Lately, it has become common that clients push for ASAP communication with an influencer, even though they are not interested in a time-limited campaign, but rather in long-term cooperation and using the influencer as a performance channel (discount codes, own URL links, etc.). But this is not the way to do it. Well, it is, but of course, you need a budget for that. Even though sometimes even that won’t help you. You have to approach it a bit differently. How?
What You Will Learn in the Article
- how to communicate with influencers
- the difference between barter and financial compensation
- how to speed up communication
- what selected influencers say about communication with companies
Influencers are also People
Companies often overlook an important fact when communicating with influencers. An influencer is not an institution that has office hours during which they will certainly devote themselves to you. They are just people who, in most cases, do everything themselves.
They spend most of their time on their main focus, which is probably what they make a living from, whether it’s sports, music, making YouTube videos, etc. As people who have a lot of followers on social media, they cannot avoid communicating with them, and depending on their number and the nature of their performance, they also spend time fulfilling obligations within the already agreed collaborations. And only at the end of all this is the arrangement of new collaborations on the agenda, the priority of which will be determined by the relevance of the given offer.
Barter or Cash?
It is very likely that your barter offer (a discount code, product promotion for trying it out, etc.) will be received by the given influencer several times a day. Quite often, the number of such offers for influencers climbs into the hundreds per month. Therefore, in the case of barter, think not only about the value of the product or service itself, but also about its added value for the selected influencer. If you feel that the price of the influencer you have chosen is much higher than your products, you can also compensate the offer with financial compensation.
In both cases, it is necessary to choose the right way of communication. In this respect, as a salesman, I dare say that there is a very thin line between the occasional reminder of communication in the style of: “Hey, you probably forgot about it, but…” and the persistent demand for a response: “Answer, you motherfucker, when we’re offering you money…” How true is this? I asked several influencers a few questions, which you can find under the article.
Want to Speed Up Communication? Specify or Increase the Offer
Time is money. This is doubly true in the case of influencer marketing. The time and attention of influencers are precious commodities. So if you need an influencer for a time-limited campaign, you need to think about whether you’re just offering them your product with an unclear value, or maybe 50,000 CZK for promoting your company. Can you feel the difference? But not everyone responds to money. For many influencers, barter of sufficient value has more weight. So carefully consider your offer.
Tip number two is to start communicating with sufficient advance. It takes a while to get on the same wavelength with an influencer, and you haven’t even started negotiating the terms yet. Plus, influencers need time to potentially try out the product and plan the given promotion.
That’s why I’ve selected a few influencers and put together questions related to the issues of this article. Read their answers below, and then you can create your own picture of communication with influencers.
Veronika Beskydiarová (@besky.vero)
How long do you typically respond to a collaboration offer?
I try to respond as quickly as possible, but often the fact that companies contact me via direct on Instagram, where the message can unfortunately get lost, works against me. That’s why I prefer email, which I have listed in my BIO, and that increases overall responsiveness. For me, the response to an offer is in the email within a maximum of 3 business days.
Does your approach change if the first message mentions that it is (not) a barter, but a financial payment?
Barter evaluation is not bad, as long as it has real value (for example, cooperation with ČS and free refueling, cooperation with a store and free grocery shopping), but financial compensation is more fair, as the company must realize that the influencer, a public figure, also fulfills an important role as an intermediary between the company and the customer, who actively responds to interested in the product and educates the target audience. Questions about the product sometimes exceed hundreds of messages. It’s not just about one post, as someone might think.
Do you have an idea how long it takes you on average to negotiate a collaboration? From the first shot from the client side until your first output?
It is important that this time is not too short, because then there could be some misunderstandings. From my point of view, I see that agreeing on a quality collaboration takes a few weeks. Many companies have to go through a circle of approval for every proposal and decision.
How many offers do you receive on average (daily, weekly, monthly)?
Currently it’s about 15-20 offers per week.
How many active collaborations do you have right now?
Since the Masterchef competition has just ended, I am currently looking around the market and deciding who I will give my trust to and start a quality collaboration that will make sense and resonate with my niche.
Tomáš Třeštík (@tomastrestik)
How long do you typically respond to a collaboration offer?
It depends, usually within a week.
Does your approach change if the first message mentions that it is (not) a barter, but a financial payment?
Yes, but I barter most of the collaborations. I usually have clients that I’ve known for a long time and live with their products, plus the barter compensation is usually higher in the end than any potential financial compensation.
Do you have an idea how long it takes you on average to negotiate a collaboration? From the first shot from the client side until your first output?
I’m quick, I know what I want. Usually a few days, max weeks.
How many offers do you receive on average (daily, weekly, monthly)?
A few a week. I’m not a classic influencer, I don’t have the reach like the girls who take half-naked photos in the bathroom, but it’s clear what I do. I see it as an interesting change of pace and an opportunity to establish further contacts.
How many active collaborations do you have right now?
Around ten? I avoid short-term one-offs that I have no relationship with. I enjoy longer collaborations that make sense to me.
Dominika Poklunková (@dominika.po)
How long do you typically respond to a collaboration offer?
It always depends on the situation. It can be the same day, but also 7-10 days. But I’ve decided to get an assistant who will take care of it for me.
Does your approach change if the first message mentions that it is (not) a barter, but a financial payment?
Maybe not, in this it depends on the brand/company. If I don’t like the company, it doesn’t matter to me if it’s paid or barter. When I like the brand, it doesn’t change the situation either, because I like to support it.
Do you have an idea how long it takes you on average to negotiate a collaboration? From the first shot from the client side until your first output?
It really depends on the client, for example I started solving Christmas campaigns already in August to make it in time. But there are also clients who wrote to me on Friday and the collaboration starts after a week…
How many offers do you receive on average (daily, weekly, monthly)?
This also depends on the situation, but it could be around 20 offers a week and when it goes well, I accept one a week. 😃
How many active collaborations do you have right now?
This is harder to answer, there are collaborations that run constantly throughout the year. But then there are long-term collaborations that are realized for some campaign. If I had to give an average, it’s about 7 active collaborations.
Veronika G. (@vg.photomodel)
How long do you typically respond to a collaboration offer?
I try to respond immediately after reading the message. 😉
Does your approach change if the first message mentions that it is (not) a barter, but a financial payment?
I work in the form of barter and in the form of financial compensation. It depends on each company what rules they set. I’m not demanding and I still see it more as a hobby than a job… So I also approach it that way. I want it to have style and lightness and not be shot or filmed in cramps. And above all, I want the companies to be satisfied with the collaboration. 😉
Do you have an idea how long it takes you on average to negotiate a collaboration? From the first shot from the client side until your first output?
We usually agree on all the conditions up to my first output within a few days. 😉
How many offers do you receive on average (daily, weekly, monthly)?
It varies, but on average it’s 1-2 per week.
How many active collaborations do you have right now?
Around 10 and I hope new ones will keep coming. 😉😍❤️
What to Take Away from This?
You can see for yourself that most influencers try to respond as soon as possible, and that a specific offer and its nature can, but doesn’t have to, affect their response time. The number of offers that influencers receive reaches dozens per week. So the more specific you are and the more you hit the taste and preferences of the given influencer, the higher your chance of successful collaboration.
What I also consider extremely important is contacting the given influencer in the way they prefer. For most of them, you can find this method listed in their BIO, or the influencer may mention it directly in their stories or posts. That’s why it’s a good idea to follow and analyze your chosen influencer for a while. It will save you a lot of time and ultimately money.
