Algorithm Friendly Influencer Marketing
Too much of a good thing can leave a bad taste. Even the best, most relevant brand content on social media can scream SPAM when it clogs up your news feed. To combat this, we have seen the most popular social media networks switch up their algorithms to prioritise content from accounts we interact with the most. They need to maintain their user numbers which ultimately drives their advertising revenue. In short – to keep up the swiping momentum they need to give the people the content they want.
We all know by now ‘gaming the system’ doesn’t work well long term, and the same is true of influencer marketing. However, done well – Influencer marketing can deliver positive results even in the face of an algorithm overhaul. Here are the proactive steps and strategies to ensure your influencer marketing campaigns remain algorithm friendly:
Choose Influencers with good engagement
Influencers with good engagement and a solid potential reach, means their content is more likely to be shown in news feeds. Falling in line with the latest updates from Facebook and Instagram, you are more likely to be shown content from accounts you interact with. Not all posts get the same engagement, which is why it’s important to go one step further and choose influencers with good engagement, solid reach, and brand affinity. Content that is ‘off’ (often sponsored posts with heavy guidelines) will have much lower engagement, and end up being pushed down by these algorithms.
Check Out Our Influencer Engagement Rate Guide
Sponsored stories
“2018 is the year of the story” according to Ian Edwards, Planning Director at Facebook when speaking at Social Media Day conference in London.
From 100 million posts in October 2016 to 300 million in November 2017, people consume stories 50% faster than the average feed. In response to the popularity of this media, the likes of Facebook and Instagram are actively bumping up this kind of content on users feeds. And as result, stories are an essential part of most influencers’ content mix. Sponsoring stories leverages the engagement of this medium.
Bonus tip: When running campaigns in Instagram, if your influencers have over 10 thousand followers, you can ask them to add a swipe up / see more link. Swipe swipe swipe…Buy buy buy!
Share influencer content
As the influencer marketing industry matures, so is the way we are working with influencers. For some campaigns traditional ‘pay-to-play’ (post + cash = collaboration) works well, but you can unlock additional value and engagement from your campaign by working with your influencers as content creators. When your influencer has posted the content you have paid for… share it yourself! User generated content drives almost 7 times the engagement than brand content, and 85% of consumers deem it more influential. The best way to leverage your influencer marketing campaigns is to unlock the full potential of your collaborators and view them as an extension of your toolkit.
Sports Brands That Are Winning With Innovative Influencer Marketing
Boost influencer posts with paid
The single, easiest way to get more engagement on your sponsored posts? Boost it with paid social. The best thing about boosting sponsored content is being able to control who your content reaches. Unless you have a tool like ZINE which shows you the demographics of 40,000 influencers, influencer marketing can fall victim to poorly targeted campaigns. Working with your influencers as content creators (as above), then boosting the post with paid social is win win – great content and highly targeted campaigns.
See how you can optimise your influencer marketing with
ZINE’s powerful technology
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Maeve Sugrue
I’m Head of Marketing at ZINE where I am helping peers and customers who want to revolutionise their influencer marketing strategy. I love food, fitness and Min Pins.
