Turning Paid Influencers To Real Marketing ROI

Upon knowing that companies and influencers do work repeatedly together, an important relationship needs to be nurtured. Influencers should not be treated simply as freelancers, rather they are important strategic advisers or real brand ambassadors, according to Promise Phelon from Chief Marketer.

To sincerely invest in influencer marketing, the company must allow the influencers to speak to their audience freely. This approach exceeds traditional digital marketing. And, a new way to measure any brand’s success is in the willingness of those best influencers to join a company or brand, which is only possible from building great products, providing great services and giving importance as an end result.

A survey was conducted in Chief Marketer’s influencer network regarding what factors are most important when developing relationships with brands. Their responses were eye opening.

Money is not the SOLE driver

Out of all the respondents of the survey, 42% of them responded that aligning with the company’s core values was the top factor in deciding on which brands to partner with. Influencers prefer working with brands that have values which strongly relate to their own personal beliefs. Although they still want to be compensated fairly for their work, it is not the deciding factor. Surprisingly, only 11% of the respondents claimed payments and fees as the top factor for them.

Relationships MATTER

Greater than 87% of the respondents said that they had repeat marketing relationships with brands. So, why is this important? Clearly, genuine engagement works. By continued partnership with influencers, brands have seen a rise in lead volume, as well as in sales. This is also an indicator for influencers that those brands value their content. In fact, 41% of the respondents see a possibility of 25% to 75% repeat business with the brands they previously worked with.

Influencers’ currency is the content they are creating for brands

Some 12.8% of the respondents said that their total income is from their relationships with brands. These influencers deal with a unique currency called real content, and that is what pushes audience engagement.

Conclusion

For those still doubtful about an influencer’s impact to their company or brand, a marketing ROI calculator helps determine that influence on the bottom line basing from the website’s analytics.