If you work with influencers and content creators often, you must have felt the need for a foolproof assessment process to thoroughly analyse their content. While you have to consider multiple factors when creating a scorecard, don’t worry about making one from scratch. Here’s a definitive guide to evaluating an influencer campaign for success.
Since influencer marketing burst upon the scene, it has proven its mettle in helping D2C brands convert prospects into customers. Its sway over marketers is undeniable, with one in four using influencer marketing to drive conversions.
However, brands that collaborate closely with influencers often struggle to measure content quality and campaign performance.
The solution? Put a QA process in place.
You’d be surprised to learn that the vast majority of marketers are concerned about influencer campaign ROI.
Why is this so?
The truth is, it can be hard to predict the quality of content influencers produce even if you collaborate closely with them, send detailed brand guidelines, and discuss your expectations. Influencers are independent creators in their own right and may not always be able to match up with or strictly adhere to your requirements.
This can be quite a problem.
When you partner with an influencer for marketing, they become spokespersons for your brand on social media. So, the content they create and promote on their platform is indelibly linked with your brand or business. Any hits or misses can have severe implications for your company’s image and may lead to negative reactions from your target audience.
Then, there’s the money factor that you cannot overlook. Influencer marketing is anything but cheap. You need to ensure you’re getting a good ROI from influencer-generated content (IGC)—it's an important metric that demonstrates the success or failure of the partnership. Every piece of content should be worth the penny you have invested in the influencer.
And one more critical factor makes it clear why you should have an influencer content scorecard: quality.
Just like you work with multiple influencers for lead generation and sales, they also have tie-ups with several brands and usually work for them simultaneously. So, the quality of content they make may suffer because they have bitten off more than they can chew. It could also lead to unimaginative copycat content formats that lack the X-factor.
So, if you rely on influencer marketing and IGC as your preferred mode of backdoor advertising, you need to have a detailed system for evaluation in place. This will ensure that your influencer partners continuously post high-quality, engaging content that delivers value for money.
When analysing influencer-generated content, take these crucial factors into account:
Determine if your influencer's content aligns with your brand values and the products or services you offer. They should share a brand affinity with you because it builds credibility among their followers (or your target customers). It has to be a mutually beneficial fit.
The influencer’s posts should be relevant to your niche and requirements. At the same time, they should blend seamlessly with the non-sponsored content they usually create for their followers.
In addition, the influencer should present your product or service convincingly in their videos. As mentioned earlier, credibility is the cornerstone of influencer marketing, and any content that appears dishonest or lacks authenticity will not resonate with their audiences.
The product placement in the content should be subtle but clear. It should not get lost in all the other elements of the video, but at the same time, it should not look forced.
Lastly, the influencer video should have a narrative flow that grabs the attention of their followers and keeps them hooked. Storytelling is crucial to creating impactful social media content.
Product placement is the holy grail of successful influencer campaigns. Good product placement has immense recall value and can influence the purchase decisions of your target audience.
When evaluating the content created by an influencer, look at their product placement. Whether it is an unboxing, a product review, or a how-to video, your product should always be the centre of attraction.
The product placement in a reel or video needs to meet the following criteria:
● It should be engaging from the jump so viewers are compelled to stick around until the end of the video
● It should have clear instructions about using the product safely and correctly
● The product should be the focal point of the narrative of the video
● The video should be well-shot, well-edited, and visually appealing from beginning to end
Many brands prefer giving video templates with branding elements to influencers to ensure that all output meets their precise standards. However, you still need to review the final cut to see if the influencer has done a good job or failed in their endeavour.
Next, turn your attention to the strategic brand positioning in influencer-generated content. After all, you’re trying to advertise your product and its benefits in a non-traditional way that does not lead to scepticism in your audience.
There are a few things you need to do to ensure your influencer campaign is hitting the right notes. Influencer marketing works because users trust content creators with their suggestions and opinions. Even when making paid content, you must ensure your product is relevant to the niche that the influencer is in—it should be a natural fit.
The product should also arouse curiosity and interest among the influencer’s followers. It should resolve their problems or provide them with an alternate, better solution to whatever they are using at present.
If the video ticks all these boxes, then you have a piece of trustworthy IGC that you can bank on. You can even use the same video for content syndication on other social channels, although you may have to work that into the contract.
Lastly, the influencer should ensure the final video contains elements specific to your brand.
One thing that matters even more than product placement is visibility. Influencer videos should introduce the product within the first five seconds so that it is the primary hook for the viewer and maintains their interest. In the age of decreasing attention spans and increasing social media fatigue, the content hook differentiates high-performing content from bad videos.
The influencer should pay attention to the overall context of the video. The post should be timed well and encourage their followers to buy or at least check out the product. For example, a sponsored video about customized paintings would do well before Christmas, Mother’s or Father’s Day, and similar occasions.
The influencer should also elaborate on why they are making the video and provide reasons that are relatable to their followers.
Last but not least, critically examine the video for its quality. While influencer-generated content is abundant on social media, only those with a great hook and technique work well. The production of the video should be at par with your expectations and should incorporate trending editing techniques, popular music, and captivating visual elements.
You cannot verify the quality of videos that your chosen influencer is making unless they have made at least one. That’s why you need to have an in-house quality check process in place that helps you perform a satisfactory analysis of IGC.
Whether you have an in-house team that handles influencer marketing or an agency that does the job for you, developing a sound scoring system has many benefits. You can use this guide to create your own personal influencer marketing content evaluation system. Or, you can download a premade guide by clicking here.
This will save you a lot of time and effort that you could otherwise spend on sifting bad influencer content from good ones. After all, influencer marketing is a double-edged sword. When done well, it can work wonders for your business, but even the smallest mistakes can cost you dearly.
To learn more about how to structure your social media videos, check out our guide.
Fabulate is an innovative influencer prospecting solution that uses proprietary technology to match brands with their ideal influencers. With a database of more than 200 million creators across diverse niches, Fabulate automates discovery and outreach for brands that heavily rely on influencer marketing.
With Fabulate, you can onboard new creators or simplify existing influencer management to expedite campaign execution. From content development to execution and performance analysis, you can manage influencers end-to-end on one dashboard.
Our user-friendly technology is highly intuitive and therefore, anyone can use it with ease. Whether you want to streamline your in-house influencer management or outsource it to a reliable third-party service provider, Fabulate has a cutting-edge solution for you.
Reach out to one of our team members for a demonstration or to learn more.
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