Influencers nowadays play a very important role in the success of any online business. From promoting products to leaving a good review about your company, they can motivate your target audience to give your products a try. This is the kind of exposure that both smaller and largest companies need to become successful and established.
One of the things that some companies struggle with is being able to correctly approach influencers about potential collaborations. There are many ways to initiate a conversation, but being able to convince them on working on a project with you is another case. Writing the right social media influencer briefing can help you achieve this easily and effectively.
An influencer briefing is a complete way of explaining your goals, objectives, and different aspects of your potential partnership with an influencer. It ensures that every part of your collaboration is planned for and organized so that both parties can expect a smooth experience. This is an important step if you wish for all your collaborations to be a success.
Most companies tend to reach out to an influencer first, either through social media or via email for an initial chat. After a few emails or messages, where both parties feel more comfortable, they tend to share the briefing. This ensures that the influencer will open and read the proposal and not ignore it as spam.
While this might sound simple in theory, there are a few different rules everyone needs to follow when writing a social media influencer briefing. This will help you establish a trusting relationship with any influencer and motivate them to begin the collaboration.
Social media influencers can bring immense value to your brand regardless of whether you operate in IT, healthcare, finance, sales, or other niches. Based on recent findings, 80% of marketers find influencers effective in generating leads for their businesses. However, 36% of marketers agreed that finding the right social media influencers is very challenging, and for good reasons.
You can never really know how someone will perform without giving them a test task and trusting your business instincts. Once you land on the right influencers, however, things will change rapidly and you will have plenty of reasons to continue working with them.
Writing good briefings for the right influencers will open the doors for you to convert cold leads, break into new markets, and increase your return on investment (ROI). Here’s how you benefit from writing killer briefings for them:
- Accurate, actionable, and engaging communication with your influencers
- Save time and resources by writing proper briefings on the first try
- Ability to create templates for future briefings to streamline influencer onboarding
- Give influencers good reasons to continue representing your brand long-term
- Represent your brand in a positive, professional light with potential networking stakeholders
- Become more appealing and worthwhile for B2B brands seeking brands to collaborate with
Afterward, working with influencers will lead to the following perks for your company:
- Improved search engine ranking and brand reach for your business
- Increased website traffic and conversion rates
- Decreased bounce rates for your website and social media pages
- Richer and more varied content strategy moving forward
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Start with Introducing your Company
The best way to start a briefing is by saying a few words about your company. Even if you have had in contact with the influencer previously, it is always good to remind them of your brand. This does not even need to take up a lot of space – just a sentence or two can be the perfect introduction.
Many companies also include the logo of their company in this part, as it increases the legitimacy of the briefing. Influencers will tend to trust companies that are not afraid to show their credentials more. By including your logo, you help them associate your brand with it and create a sense of familiarity.
Along with this, it is time to explain why you are sending them this more formal type of message. Whether you are approaching them with your briefing through social media or via email, it is equally important.
Presenting this opportunity for collaboration can happen through a brief mention of your goals and dreams for your brand. This can work perfectly along with the reason why you have chosen to reach out to this person. There, you can let them know you would be excited to have them represent your company and work on this project together.
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Present your Products and Services
After the initial introduction part of your briefing, it is time to move to more technical matters. Here, you have your opportunity to present a few things about the products and services your company provides. You can choose to present only a few products you will include in your upcoming projects.
This will help familiarize the influencer with your products and services and help them start to understand what to expect from your project. It is a great opportunity to add a few images or links to certain products, so they can have a visual representation of them.
If they have not yet tried your products or services, you can inform them that these will be provided to them. This is essential if it is a review-based project where they will share their opinion with their audience. All in all, having a first-hand experience with your products is essential for them to be able to create the content you require.
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Include Important Points About the Collaboration
The most important part of your briefing is the technical details you will need to include. Apart from the introductory part, it is also critical to include crucial information about the collaboration. This part needs to be more specific and can include the following details:
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Duration of Campaign with Specific Dates
It is essential to let the influencer know what the timeline of your project will be. This will help everyone stay on track with other potential projects and ensure no miscommunication occurs.
While it is not necessary to include a final launch date of the event at this point, you should still include a general timeline. In other words, make sure to mention whether this project will take more than a month to complete and how long it will be active.
In addition, it is also a good idea to include whether you will require the influencer to participate in update meetings. This is also important to mention in advance, so they can better arrange their time.
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Social Media Platforms on Which your Campaign will be Active
Almost every influencer uses most of the available mainstream social media platforms. In most cases, every influencer has a certain platform they are most comfortable with. Depending on the needs of your campaign, you might need to target people who mainly work with a specific platform.
This is a good way to set expectations and to leave room to discuss strategies and other important information. If they have better knowledge of a social media platform than you, they can help you better shape your strategy.
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Discussion About Hashtags and Keywords
Lastly, another technical aspect you can mention is the hashtags and keywords you would like to use in your project. Many companies that work with influencers on projects allow them some creativity in this aspect. Creating their hashtags for the project can help increase the engagement of their audience and make your campaign more popular.
These are just some examples of details that are essential in any social media influencer briefing. You can always include more specific details that better express your company and individual campaign. Your point is to make it as simple for them to understand the assignment at hand and convince them to trust you in this collaboration.
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Content Creation and Initial Draft Deadlines
Following the previously mentioned details, it is also important to let your influencer know whether you will require a draft from them. For many companies, one draft is usually not enough, as there always are things to correct.
