Brands that overlook the human element of influencer marketing are missing the point. It’s not about simple product placement. It’s about real relationships.
Small Business Trends had the opportunity to speak with Joe Gagliese of Viral Nation at the recent Influencer Marketing Days conference in New York City’s Times Square. Viral Nation is an influencer talent agency and marketing company that helps brands connect with the perfect influencers for their needs and actually builds relationships that bloom into effective marketing campaigns.
Relationships Between Influencers and Brands are Key
Those relationships are a big part of the influencer marketing equation that a lot of brands overlook. An effective influencer marketing campaign will result in content that’s unique and persuasive because the influencer believes in the message and brings his or her own set of skills and ideas to the table. The result is more than just a one-dimensional product placement in an Instagram photo or YouTube video. For that reason, Gagliese says it’s important for brands to use care in selecting the best influencers for their specific needs and then to customize campaigns around those individuals.
“It’s human marketing. It’s not digital marketing,” he says. “So it’s about understanding how they perform, understanding how they are as people, understanding how they are to work with and then building campaigns around them to suit what the brand actually wants to get out of it.”
The good news for brands is that there’s no shortage of influencers out there. Whether you work with an agency or go searching for them on your own, don’t settle. Find influencers with whom you can build real relationships so the resulting content and campaigns will be truly authentic and get real results for your brand.
“There’s a million influencers out there. It’s [about finding] which ones are going to work and which ones are the easiest to work with,” Gagliese said.
This article, “The Importance of Relationships Between Influencers and Brands” was first published on Small Business Trends