With the inclusion of influencer marketing campaigns steadily on the rise in SA, marketers are constantly looking for ways to implement these campaigns in the most effective and accountable way.
The release of the Facebook and Instagram Paid Partnership tag tool (yes, this includes Instagram Stories) has certainly ushered in a new era of influencer marketing – one where transparency and measurability are key.
Solely relying on vanity metrics such as likes, shares, comments and even “opportunities to see” (i.e. the influencers’ follower count) are a thing of the past with the partnership tag allowing brands access to credible performance data on influencer posts in their Facebook Brand Collabs Manager. You’ll also be able to use this content for paid social ads, either concurrently or at a later stage, reaching a larger, highly targeted audience far beyond the influencer’s reach.
Detailed insights include ACTUAL reach (total number of people who see your content), impressions (number of times your content is displayed, segmented by age, gender and location) and engagement (likes and comments).
A common concern for marketers when it comes to influencers openly disclosing paid partnerships (which the ARB has now deemed a requirement in SA) is the supposed loss of authenticity once the partnership has been disclosed. Contrary to this belief, 82% of consumers are highly likely to follow a micro-influencers’ recommendation largely because they are seen as knowledgeable, passionate and authentic. As such, their audiences choose to follow them because they enjoy the influencers’ content and view them as trusted sources for purchase recommendations.
If you still find yourself questioning an influencer’s authenticity, ask yourself this question – if you trust them enough to allow their recommendations to influence your purchasing decisions, why wouldn’t you trust them to carefully select and disclose brand partnerships knowing that they have an audience’s trust to lose if the recommendation isn’t reliable?
The first and most crucial step in any influencer marketing campaign will always be selecting the right, fully vetted influencer in accordance with the campaign’s strategy and even though the partnership tag has been largely overlooked in the SA landscape, integrating the undeniable power of creator content with sophisticated ad-targeting tools from Facebook is an exciting approach to ensure brands fully leverage this exciting space in the months to come.
Get in touch with the Mark1 team if you’d like to discuss your brand’s paid influencer strategy.
Tayla Calcott – Social Campaign Manager & Influencer Marketing Specialist at Mark1
