3 Must-Dos for Your First Successful Sponsored Content Push
To wrap things up, we’ll highlight some considerations and first steps to take if you’re serious about sponsored content.
1. Determine Your Goals, KPIs, and Budget
Just like any type of ad campaign, you need to figure out what you want to get out of your investment.
Sure, influencer marketing is cost-effective by design. That doesn’t mean you can afford to ignore the planning phase of your campaign.
For example, what are your goals? Are you more concerned with brand awareness or scoring sales?
And on that note, which metrics will determine whether or not your campaign is a success? For example, one influencer campaign might focus primarily on engagement and impressions while another focuses solely on payments.
Speaking of payments, it’s also important to determine what you’re willing to spend and how you plan on compensating influencers taking part in your marketing push.
As a side note, a platform like IZEA can help you hash out and track all of the above. Doing so makes your campaigns more data-driven and measurable, meaning you can quickly determine the ROI for any given sponsorship.
2. Choose Sponsorship Partners That Make Sense for Your Brand
The process of finding influencers can be downright daunting, especially if you’re trying to do it “by hand.” As a starting point, consider the following three parameters for your search:
- Follower count and engagement. Note that different tiers of influencers have their ups and downs and follow count isn’t the be-all, end-all of what an influencer is worth.
- Platform. In most cases, it makes sense to push for sponsorships on platforms where you already have an existing presence.
- Voice, values, and audience. Does the influencer’s tone reflect your own? Do they share an audience that fits your customer demographics?
Again, searching for influencers can be a massive time-sink. We can’t stress enough how much IZEA streamlines the process. Allowing you to search by follower size, platform, tags, and more, you can find the right influencers in a snap.
3. Communicate Goals and Expectations with Influencers
Keep in mind that creating sponsored content is a two-way street. Although influencers are responsible for the actual publication of content, consider that you’re on the hook for creative direction, deliverables, and instructions to make the campaign a success. Influencers can do a lot of the heavy lifting, but they can’t do much without your support.
But this again speaks to the upside of working through IZEA. With a vetted roster of influencers with legitimate engagement, you can easily find a balance between providing input and giving creators room to do their thing.
