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Influencers have become a hot topic in Trinidad and Tobago’s online marketing industry. There is no doubt that influencers can increase a brand’s reach and engagement. However, many local companies still struggle to solidify their influencer strategy to ensure they are getting their return on investment.
While a lot of blogs will conclusively state that you should build a relationship and align with an influencer, we wanted to offer a different perspective and provide signs that you shouldn't work with an influencer:
1. Works with too many brands
The top influencers in Trinidad and Tobago get contacted by many companies for promotional partnerships. When they work with too many brands they lose one of their most significant benefits, which is their authenticity. Viewers and especially, their followers question whether some influencers actually endorse certain products or if they grab every brand deal that comes their way.
Before working with an influencer, you need to do a deep dive into their analytics and assess their engagement. You can do so by evaluating the frequency and the value of the comments they receive on their social media platforms. Often, working with micro-influencers that have an audience that aligns with your target audience can be more beneficial than working with a larger influencer with many campaigns and low engagement.
2. Ethical Conflicts
In your research on influencers, you will be looking for any controversies that they have been involved in, but you must assess what their values and ethics are online. Many brands in the US have experienced this, especially with Youtubers. One of the most popular stories is Logan Paul and his controversial video in the Japanese forest.
After this incident, many brands realized the need for more robust research on influencers. Looking beyond just the traction that an influencer can achieve for the brand, but also assessing if the ethics and values the influencer portrays online are aligned with those of the brand.
For example, if you notice that a male influencer is very misogynistic you must refuse to engage and avoid your brand associated with their rhetoric.
3. Their Creative Direction Doesn’t Align with the Brand's Goals
Brands in Trinidad and Tobago tend to control the entire creative direction of their work with influencers. This is not a recommended approach. Who knows the influencer's audience better than the influencer themselves?
It is important to remember that you hired them for a reason and you want to clearly set out your goals with the partnership and the metrics you want to see at the end (i.e engagement, reach, link clicks etc). However, you need to give them the space to tell you how they want to execute the creative direction of the partnership.
This will give you an indication if the partnership is worth pursuing but more importantly it will help you assess whether they are going to actually help you achieve the goals the company has set for their influencer marketing. Such as conversions, sales of certain products and more.
For example, if your company wants more website visitors and online sales, you want the influencer to give you a proper plan such as stories with the link, and a post with them showing how they bought the product and how they use it. Verses an influencer suggested they do one post saying they like the product and posting the link.
You need to assess their creative direction and its likeness to achieve the objectives of the partnership.
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