Establishing a brand culture can be especially tough when the market is saturated with different types of products that deviate ever so slightly. No need for additional bells and whistles, the best solution is as simple as it can be: Direct engagement with the influencer serving your primary audience.
What comes to mind when a health and wellness product or service is mentioned?
Likely, you will be thinking of words such as Exercise, Fitness, Sports, etc. That is exactly where your target audience will predominately be at. Next, think of what sort of brand image you would like associated with your product or service.
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Possibly, the above.
Clear as day, this is the direction you will be heading towards with your influencer strategy: Engaging a Fitness Influencer.
Image Credit: @nattylifts
@nattylifts, a Singapore fitness influencer wore a pair of new trainers over a fitness class. In the short Instagram reel, she could be seen putting the product to the test with a rigorous dance workout. The trainers from Lane Eight definitely showed much-needed grip (while still looking cute).
LIVING TESTIMONIES AND PROOF
This brings us to the point of authenticity and affability. Broadly speaking, influencers are personable characters that people enjoy watching their lives unfold. They perhaps lead a life that we aspire to have or satisfy our curiosity. of how people go through their day-to-day.
Unlike celebrities, whom we know, have a Team of people behind their fit bodies, Influencers rely on themselves. They present a real representation. Understanding that their profession largely relies on authenticity and their audience looks to them for credibility, it is part of their job to portray the actual impact.
Image Credit: @shannontaylortw
PICKING THE RIGHT INFLUENCER
Influencers provide brands with a reference identity and through it, develop a culture surrounding it with the community. Alignment in personal beliefs with your brand’s vision is important here. No matter the niche the influencer is in, there needs to be an unspoken synergy. Influencers are an extension of the Brand and they can be considered the face of your brand. Your target audience will associate the engaged influencer with your Brand.
#1 – CHECKING THEIR AUDIENCE OUT
Similar to how influencer influences their audience, audiences too, influence them. They impact the type of content they create, the brands they work with, and ultimately the visual aesthetics they go for.
Scanning through the audience group allows you to have a good gauge of the possible audience group that would interact with your brand. This would then determine what sort of content strategy to employ.
#2 – UNDERSTANDING THEIR ENGAGEMENT RATE
While follower numbers are important, engagement rate is equally, if not more important. Engagement rate provides a brand with an impression of how committed the collaboration will be. Partnering with a highly engaging influencer in their circle of followers increases the potential of your brand sticking in the minds of people you would like to reach out to.
Image Credit: @mandithezebra
This would also indicate how honest they are – which is a valuable trait to have in today’s online realm. Which then introduces the next rather essential topic for discussion …
#3 – RATES
Yes, it is true that influencers may earn quite a bit from sharing an image of creating a reel. However, there is more to just the 15s reel and square that Brands are paying for. Brands are engaging their personality that cumulates to the identity, credibility that said influencer has built with their followers, the creative work and time behind each content and the list go on.
Depending on a campaign’s budget, it will determine the tier of influencers that would contribute to the campaign’s branding. Beginning first at nano, all the way to celebrity, there is definitely 1 that will fit snuggly within your cost.
With influencer marketing dubbed to be The Strategy for years to come, more and more people are aspiring to carve out their influencing careers. It is not uncommon to see a sea of influencers claiming to be the right fit and seemingly presenting a transparent contract when in actual fact there are hidden conditions. The same goes the other way. It can be laborious and even hard to fish out the subtleties and therefore, working with an agency to locate the best fit for your current brand needs might honestly pay off and more value for your buck.
This too, comes with a set of scrutinising that brands have to go through, but hey, it beats the millions of influencers that could come at a hefty cost. Engaging an experienced agency is much like matchmaking where your goal as a brand is to meet The Right One. It gives the Brand flexibility to negotiate better deals and take out the unnecessary evaluation which experienced agencies, such as X10 Media can do on your behalf to optimise results during and after the campaign.
