As marketers, let’s face it — we’re impatient. We’re results-driven, and often, somewhere along the way that starts to translate to results demand. We don’t have time for anything that doesn’t show a positive ROI, right now. And so we move from campaign to promotion to launch to campaign without always focusing on the big picture. How do all of these initiatives align? Do our customers really know what our brand is all about? (Read further to learn about Evergreen Influencer Campaigns.)
“Marketers come to Find Your Influence (FYI) because they want to advertise a product, event or promotion to a specific demographic. Influencer marketing is a great way to spread messaging quickly to exactly the target audience. But influencer marketing can be so much more than a fast and affordable way to increase conversion.” Said Christine Vieira, President and Co-Founder of FYI.
Evergreen influencer campaigns are a great way to optimize brand messaging and generate a loyal following of fans. What’s an evergreen influencer campaign? Simple. Choose a group of influencers that will be creating multiple pieces of content for your brand over the course of at least several months — regardless of whether or not you’re running a promotion. Ensure your influencers are creating some content that’s not time-sensitive, and provide them with KPIs to monitor progress. In a nutshell, that’s it.
Evergreen Influencer Campaigns
Skeptical? Here’s 5 reasons you should launch an evergreen influencer campaign right now.
1. Do a better job of promoting the messaging themes on your marketing calendar
Most brands have some form of a marketing calendar. If it’s not in calendar format, it might simply be detailed in your team’s goals and scheduled tasks. There are initiatives, themes, promotions and plans scheduled throughout the entire year. So traditionally, marketers might approach each item one a time so they can exist in an easily measurable vacuum. Well, not anymore.
“An influencer campaign can be the string that holds your calendar together. Influencers know the brand voice, mission and messaging, and they’ll be educating their followers with these things in mind. We find that by sharing the marketing calendar with influencers, they can support and promote these initiatives in a natural way,” said Vieira.
Marketing teams can plan different content requirements for different initiatives, or build up to one major initiative. Since these influencers have been talking consistently about the brand, their loyal fans are more inclined to become customers. And finally, the brand messaging stays consistent. Initiatives no longer exist in a vacuum.
2. Develop valuable relationships
Managing evergreen influencer campaigns means working with the same influencers perennially, and building a relationship that is mutually beneficial. Even better? Their fans are develop a relationship with the brand as well.
By building a strong relationship with your influencers, marketers are likely be able ask their help to promote a product, drive last-minute reach goals or participate in events. As influencers write content, their fans slowly begin trust the products and brands. Eventually, awareness converts followers to new customers and brand advocates. Once the audience start tweeting and sharing content, the brand message has been amplified.
3. Brand awareness is a slow game
When trying to reach a new set of customers, it’s not always about direct conversion. Some potential customers are simply not yet ready to buy. They need more information, they need to ask their peers, and they need to get to know the brand. Unfortunately, brand awareness is a slow game.
Having influencers educate customers about a product over a longer period of time, being sure to use the same KPI with the same links or hashtag over the entire year develops brand awareness naturally. As your influencers’ fans become familiar with the product, they’ll start converting, and you’ll be able to track it with your influencer marketing measurements.
4. Get new, shareable content every month
Brands are often challenged with finding enough new content to promote on social media. With an evergreen influencer marketing campaign in place, a continual flow of content is being generated. That’s content that can be shared and promoted — amplifying the campaign reach. Influencers will be happy that to see their content and blogs being promoted. Trackable links ensure the mutual benefits of shared content.
5. It’s a lot cheaper than a media sponsorship
Think of an evergreen social campaign like a sponsorship. While some companies sponsor celebrity athletes, large events or even venues, influencer marketing is basically sponsoring a blogger. It’s not just that blogger promoting your content, but that blogger is also educating their fans about a brand and industry. Additionally, influencers are recruiting brand advocates out of their followers.
By Christine Vieira
