Brands centralize their marketing strategy on influencer marketing to reach the target customers in the fastest way. The success of your campaign heavily depends on the quality of content that generates engaging and genuine results. For an organic partnership with influencers, brands tend to seek long-term relations with their favorite influencers. The obvious benefit of long-term collaborations is that it builds trust for both influencers and brands. It generates more engagement, increased brand awareness, and higher ROI. Let’s dive deeper into how to build long-term relations with influencers, even post-campaign.

Why long-term relations are important?

One-off projects usually do not create strong results as long-living ones. The quality of posts and content also differs significantly. Influencers put a lot of effort for long-term campaigns. Working together for a long time allows influencers to better understand the values, requirements of brands and create more desired content with their creative touch.  When influencers post constantly about a specific brand, it shows their devotion to the brand which then leads to follower loyalty.

From the brand side, brands’ attitude to long-term relations also indicates how they prioritize the audience of influencers. Even in one-off projects influencers that generate higher results are a good source for your next one-off projects. The more you work together better you understand each other. Working with the same influencers reduces the time spent on influencer outreach and briefing.

Ways to run successful long-term influencer campaigns

An in-depth search of the influencer market 

The first step is to find the best influencer for your campaign. Before starting a campaign investigate a good search on the influencer market. While audience size, industry, demographics of followers are initial factors you have to check, there are other crucial things to pay attention to. Follow influencers’ social media activity, read their captions, blogs, watch their videos. Just like a true friendship, building long-term relations with influencers also takes a long time. The social issues that influencers show care and support are other measures that should be appropriate to your values. Third-parties such as agency or influencer marketing platforms are a smart and fast way for reaching out to the best ones.

Relevance of influencers

For successful long-term partnerships and genuine results, pick only relevant influencers. The relevance of influencers implies the relevance of the audience which will buy your products at the end.

Creativity is key

Often in long-term relations brands allow influencers to prove their creativity within the framework of projects. Repeating the content word-by-word sounds like the usual advertising on TV. Yes, it is important to set a campaign agenda, and rules. At the same time, influencers have to feel free to give their ideas and reveal their creativity.

Decent payment

Payment reflects how brands values influencers in real. Payment affects how they are motivated to work as your employees. Companies usually tend to send free and sample size products. The payment should be defined according to the influencer’s number of audience, location, product, the purpose, and project duration. Unequal payments also affect the length of projects.

Do not forget to thank 

Always say your sincere thanks to the influencers at the end of the campaign. You can send a hand-written letter indicating how you are pleased by working with them, some sweet gifts.

Post-campaign relations

Now, the tricky part, how to keep relations even you do not have ongoing projects? Just let them know that you do not forget about them. Send your wishes for special days of influencers, mention them in your posts or stories, invite them to your events, periodically like even comment on their social media posts. Show your support for their success and hard work. Treat them as industry experts. You can discuss what consumers need and expect from, what is missing by the brands and ask their opinion for resolution. 

Keeping all facts in mind, your goal is to gain and sustain your customers around you. Do not forget your customers while focusing too much on the influencer side.