ment and exposure, as well as a deep understanding of the influencer’s audience and how that audience can be motivated. Investing in building a relationship with an influencer that’s not a good match for your brand is simply throwing money away– a strong foundation of research and data is key. 2. Take contracts and compliance seriously
Exercising control over influencers is a controversial topic. We need as an industry to agree on ways of working and ethical guidelines that protect our clients from non-compliant influencers. Conversely, influencers need to protect their own position and reputation by ensur-
ing that they are working with ethical brands that understand the paramount importance of creating transparent, authentic, and meaningful relationships. The risk to the industry is enormous if we don’t get this right, particularly if advertisers and brands feel that the industry is behaving in a less-than-ethical fashion. It is essential that everyone -brands, digital agencies, public relations firms, and influencer marketing companies- toe the line. Playing by the rules means more and better business for influencers, so it’s clearly in their best interests to do so. That’s especially important as the cult of the super influencer emerges. >>>
It’s a two-way street It’s not just the brands- influencers need to protect themselves too
www.instagram.com
By Kristin Wong-Ward
So where should you start? Here are four avenues to explore: 1. Invest time in identifying the right kind of influencer
When you’re venturing into new territory, it’s helpful to start by building a structure for your strategic development. At Edelman, we use a methodology called Fluency, which guides you through mapping influencers against reach, resonance,
and relevance and then plots them against a specific role within the communications mix. By developing this kind of framework, it becomes a lot easier to not only create an approach that works for your business but also create metrics that support the investment in the strategy. These metrics are crucial. It is our collective responsibility to really understand the metrics for success and ROI with influencers. Deals should be based on align-
Who’s going to defend the interests of the digital influencers? We often talk about the importance of legal contracts that protect brands when dealing with influencers. The argument often made is that brands must demand full control, and be contractually clear that the influencer was hired to promote a positive image about the product. It sounds good at first glance, but as someone who has been working in the digital marketing arena for years, I would ask: who’s protecting the influencers? I’ve worked with digital influencers since the birth of this sector. While at the Hollywood production company that made Despicable Me, we hired a wacky YouTuber
in Hawaii named Ryan Higa. He came up with a slapstick skit incorporating Dave, one of the Minions. Tweens were obsessed with Higa, and his video got hundreds of thousands of views on its first day- big numbers for 2010. The film grossed US$450 million globally. Having run a major brand’s digitalmarketing division, I am well aware of what brands are looking for -and worried about- when they hitch their reputation to an individual whose job is to grab eyeballs. Now I’m based in Dubai, and I run a company that represents influencers and unites them with appropriate brands. What has struck me is that, especially in this region, influencers are often poorly utilized. >>>
march 2017 Entrepreneur
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