Collaborations, a nice and typically a surprise benefit of having a social media account. I am sure prior to starting your account, you were not even aware that you, a normal person, could work with large companies for product or even payment.
Our community is tight nit, we tend to share our experiences with companies especially when they are bad. We hear who to avoid, who doesn’t pay, or who asks for far too many deliverables with little pay. I always seem to see the content creator or influencer’s side of the collaboration and we never hear from the social media manager’s side of it.
It’s easy when corresponding with a company’s social media account to view them as just a “company” and not realize that there is a person behind that account. A person, like you and I, who is just doing their job and more often than not a middle man when it comes to decisions.
Over the last couple of weeks, I reached out to a handful of social media managers with notable companies within our community. I am sure if you have been creating content for collaborations in any capacity, you have interacted with at least one of these managers. To maintain a promise I made to all of them, I will not be disclosing who they are or what companies they are associated with. The managers were all sent the same questions so their answers will all be grouped under each question, not all questions were answered though.
We rarely hear from social media managers, so I sent a short questionnaire asking some of your burning questions like does follower count matter, how to make your collaborations successful, and how is pay determined? You may be surprised by the answers because I know I was.
Does follower count matter?
No!
Yes, but it is not the most important thing! I also look at the quality of content, audience, engagement, and most importantly, if the account aligns with our brand.
Follower count always depends on the budget and niche of a campaign. A rule of thumb I was taught in training for influencer marketing is all influencers need at least 10k followers and a 2% engagement rate. However, if I am recruiting for a niche campaign- maybe a social media holiday or in a specific geographic location, I am able to look at a bigger range of influencers. As a social media specialist, I like having influencers with at least 10k so that we can utilize the Influencers’s swipe up link. An interesting way to think about a collaboration is that the company wants to work with you for 50% of your content and creativity and the other 50% is your reach to market their product. I have also been on the flip side of the collaboration. When recruiting if the campaign allows (budget & niche/scope of the project) – I will recruit someone that has a thematic page, clear/crisp/bright images, personality, and a lower follower count. I know how much work goes into creating content.
Follower count plays a role depending on the goal of the campaign. If we are really just looking for amazing content then it doesn’t matter. You could have 2k followers but if we are focused on high impression numbers or another metric, then we would go with a larger following.
What catches your attention and is a red flag that has you reconsider collaborating with someone?
The way they communicate! I have SO many influencers that the last thing I want is someone who is hard to work with. If I can tell that in the first email then I am out.
A red flag would be a creator that is being defensive or disrespectful or rude in their posts or interactions. If you post polarizing opinions or tell your followers they are wrong for not having the same viewpoint as you, that can create some drama as those followers WILL contact their collaborating brands and tattle on the influencer. Someone who engages in a TON of random sponsored posts could be a red flag as well if you are looking for authenticity and a true partnership. Any sort of past drama or backlash is also not good. One that comes to mind from a couple of years ago that is now a red flag is not abiding by leash laws when taking photos. The last red flag is having a lot of followers/likes but very low comments and engagement.
It is important to be confident and kind when collaborating with a brand. If an influencer is rude, I will typically put them in a do not work with again category. A good attitude can go a long way- I will sometimes send extra product to influencers who have delivered great content and were polite to work with. I will also think of them first if a new campaign opportunity comes up.
When people are moody. We get a lot of “oh okay….” And other sassy replies and if someone isn’t enjoyable to talk to within our first few interactions, I probably am not going to want to partner with them.
If an account participates in a lot of follow trains, it shows they have not built their community around them yet and are more focused on quantity over quality. Their following may not be as genuine as someone who has slowly built their way to 10k followers vs. an account who has follow trained their way up to 10k followers.
When reviewing content creators to work with, what stands out to you that gets you excited to work with them?
Great photos and people that are NICE and easy to work with! I know that sounds funny, but it goes a long way and a huge amount of people are not.
The quality and versatility of content is always the first thing that stands out since its the first thing you see when you going to an account’s feed. Something that really stands out for me is if a creator is a storyteller and runs their account to share their authentic life versus just posting perfect photos with surface level captions. A creator who really cares about their audience and interacts with them is also very exciting.
When people are genuinely interested in our product and have used it before they worked with us or use it regularly. It speaks wonders to partner with someone who is stoked on what we do, and it really comes off as genuine to their audience too.
Great attitude and ENGAGEMENT! I recruit for a few brands and work with about 50 different influencers a day. Ones that stand out are the ones I have built a rapport with. They reply to your favorite brand stories, engage on brand posts, and send follow up messages to see if any new collaborations are available to be apart of. Since I deal with so many influencers, the ones that stand out are the ones that a consistent about engaging with the brand! They always keep themselves in the back of my mind, because I am seeing and hearing from them all the time.
As a social media manager, what is your biggest pet peeve about collaborations?
Not following directions or reading emails.
When things are late. Just give us a heads up that you will need more time. I am always happy to extend a deadline. I am human, I know life get in the way sometimes.
Ghosting, if you are not interested in a campaign just let us know. Most collaborations are time sensitive, so if you are not interested we will need to your spot with someone else that is interested.
Not following directions in the post or consistently missing deadlines (obviously life happens and it is totally understandable when there is a reason). Lack of communication is a pet peeve but also over communicating in terms of a creator seeming needy and always asking for more things or when they start questioning the partnership already in place.
When a potential influencer reaches out and they don’t follow us!!
What makes a successful collaboration?
Honestly, just someone who is easy to work with and doesn’t give me more work, HA!
We help each other! I want to promote people who work with us just as they promote us, I really think it is a two-way street.
Great attitude, quality content, and promptness. If a re-shoot is needed and you have a great attitude, I really appreciate you even more!
It goes back to what the goal of the campaign is. Whether it be driving followers for the brand, creating content, gaining impressions, or engagement, It is easier to determine success if you are promoting a DTC brand or a coupon code where the sales are trackable.
If payment is offered, how do you determine the rate?
There are a couple of ways to do this, but the formula we use is (engagement rate x.26) /.32 .
Determining payment varies so much. Each brand has a limited budget and it gets even more limited when you are working with numerous creators. When it comes to something like a pet food brand, payment will always be first and foremost the food. From there it is really up to the creator to negotiate monetary compensation but they would need a case for it. Factors include, following, engagement, impressions generated, content, and the level of their yearly account growth.
We do not currently pay, I wish we did. We do not have the monetary budget for influencers. but that is how it was before I got into this role and have not had any success in changing it.
Bonus information
There is one important note- A brand will typically have a contract with you where they can review your content. Somethings it will result in a re-shoot if the content submitted does not meet the brand guidelines.
I cannot stress enough, how far a good attitude goes with this! I know as a creator how much time and creativity goes into a shoot. I feel like creating content is a very personal and vulnerable thing. Please do not think a re-shoot means that we do not like your work. We want the content to meet all of our brand requirements and messaging. we contract you and pay you too meet our guidelines. Don’t refuse or be difficult if we ask for a different shot. Try to understand that we are working together to help market our product through your voice and creative judgement
A tip for negotiating rate- always start a little higher than your asking price. We are willing to negotiate and meet you in the middle. Also do your research and make sure you are not just focusing on followers but also your engagement rate when building your page.
Influencer tip – become friends with your social media manager, HA!
My takeaway after talking to these social media managers, professionalism and being nice goes a long way. I hope to bring more questionnaires like this to more social media managers within our community so we can all have a better understanding of the industry.