Every successful brand knows just how effective influencer marketing can be in creating brand awareness, reaching the right audience, and ultimately increasing your bottom line. Indeed, influencers bring a lot to the table when it comes to marketing. Especially, in the highly digitized world, we live in today, where we spend almost half of our lives in front of screens on social media, it only makes sense that influencer marketing gets the work done.
According to a recent survey, as much as 86 percent of marketers partnered with influencers in 2017, out of which a whopping 92 percent found this marketing strategy useful. And out of the 86 percent that used influencer marketing, 39 percent said they are planning to raise their budget for influencer marketing in 2018. In other words, these 39 percent of marketers are looking for long-term partnerships with successful influencers. They realize that instead of one-time campaigns, investing in long-term collaborations with influencers they trust is more valuable. And this is easy, thanks to influencer marketing platforms like iFluenz.com, where you can find a number of influencers that cater to all kinds of niche followings.
So, how exactly do brands benefit from long-term, reciprocal partnerships with influencers? What advantages does it offer that one-time partnerships don’t? Read on to find out.
- A long-term partnership means more committed and dedicated influencers
When you invest in long-term partnerships with influencers, they become more committed and dedicated to your company and your brand. This is because they become an integral part of your business as well as customer engagement; their role is as important as any other in-house employee. A long-term partnership is not something that is only transactional, unlike one-time partnerships. They are a deeper and more meaningful connection that you make with influencers, and in turn, their followers (your audience). Influencers know this, and they put in more effort, resulting in higher content quality.
- Long-term partnership will result in more authentic endorsements
Since influencers are more committed to long-term partnerships, they spend more time on helping you grow your brand. And as mentioned before, this results in better content. Also, another advantage is that when you enter into a long-term collaboration with influencers, they post more about your product or services. Such repeated endorsements will come off as more genuine and authentic to their audiences than if they post about your brand only once and forget about it. This will drive consumer behavior in a way that benefits your business.
- Long-term partnership means consistent, effective user-generated content
User-generated content is far more effective and engaging than traditional forms of advertising. This is what makes influencer marketing so powerful in today’s world. When you enter into long-term partnerships with influencers, they create photos, videos and written posts on their own and upload it on their social media accounts. Various researches have shown that followers find such user-generated content more trustworthy, genuine and thus, have more say in their buying decisions. So, nurturing a long-term partnership with a trusted influencer makes it possible to come up with unique content that would not have been possible with an in-house team.
- Long-term partnership with influencers is effective in times of crisis
If you ever find yourself in a situation where all other marketing options have failed such as an unexpected negative turnaround for a marketing campaign, a long-term partnership with an influencer you have worked with in the past can serve as an effective tool for crisis management. They are the ones who will provide you with the reliable results you are looking for.