to,” she explains. “We did have to have all content approved, but there was not a strict requirement of the number of posts made.”
On the other side of the spectrum are the companies that have strict stipulations for the kind of content that they expect, often providing tiered structures to determine the costs per social media post – which can vary from Instagram main grid posts, stories and reels, explains tech and travel PR Karolina Throssell.
For instance, during Covid times, Mendez-Valdez worked with a large US supermarket chain, and they paid influencers approximately $2,000 per single Instagram static post. In terms of influencer’s own tailored media packages, she provided an example that a foodie influencer with 56k followers had a set rate of $2500 for posting an Instagram static post, with a giveaway component and Facebook and Instagram stories amplification included.”
Grubby or a go to tactic?
So how do you avoid having a “grubby” experience in influencer marketing? Whether you’re taking a laxer approach or a more defined one, it’s important you consider a few things. First, what are your expectations? If you’re looking to receive a good portfolio of content that your company can reuse, then creating an agreement with a certain number of posts or UGC, User-Generated Content, would be a good way to go. If your company would rather create a memorable experience, or lush vibe then following the lead of the automobile company may be a better suited plan for you. In this case, it’s possible that content will be more authentic because it’s not a requirement, or it could be minimal for the same reason. There is no wrong course of action. What’s important is keeping in mind what you would like the end result of your influencer advertising campaign to be, and then following the right steps to achieve that.
Influencer advertising is a relatively new, and to some, a crazy world. We find it very to be a valuable strategy in our PR and Marketing agency and have seen great successes come from it. To gain more insights into influencers, check out our blog, A Day in the life of an Influencer.
