Influencer Marketing Success Stories From Maybelline and Club Med

It's a creator's world, and brands are taking their advantages to the fullest. How can brands adapt and prosper in the face of the current shifts in the influencer marketing industry?

Here we present influencer marketing specialists Sarah Shaker, Head of Brand Engagement for Maybelline New York, L'Oréal, and Tiphaine Neveu, Head of Influence, PR, and Social to respond to this question.

We've included four influencer management and relationship ideas that have helped them make their brands more appealing to creators.

If you are a budding businessperson looking to grow your brand in the world of social media and influencer marketing you can't afford to skip this article.

Scroll down to dig in:

Four influencer management and relationship ideas by experts

1. Find niche influencers who understand and support your business objectives

Influencers may now assist consumers in moving from awareness to purchase in the blink of an eye. As a result, it's vital to consider which influencers can best assist different stages of the funnel and then map that to the campaign's goal.

For example, if you are pushing an awareness campaign, you may want to emphasise engaging with influencers who have a greater reach (rather than those with higher interaction rates), such as those in the macro-VIP tiers.

If you want to increase purchases, on the other hand, you should probably focus on partnering with influencers who have high interaction on sponsored content and have experience with discount codes, affiliate links, or other social commerce strategies.

Club Med's primary influencer marketing goal, according to Tiphaine, is to gain new clients. The team emphasize collaborating with social media content creators who can create content that moves their audience from scrolling to purchasing (aka full funnel).

Look for influencers who suit your criteria while looking for influencers who can help you achieve these goals.

Demographics of the influencer's audience: Is the influencer's audience of the appropriate age, country, and income level?

Audience type: Does the quantity of followers reflect their genuine audience rather than a large number of questionable followers?

Brand affinity: Do the influencer and their audience have a preference for comparable brands?

Expert tip: Level up your influencer marketing campaign by identifying new influencers! Micro and nano influencers are frequently at the forefront of emerging trends because they are ready to take chances and see what sticks. To identify these experimental influencers, look at previous content performance in terms of engagement rate.

2. Design a unique influencer onboarding experience

Influencers are time-pressed as full-time content providers, skilled community builders, and clever marketers. Offering a well-curated and professional experience is a terrific approach to differentiate your brand.

It begins with developing a clear, short brief that optimizes the influencer for success. Generate an "influencer toolkit," or a highly branded, professionally produced, information-packed pdf to help influencers imagine what they could create if they want to reach out to an influencer.

Remember: It's not about dictating the specifics of the material, but more about giving them a basic direction and sense of what you want to achieve with the campaign. It's critical to allow them creative licence to put their own twist on your concept.

However, it is OK to mention specific needs that are vital to your brand. For example, Club Med requires all designers who deal with the brand to be certified by the ARPP (French Advertising Advisory Board). It shouldn't be a problem for your partners as long as you convey these standards (and why you have them) clearly and consistently.

Being organised is also essential for great influencer management and onboarding. Create a structure for how you will contact influencers, handle negotiations, and pay/reward partners. The better you communicate these processes to your team, the more efficient you will be at providing a positive experience for everyone.

Expert Tip: If you are doing an influencer seeding campaign, having an opt-in system that allows your influencers to select the goods they are most interested in is a terrific approach to creating a personalised experience for them. This not only provides influencers with a more personalised experience, but it also reduces product waste! Influencer marketing platforms, such as InfluGlue, provide branded onboarding experiences.

3. Create programmes that foster influencer relationships

In influencer marketing, there is a notion known as "always-on" campaigns. These are long-term relationships that are designed to expand and strengthen brand loyalty. Because an influencer's audience sees your brand appear in a creator's content several times in interesting ways, this tends to lead to more powerful campaigns.

Maybelline, for example, offers an excellent "always-on" relationship called the Babellines (that’s so UNIQUE!). It has two main goals.

• The initial goal is to get a consistent flow of creator material depending on the brand's priorities for that month. Whether it's a product launch or a cause-marketing campaign, the business has a devoted army of influencer partners ready to share with their audience.
• The creators' second goal is to pitch to the brand! Creators can report what's happening and which trends they want Maybelline to seize on. As a result, the beauty brand remains relevant and is never in the dark about where it fits in the market.

Another reason for the success of the programme is that it fosters a genuine community among its creator partners. The two-way communication channel between the brand and the creator partner. This enables the team to gather in-depth product insights and share them with the rest of the marketing or product development teams.

4. Maintain consistent contact with your influential partners

Influencer marketing is no longer a one-time marketing tactic. It is increasingly necessary for brands to maintain consistent influencer ties that foster community.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Make a unique experience. Expensive vacations are no longer required, but the "perk," or exclusive chance for the influencer, is. Make it a priority to make the experience exceptional. One method is to set aside one-on-one time with the brand or industry experts. Maybelline, for example, likes to give its influencers time with their trained makeup artists.

Allow creators to tell your brand's story in their own words. You chose your influencer partners for a purpose, so believe them when they discuss your brand through their lens. A creator loves creative freedom and the chance to leave an impression on your brand/product in a relationship (apart from monetary reward, of course!).

Create an internal influencer marketing team. Influencer management takes time, and developing strong relationships with your creator partners takes much longer. Bring on dedicated influencer marketers who can devote enough time to your creator partners.

We at InfluGlue have a special addiction to finding the right influencer for your business. No matter the size of your business and budget we can customize an exclusive influencer marketing campaign for you. To know more about our influencer marketing services and packages connect with InfluGlue now!