10 mistakes to avoid in your influencer campaigns

Carrying out an effective influence campaign on social networks is not an easy thing for everyone. Many companies embark on the adventure without even knowing the fundamental principles of it. What budget should be allocated to it? Which influencer (s) should you contact? What strategy should be put in place? ... So many questions that you are asking yourself and that we are going to answer you in this article! Because influence, whether in the B2C or B2B sectors, is not to be taken lightly. Let us guide you:

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First of all, let's remember; a BtoB influence campaign consists in relying on the reputation of experts commonly called “opinion leaders” or even KOLs (Key Opinion Leader) to promote a brand, a product or a service.

The experts in question have a genuinely engaged community, mainly on LinkedIn, the first professional social network. They position themselves as prescribers insofar as, based on their professional experiences, they are considered by their community as true experts in their field.

So here are the main mistakes to avoid when starting a B2B influencer campaign.

1- Selling at any price

Generally, influence campaigns aimed at the general public have the main objective of selling a product. In B2B, the goals are quite different. They essentially aim to increase the reputation and visibility of a company, to disseminate a relevant message, to position the organization on know-how and to highlight its expertise. Businesses, unlike individuals, are not only looking for a service, they also want a solid relationship, with serious professionals in order to support their credibility in a specific field.

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This is why a B2B influence campaign must be co-built with the influencer (s) around captivating and impacting stories in order to arouse the emotion of their communities and to generate, at the same time, more engagement. So forget about excessive promotion of your product with promo codes to anyone who wants to.

It is imperative that your audience, or rather that of the influencer, remember the story told. It must touch him deeply to the point that he decides to pass, on his own, to the other stage of the conversion tunnel.

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Inès Sivignon, the agency's expert web editorial influencer, spoke to Stellar for the release of their new white paper last January: “Today, it is no longer enough to extol the merits of a product to sell. Just as it is no longer enough to promote an article to generate influence marketing. And for good reason, consumers no longer buy a product or a service, but an experience, a transformation. “

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2- Only think short term

Short-term collaboration may, at first glance, arouse interest in its low cost. However, engaging with an influencer over the long term leads to more authentic and genuine relationships. The longer a campaign is, the more your brand will be exposed and the more visibility and credibility you will gain in that the more an influencer will talk about a particular brand and the more credible their community will consider it to be. By choosing to collaborate over the long term, influencers also have more time to immerse themselves in the brand and develop creative ideas in order to appeal to their community, and therefore generate a significant rate of engagement and transformation.

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Amélie Favre-Guittet, the label's HR influencer, collaborates with the company Edenred France for 10 months now. Through her posts, Amélie reveals Edenred's solutions in terms of teleworking and the mobility ticket offer. Amélie recognizes herself in the values and vision of the company. In addition, she trusts him with the creation of content. Thus, Amélie's LinkedIn community welcomed this collaboration very well, which makes it possible to increase the visibility, reputation and credibility of the Edenred group in view of the recurring posts.

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3- Gain as many subscribers as possible at all costs

“You need a certain number of subscribers to get customers” is not true. A lot of businesses on LinkedIn (as well as all other social networks) are racing for followers. The idea that you have to have acquired a certain number of subscribers to be taken seriously has been in fashion for years, especially when launching your brand. Nonetheless, we believe that the quality of subscribers takes precedence over quantity. In our opinion, the considerable increase in the number of subscribers cannot be an objective in your LinkedIn influence campaigns. Why? A company with 10,000 followers may be perceived as “credible”, however, if your publications and content do not generate any engagement, then it will lose all credibility in the eyes of your prospects. Especially since the Linkedin algorithm will take this into account and will no longer value your content. Through your collaborations with influencers, make sure that Internet users want to follow your page to be informed about your actions, your fights, your news. Create a real connection with them before they even follow your page in order for them to be truly committed to you.

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4- Only work with “big” influencers

Many people only want to work with macro-influencers, those who have a large community that sometimes has hundreds of thousands of subscribers. But don't overlook the power of nano and micro influencers.

Because of their small community, these influencers have a much more intimate relationship with their subscribers. Working with a nano influencer is a safe bet for your business because their engagement rate is generally higher than an influencer who has a larger number of followers. So you will get encouraging results immediately. This type of influencer is generally very active, confident in himself, he knows what he is talking about and therefore his community can more easily identify with it.

