Hey! Today I’m revealing some influencer tips and tricks, important brand collab tips and tricks, why long-term brand collaborations are currently so popular with influencers, AND why I suspect they will continue to be for years to come. So if you’re hoping to learn how to work with brands and get paid, keep watching all the way to the end.
SO, as you know, the field of influencer marketing changes rapidly so as an influencer you really need to be open to frequent changes in your strategy, because what worked a few years ago just doesn’t work today! Meaning, it’s important to know the following influencer tips and tricks so you can maximize your results.
Influencer Tips and Tricks
For example, you may remember that in the past, it was popular for influencers to do one-off collaborations with brands, and that’s really all brands needed to invest in because these partnerships were very successful. NOW, however… the trend is for brands to invest in long-term influencer partnerships.
And there’s a good reason for that: long-term collaborations are simply MORE successful for both parties — the influencer and the brand. Why? Well because they require less time, appear more authentic (and trustworthy) to your audience, and result in better results for the brands. So let’s chat about why this is as well as some other influencer tips and tricks you probably won’t hear anywhere else.
By the way, if you’re new here — welcome! My name is Jaye and I’m the creator of 11 St. Studio influencer agency. If you’d like to learn how you can join our private influencer community make sure to head over to our member’s area to get on the VIP list! Once you join you’ll also get immediate access to exclusive discounts on our ebooks, pitch package and even coaching calls with me.
Influencer Brand Partnerships
OK, back to the influencer tips and tricks no one else is sharing. Let’s chat about why brands now prefer to partner with influencers on long-term collaborations.
First, and possibly most importantly, it gives the brand MORE touchpoints with potential customers, and that’s critical for brand awareness, and sales among other things.
And, a touchpoint could be anything from a post about the brand on Instagram, an ad on Facebook, a swipe up in an Instagram story, or a mention on a podcast – the more they get their name in the consumer’s head, the higher the possibility of that consumer actually buying their product or service.
So, one of the most importants reasons why brands prefer long-term collabs is that they create more touchpoints with potential consumers.
It’s important to know that, compared to a few years ago, consumers need a lot more time NOW to make a decision to purchase something. So, I’d like for you to keep that in mind when you’re negotiating contracts with brands, because by communicating this to them, you can really open up a conversation about turning a one-off post into a long-term collaboration since it truly has the potential to benefit them more than a one-time post.
If you think back to say…2015, only one or two posts on Instagram were needed to convince a potential customer to buy something. NOW, we need approximately 8 touchpoints before we decide to purchase a product or service.
SO, for example, a brand and an influencer may agree on a six-month collaboration where the you the influencer has to create 2 feed posts and 4 Instagram Stories a month – resulting in 36 different touchpoints between the brand and your audience over half a year.
It could seem a lot, but considering you probably post to your feed and stories many times a week, it’s actually a really small amount of content.
But, it’s also very powerful.
Influencer Brand Deals
OK, so let’s move onto some more influencer tips and tricks. Another reason why brands and influencers prefer long-term collabs and that is, they are viewed by others as more authentic and trustworthy!
Think of it like this — if you’re constantly collaborating with different brands, your followers are less likely to check out a brand you recommend than they would be if you were consistently recommending 1, or 2 or 3 brands over time.
Also, if you promote one brand one week and a competing brand the next, it feels inauthentic, causing your credibility to suffer, and in the future, your recommendations may no longer be taken seriously by your followers.
Let’s put it this way,…if you share something on your Instagram just once, there’s a high chance it will be forgotten pretty quickly. If it’s part of your lifestyle however, it’s going to become much more important and memorable to your audience. So, as you can see this is really important to consider because it can directly affect your income… because if you’re partnering with brands constantly and not getting them results, they’re NOT going to come back to you for future collabs. So, when learning influencer tips and tricks, this is important please keep that in mind.
If you get into the habit of signing long-term collaborations with a few brands, you’ll probably use their products daily and share them on your social media more frequently. In this scenario the recommendations feel more trustworthy, and the brand will be more likely to be remembered by your followers, which as you can imagine, results in MORE of your followers deciding to try out the product or service, too. And, naturally that will result in more sales for the brand, and consistent income for you.
Brand Deals for Influencers
OK, let’s chat about some additional influencer tips and tricks. The 3rd reason why brands and influencers prefer long-term collaborations..and that is CREATIVE FREEDOM.
An influencer who’s loyal to a brand knows the brand’s values, goals, and story AND wants to authentically share that with their audience – making it’s a LOT easier to create content that feels authentic and natural.
Plus, long-term collaborations allow you to take risks and try out different creative ideas in order to make your content as exciting and as diverse as possible. Because remember… your posts seem more credible if they naturally blend in with your everyday posts.