If this is something you believe will be required of the person you will collaborate with, this is the perfect time to mention it. You can use this as an opportunity to let them get back to you about how much time they would need. Then, you can communicate better about reaching your deadlines successfully.
In addition, you should mention the creative freedom they will have in this project and what is required of them. For example, if they are to film a promotional video, will they have to edit it, or will you provide that service? Make sure to always be specific and clear about what type of content you wish them to create for you.
The type of content you ask of them to create can seriously affect the deadlines you set. It is important to let them know in advance and have a clear plan about what content you will need. This will allow them to send the drafts on time and make any corrections without feeling pressured.
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Type of Collaboration – Long-term, Potential for More Projects
The type of collaboration you are reaching out to them with is another significant part. Certain collaborations might be considered a one-time project but may require months to complete. On the other hand, there are many recurring projects which can only include promotions through stories or social media posts.
These factors can influence the decision of the person you are looking to work with, especially if they are tied up in other projects. You can then potentially think about different ways to include them in your project that better fit their schedule.
In general, most influencers tend to enjoy working on recurring projects as long as they have a good experience with the brand. You can invite them to a one-time project with the potential for many future ones. This way, you can both see if working together is a good plan, and this collaboration can pave the way for future projects.
While working with social media influencers can boost your brand awareness and bring valuable leads to your website, it can also backfire. Planning and writing your social media influencer briefing thoroughly is essential for long-term success on the open market.
According to published data, 90% of companies believe that influencer marketing is effective and brings great results. Brands also use the following social media platforms in their influencer marketing to ensure maximum industry coverage with their campaigns:
- Facebook – 43%
- YouTube – 36%
- Twitter – 15%
- LinkedIn – 16%
- TikTok, Twitch, and smaller platforms make up the remaining 8%
Your social media influencer briefings are important corporate documents despite their seemingly ordinary application. Influencers who are still students and use professional writers for their copywriting needs will spot inconsistencies or poor grammar instantly. When students think, “I need to type my essay fast”, they tend to use a reliable writing service to get their writing assignment done properly.
Working with young influencers and targeting today’s students and teens will require you to pay close attention to how you write marketing briefings. Let’s discuss the potential mistakes and pitfalls which can cause bottlenecks in your social media advertisement efforts, as well as how to avoid them.
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Disorganized and Poorly Written Influencer Briefing
The first thing you should be mindful of in your influencer briefings is that they appear professional. Any documentation or corporate correspondence you send to social media influencers has to be impeccable. Once you’ve written everything, you want to tell them, go over your document manually instead of using autocorrect.
Read your sales pitch and value proposition aloud and see if it makes sense. Social media influencers will often not be versed in corporate lingo or abbreviations, so it’s important to keep things conversational but still professional. Make your briefing easy to skim for important information by outlining key takeaways in the conclusion. It’s also good practice to write a table of content into your briefing if it exceeds five pages for smoother navigation.
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Misalignment of your Brand’s and Influencer’s Goals
Choosing the right influencers to work with is just as important as writing a good briefing for them. Don’t look at the influencers’ follower numbers, comments, and engagement without considering their reputation, goals, and mindset. Different social media influencers will perceive your brand in vastly different ways.
If you’re a makeup eCommerce business, for example, reaching out to food YouTubers isn’t a good idea – your goals don’t align. Look for micro and macro-influencers in your industry before branching out and diversifying. This will keep your social media campaigns on-brand and ensure that you only capture relevant leads with your marketing.
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Lack of Competitor or Market Research
No brand should ever operate in a vacuum because neither will your customers. Each customer will weigh various brands and products online against one another before settling on making a purchase. You need to research your competition and see how to appeal to your target audience in the best possible way.
You cannot trust social media influencers to carry your marketing campaigns without any input from your end. Provide your influencers with your target audience profile, a list of competitors, as well as how your products or services stack up against them. This will give them enough insight on how to play up your strengths while avoiding stepping on anyone’s toes or unknowingly attacking your competitors.
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Poor Communication of your Marketing KPIs
Each marketing campaign you organize should have its own tracking KPIs to help influencers create better content for you. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are traditionally used both in marketing and project management, so their place in social media influencer briefings is welcome.
You can use the SMART methodology to create goals relevant to your products and services, as well as based on the platforms you will be marketed on. These goals are measurable, actionable, and time-limited, giving social media influencers plenty of direction they can use to boost conversion. KPIs can also be used for monetary or other types of compensation, giving influencers additional incentives to create high-performing content.
Building the Most Successful Collaborations with the Right Influencers
Picking the right influencer to work with will heavily rely upon your briefing. This is something that will help you find someone willing to work with your terms and produce a great result. A social media influencer briefing will allow your company to reach its goals and dreams through a smooth sailing collaboration.
Before reaching out to different people, make sure you have decided on the different aspects of your brief. Since it is something that you will send them a few messages after introducing your company, you should work on it in advance. It is always a good idea to be clear on what type of collaboration you are looking for. This will make the influencer trust your company and be excited to work with you.
Author’s bio. Jessica Fender is a professional content creator, copywriter, and editorial manager on Mywritingpapers. Her experience in digital marketing and professional development has enabled her to write better articles, essays, and case studies on these topics. Jessica enjoys reading personal development lit and listening to podcasts.
