Why Influencers Deserve To – And Should – Be Paid by Brands

Ever since sponsored posts were made popular by the likes of Izea, the question has remained: should influencers be paid for their promotion of your brand’s message, product or service?

On the one hand, you have those that say paying an influencer removes the validity of the review of promotion, since you can’t possibly remain non-biased when there’s been an exchange of money.

On the other hand, you have those that say it’s no different from any other marketing channel, and you pay for that, so why should influencers be any different?

As someone who’s on both sides of the coin – I’m a marketer who uses influencers for client campaigns, and I’m fortunate enough to work with brands as an influencer for their campaigns – here’s my take on the topic.

Time is Money

How long do you think the average blog post takes to create? If you, the marketer, don’t blog yourself, how long do you think it takes to put together what you’re reading now?

10 minutes? 30 minutes? An hour? More, less?

The truth is, blog posts take as long as they need to be ready. This might sound clichéd, but it’s true. There’s much more to a blog post than just stringing some words together (or images and sounds, if you’re a video blogger or podcaster).

• Ideas and research;


• Content;


• Format;


• Links and attribution to relevant topics;


• Images and media;


• Proofreading.

That’s just the creation part. Then you have the marketing of a post, along with replying to comments and encouraging further discussion. All told, a blog post can easily take up a few days of your time, if you were to add up all the components.

And that’s just one post, where the blogger knows the topic inside out and can create content on the fly. If there’s a brand message involved, there needs to be further research into the product, testing any giveaways, liaising with the brand, etc.

So that single post has now turned into a mini-campaign. And you want that for free? Um… NO.

Trust Can’t be Bought – But It Deserves to be Rewarded

When I started this blog, the one core tenet I made it my mission to adhere to was to never break the trust of whatever community managed to grow around the blog.

That meant all opinions would be treated equally, as long as they were respectful and on topic, and I would never promote or recommend something I hadn’t used myself, or didn’t 100% believe in.

It’s a big reason there have been very few ads on my blog, with the exception of the WordPress theme I use. It’s also why there has been very few sponsored posts on my blog – perhaps two in five years plus of blogging there.

Simply put, if I’m going to recommend something to my community – whether as a non-paid fan or a sponsored “influencer” – it needs to be right for my audience. There’s no amount of dollar value you can pay to erode the trust that’s built between a blogger and his or her community.

Money comes and goes; trust and a legacy doesn’t. That can never be bought back.

If you, as a brand manager or agency, want to connect an influencer’s hard-earned community trust to your client, you need to understand what it’s taken to build that trust. It’s the ultimate endorsement, for that influencer to introduce your brand to the community, and not only introduce, but honestly recommend.

You can’t buy that kind of advertising – but you can reward it.

Relevance Equals More Effective Outreach and ROI

There’s a reason today’s definition of influence – social scoring platforms like Klout, etc. – have been very slow at sharing public success stories when it comes to their influencer outreach campaigns.

While generic influence as offered by these platforms can help brands gain share of voice and brand amplification, the fact is the identification process of influencers to use lacks true context and relevance to an audience.

While a lifestyle blogger with 10,000 subscribers and demographics of 25-44 year old women might be attractive to a brand looking to promote their latest healthcare product, how many of that 10,000 is right for the brand?

Let’s say the product is for women with sensitive skin; that might be one-third of the audience. So what about the other two-thirds? A generic target by score – “this blogger has a score of 72 in women’s products, they’re perfect!” – will immediately reduce your brand’s success rate.

However, get in touch with the blogger that’s 100% right for your brand, and who has a higher engaged audience around that topic, and you’ll immediately see both financial benefits and more positive sentiment around your outreach campaign.

It’s why InNetwork’s solution of filtering out the true audience size is a welcome addition to the influence software marketplace.

Instead of wasting time and resources on partnering with bloggers with 10,000 subscribers but only 1,000 actual interested readers, you can connect with a blogger with 1,000 subscribers and 700 interested readers.

That’s a big difference in relevance and the ratio for success is much bigger. It’s the smarter way to market, and paying the influencer for connecting you to that more engaged audience means less risk, more return, and better campaigns.

Influence Marketing is a Key Business Strategy – Don’t Treat It Like a Cheap Date

At the end of the day, the old adage “you get what you pay for” has never been more true when it comes to influencers and how they can really help turn a promotional campaign into a loyalty-driven customer base.

There’s a reason people are “influential” in their community: expertise, respect, trust and the ability to make things happen.

You have the choice to pay or not to pay what they’re worth – in reality, though, if you’re serious about your campaigns, there’s only one choice to make: how much is true influence and what it can offer your brand worth to you?

Don’t be cheap with your answer.

image: H.Michael Karshis

via Business 2 Community http://www.business2community.com/branding/influencers-deserve-paid-brands-0662940?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=influencers-deserve-paid-brands