With one-off influencer collaborations, brands often don’t have the guts to try out something new because they can’t be sure about the results.
So, long-term partnerships really give you and the brand an opportunity to try out creative ideas, track results, and plan future content based on what was successful — and what wasn’t.
OK now let’s chat about the 4th reason why brands and influencers prefer long-term collabs, because I know you’re here to learn some influencer tips and tricks, and this is one of my favorite tips… and that is, they save time and money!
Like I mentioned earlier, when you partner with a brand on long-term collaboration you are much more likely to know the brand’s expectations and goals. Meaning, the collaboration becomes a lot less time-consuming for the brand because they don’t have to constantly look after someone – you understand their goals and are on the same page as them.
Not to mention, this means they also don’t need to constantly be on the lookout for new influencers and spend all the time involved to vet and negotiate contracts with them!
OK now onto the last reason why brands are turning to long-term collabs with influencers more now than ever before, and that is because many influencers have expressed that they prefer them!
As you know, having an agreed-upon content creation schedule (for example, you’re paid by a brand to make 2 posts and 6 stories per month) makes your life easier, and makes planning your content calendar a breeze.
Since many influencers’ work is often project-based, long-term collaborations create the security of a stable income. This obviously is very motivating for influencers to work hard and create the best possible content for the brand in order to continue with the collaboration long into the future.
Not to mention, most influencers prefer long-term partnerships with brands they already love because it allows them to be more sincere and honest with their followers, plus create content from the heart, which of course, always results in more awareness, positive sentiment, and sales for the brands.
Paid Brand Deals
SO, how do you find brands for long-term influencer partnerships? That’s the real question when it comes to sharing influencer tips and tricks. Truly, it’s the million dollar question.
Well, like I mentioned earlier, I strongly recommend communicating all the benefits of long-term collabs with brands when they approach you for one-off partnerships. Many times this is an easy transition for them because they are already approaching YOU, so by providing them with data like we’re chatting about in this video, you are proving to them that you have their success in mind, and that is going to stand out to brands.
Micro Influencer Tips
Now, if YOU’RE approaching BRANDS for collabs, I would suggest providing them with case studies showing how you’ve collaborated with other brands long-term and how doing so resulted in more success than the partnerships that were one-time collabs. This will prove to them that it’s worth investing in long-term opportunities for influencers who have brought great results in the past for other brands. I’d even go so far as to include “long-term collabs” as a pricing option when discussing rates, BUT make sure to make it a good DEAL if you do so in order to incentivize them. I’m not gonna get into pricing psychology in this video, but if you’d like to learn more about that make sure to book a coaching session with me.
All in all, not all brands have massive marketing teams on their salary, so above all else, it’s important that you communicate to them that the data has proven that only one touchpoint doesn’t usually lead to sales.
Plus, it’s important they realize that just one post could potentially fail to meet their goals: sometimes the visual is not striking enough, or the post does not reach enough of your followers due to the algorithm changes, so a long-term collaboration is really going to benefit them more.
After that, I recommend continuously measuring, and optimizing, your content and tracking results so you can highlight all the data in case studies to send to other brands in the future, proving to them you can provide remarkable results!
SO, I’m curious….Have you ever partnered with a brand on a long-term collab? If so, how did it go? I’d love to hear your thoughts (and your favorite influencer tips and tricks) in the comments below!
Learn More Influencer Tips and Tricks
I hope you enjoyed these influencer tips and tricks and, if you want to learn even more, make sure to check out our YouTube channel next! Do you have any influencer tips and tricks to share? If so, please leave them in the comments section on the video!
Read More
- What Brands Look For In Influencers — Read more here.
- Influencer vs Content Creator: What No One Tells You — Read more here.
- Influencer Tips & Tricks — Read more here.
- Influencer Opportunities: The Truth About Brand Deals — Read more here.
- Become a Paid Influencer: 6 Tips — Read more here.
- How To Make Money Creating Content For Brands — Read more here.
- How To Approach Brands As An Influencer: Quick Guide — Read more here.
- Influencer Brand Deals: An Ultimate Breakdown — Read more here.
- How To Negotiate As An Influencer — Read more here.
- How To Get Brand Deals — Read more here.
- How Much To Charge For A Sponsored Post — Read more here.
- The Brand Pitch Email Templates (That Brands Can’t Refuse) — Read more here.
- Get More Brand Deals With This Engagement Rate Formula — Read more here.
- How To Work With Brands As An Infliuencer — Read more here.
- What (Exactly) To Include In Your Media Kit — Read more here.
- How Much To Charge For A Sponsored Post — Read more here.
- Influencer Marketing Terms You Need To Know To Work With Brands — Read more here.