Benoit Perreau is a B2B micro influencer for the label. He is an expert in disability. Its community is made up of 9,000 people, but its engagement rate on LinkedIn is 7%, which is much higher than that of influencers with a much larger community (an engagement rate is considered “good” when it is above 1% on Linkedin). His community is therefore extremely committed and more receptive to the messages he communicates.

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Read also: Find an influencer on LinkedIn

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5- Forget to analyze the results

Analyzing the results and statistics of your influence campaigns is a crucial issue in determining the effectiveness of your campaign according to your set goals. This allows you to first assess the ability of your company to achieve its goals. In a second step, this makes it possible to assess whether you have obtained the best possible results with the means used. A performance indicator must be associated with an objective. So, the more KPIs you have, the more goals you have. Or on the contrary, that your goals are not specific enough. In this case, you may miss out on your ambitions.

To measure the effectiveness of your influence campaigns, you must have several performance indicators in mind;

• The reach of your campaign:

The objective here is to obtain as much information as possible before, during and after the campaign on impressions, engagement rate, traffic as well as the number of followers obtained. How many followers does the influencer in question have? What is their engagement rate? Does it have an active community? Is the influencer's post seen by Internet users? How many followers did you have before and after the campaign?

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• Your campaign commitment:

To measure the engagement of your campaign, LinkedIn provides you with a number of indicators such as the number of clicks, likes, reactions, shares, views, comments... These indicators are essential to know if the content posted by the influencer appeals to their community.

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6- Do not involve your employees

As you know, employee advocacy, a strategy imported from the United States, has been on the rise in France in recent years. We believe that your employees are your best ambassadors. By becoming your relays on social networks, your employees allow you to increase the impact of your digital communication strategy tenfold. This strategy has enormous potential for the acquisition of qualified prospects, customers and candidates. This will initially allow you to gain notoriety and visibility on LinkedIn, to reduce the costs of your digital communication strategy, and to position yourself as an expert on the market. In addition, it will allow you to strengthen your employer brand in order to recruit the best talent and at the same time strengthen your brand image. Finally, it will allow you to engage and involve your employees through the trust granted.

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Also to be read: Why is LinkedIn the essential network for your employer brand? and Influencers at the service of the employer brand.

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7- Setting up a deadline that is too short

A successful influencer campaign is a campaign that takes time. The more prepared it is in advance, the easier it is to work on an original and quality concept. Influencer campaigns generally coincide with a commercial calendar. When actions follow a sales objective, campaigns respect an embargo related to product releases or follow important periods of a company. It is therefore necessary to contact opinion leaders early enough to plan their content in accordance with their editorial line (often written several weeks in advance...)

8- Not taking into account the influencer's codes

The influencer is above all a content creator. Be sure to give them “freedom” as the influencer's tone, environment, spontaneity and personality are what unite their community and make them so appreciated on the social network. So do not define rules that are too specific at the risk that this will displease your community and cause their engagement rate to drop. If your campaign is too detailed, the content produced by the influencer will seem inauthentic and you are not reaching your goals.

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9- Hide the partnership

Transparency is an essential issue for any influence campaign. Today, consumers are more demanding and more aware of the personalities they follow. They attach more importance to the relevance of partnerships established by influencers with brands. Again, to create authentic partnerships based on trust, there is nothing better than opting for long-term collaborations with influencers. In addition, you should keep in mind that each partnership must be identified as such. Indeed, transparency is what allows influence to be structured, opinion leaders to become professional, brands to be reassured and Internet users to be informed. Transparency is essential!

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10- Misestimate your budget

It is important to have a budget allocated to the influence strategy in line with the defined objectives. So, be aware that everything comes at a price: remuneration of influencers, shipping costs for endowments, production, travel, strategy... The budget for an influence campaign will depend on the objectives set, the size of the campaign, and the influencer considered. One of the main evaluations of the price will be based on the engagement rate of influencers. The more far-reaching the one, the higher its cost will be. Thus, it is necessary to know, in advance, the budget that can be allocated to a LinkedIn influence campaign in order to adapt the objectives set accordingly.

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Read also: What is a B2B influencer? and Why work with an influence agency?

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