To start off, we want to clarify that influencer marketing has lots of different categories to it. There's paid influencer marketing, trade or exchange programs, affiliate programs, PR programs, ambassador programs, and user-generated content creators. These all are somewhat similar but different in how exactly they work and what the relationship between the business and the influencer is.

 A lot of what we focus on is user-generated content. So what is user-generated content?

User-generated content is especially helpful for a product-based company. In fact, Jaiden would argue it's absolutely vital. Especially in the age of Amazon, we all want reviews or proof that something works before we’re willing to buy it. And user-generated content is how we make that happen. 

User-generated content influencing is when you pay people for user-generated content. So someone will take your product and take photos or videos of it where it looks very organic and very natural. Where it looks like you or I could have created it, but it's very intentional and done by someone who knows what they're doing. The whole goal is to make it look authentic, relatable and like your friend is trying to show you something, as opposed to feeling more like an ad. 

What is the difference between paid versus trade influencer marketing?

So, in paid influencer marketing you're just straight up paying an influencer to make an ad about your content. It's a good system if you want more control over the process, or you want to make sure that they actually make an ad. 

The downsides to paid influencing is that it might not always convert very well, people might be aware that it's paid, it can feel inauthentic, or it may not really be aligned.

You need to pick your influencers really carefully, because if you pick someone that doesn't align with your brand or vice versa, it can be a huge waste of money and not convert at all. And this is true on the influencer side too, if a brand reaches out to you but they do not feel aligned, it can be a huge hit to your credibility with your audience and just your integrity in general. So it can be hard to turn on a check, but integrity is never worth less than money in our opinion. Integrity and intentionality are the big names of the game here.

Now trade influencer marketing is when you gift your product in exchange for some sort of publicity. It could be a TikTok, reel, or just some sort of post about your product. In these cases, you're more hoping that they post something rather than asking them directly to share.

This can be a good move so that influencer content feels more organic, less forced, and can potentially have a higher conversion rate. This is the main form of influencer marketing that Jaiden works in.

How does somebody get started with influencer marketing?

As a business or influencer, agencies can be one of your biggest foot into the influencer market. Whether you are a business or influencer, Jaiden's biggest advice is to do your research. Look into their business model, always ask a lot of questions, and see what really feels best for you.

Influencer marketing is all about human connection and really trying to connect with your audience and making things feel trustworthy and organic. You always want to make sure that an agency is truly serving people, and that their business model aligns with your brand and your vibe.

On the business owner side of things, if what you're really looking for is more brand awareness, the first thing you could do is just reach out to your network. Sometimes the best microinfluencers are in your own backyard. So reach out to your network, ask people who they could refer you to or who might be a good fit for you and this might be a great move especially if you're working with a small budget or just starting out.

If you want to go to the agency route, again just make sure to research and be intentional about the sales funnel you're trying to build. 

If you're trying to use influencer marketing to build more brand awareness, you can be more chill about how many products you give out, or how deeply an influencer aligns with you, but if you're looking for a high conversion rate, you really need to do research to see how much the influencers following aligns with yours. There should be a lot of overlap so that your money isn’t wasted.

What are some good questions to ask an agency or to double-check in a contract?

Some starting questions:

• Do you have licensing rights to whatever content is created?
• Is every influencer required to post if they are given a product? 
• What happens if somebody doesn't post? 
• Do you get to approve a post before it gets published? 

These are not all the questions you should ask, but it's a good starting point and shows you some of the keywords that you should be thinking about as you're doing research and asking questions of your agencies or as you're trying to set up an influencer marketing program.

Always expect things to be way more hands on it first before they transition to being more hands off as you build trust. This form of marketing really takes time, but it can pay off a lot if you put in the effort.

What do you think about the deinfluencing trend?

Really the deinfluencing trend is just the same thing with a different name. And it all comes from this want to be real, we want real people, we want real content, and we want things to feel authentic. It's a lot of why microinfluencers have gotten so much bigger and more profitable because it feels way more trustworthy and we get to have a much deeper connection. People don't want big influencers as much anymore, we want people that feel relatable and that we can trust.

We don't want to be influenced by people who aren't actually using the products, or don't seem like us at all. You don't have time for that BS.

What are some of the biggest mistakes you can make in influencer marketing?

The biggest thing Jaiden says is not doing your research. Again, research is king. Do not jump in without thinking, you have to be intentional.

The next biggest mistake is that people do not look at contracts or fine print enough. It's a big expense to use influencers so you need to know the details of what's going on. 

How do you get the best results with influencer marketing?

Jaiden's best advice is to put a lot of thought into who your influencers are, but chill out when it comes to creative control over what they create. 

It matters way way more who your influencer is, who their audience is, and if their brand really aligns with yours, then the exact details of what your user-generated content looks like. 

Let influencers create the content they want to create, because they know their audience better than you. Period. 

If you ask an influencer to make something that feels totally off brand for them, it is not going to convert and is not going to be effective. So trust them to know their audience and the kind of content that works best for them. 

What should you expect if you reach out to an influencer via dm?

For trade collaborations, the industry standard is 70% participation. As in 70% of influencers reached out to will post something about the product that you gave them.

Should you only go through an agency or hire someone  to look for influencers?

You could definitely look for influencers in-house. There's also agencies that are more hands-off and may just give you a list of influencers in your industry for you to go through yourself. It’s something that you could totally outsource or keep in-house.

But either way, know that getting into influencer marketing is time-consuming and will definitely spend a lot of time up front. It will chill out and settle in with time, but it takes time to set this up and make it something that's really effective and actually works for your business.

Plan to work on building your influencer marketing program for at least 6 to 9 months before people start posting for you. You need to be intentional and handcrafted with this process. Quick results aren't the way to partner with influencers. 

Building an effective ambassador or influencer program takes a long time to set up but it can become a long-term relationship that leads to so much conversion and totally transforms your business.

If you build a great PR package and build up this side of your marketing, it can create a long-term relationship that leads influencers and the influenced down your sales funnel  with a lot of trust and a high return on investment.

How do you do a good PR package?

The answer here is not to be as bougie as possible. You really need to make it personalized, or just at least fun for the influencer to open.

A great example would be if you're a wine brand, you could send a PR box with two gorgeous wine glasses and a charcuterie board. You've basically already given them the props for the perfect kind of content with your wine, and the gift feels really genuine. It quickly inspires them to maybe have a wine and cheese night with their friends, and share about it on their socials. So boom, you gave them the props, you gave them the idea, and now you have amazing user-generated content exactly how you wanted it.

Personalization could be as easy as adding a name to the box, adding a small card, or just adding gifts to the box that fit with your brand and fuel personalized and fun for the influencer.

Influencer marketing is really all the rage right now. It is a super great way to build trust, increase brand awareness, and build your sales funnel using other people's audiences. It definitely takes work, intentionality, and time but it can pay off a lot for a very long time once you set it up.

Huge shout out to Jaiden Robinson for her insight today. Jaiden Robinson is a baddie like me who's running her own business after 6 years in corporate. She decided to follow the feminine urge to create and wanted to do more of what she wanted to and less of what she didn't want to.

Listen to the podcast episode here!