Developing strong, lasting relationships with influencers is crucial for continued success in influencer marketing campaigns. It requires moving past transactional exchanges and genuinely cultivating personal connections and mutually beneficial partnerships over the long-term. Here are some effective strategies to nurture ongoing relationships with influencers:
Provide value beyond paid promotions. Influencers appreciate brands that offer real value beyond just transactions. Look for other ways you can support their work through informative or inspiring collaborations, exclusive access, career insights, networking opportunities, etc. Show you care about their success as content creators, not just the ROI of campaigns. This builds trust that you want a true partnership.
Get to know them personally. Set up occasional video calls or meet-ups just to learn more about the influencer as a person, not a marketing tool. Ask about their interests, goals, challenges, and find authentic ways you can offer encouragement or advice from your experiences. Relate to them as individuals, not just influencer profiles. Strong personal bonds lead to stronger promotional relationships.
Express genuine appreciation. Beyond the transactional “thank you” after a post, find ways to creatively show appreciation for the influencer’s time, effort, and value they bring to your brand. Handwritten thank you cards, small gifts relevant to their interests, public shouts on your social channels, or donations to a cause they support can go a long way. Make them feel appreciated as people, not commodities.
Provide exclusive insider access. Share behind-the-scenes stories, product previews, or invite them to exclusive events that let influencers feel part of your brand community. Give them a sense of ownership and belonging through access typically reserved for employees. Leverage their creative ideas where possible to show you value their perspectives beyond promotions.
Stay responsive and available. Timely responses to messages, quick approvals for campaign assets, and flexibility to handle hiccups respect the influencer’s time and effort. Be prompt to answer queries so they feel supported. Provide multiple contact points and ask for feedback to strengthen future relationships. Accessible and understanding interactions build rapport and goodwill over time.
Promote their work outside campaigns. Share and engage with their organic content beyond just paid posts to mix your personal and promotional interactions. This shows you care about them as creators not transactions. Some influencers may gradually return the organic support over the life of your relationship. Consistent boosts strengthen credibility for future promotions.
Offer continuing education. Share industry trends, resources, or host webinars for influencers to gain new skills and differentiate their work. Guide them on analytics, cross-promotion tactics or other career development tips to empower their success. Show a commitment to fostering their long-term growth that transcends any single campaign. They’ll remain engaged partners as their platforms expand.
Remain flexible in tough times. Influencers face ups and downs like any business. Show empathy if changing algorithms impact metrics or personal issues affect promotions. Offer creative alternative activations without expecting anything in return to build a reliable ally when times get hard again. Resilient, understanding support through challenges anchors influence
Celebrate wins publicly. Share your and their successes with followers by publicly celebrating campaign results that exceeded goals. Create hashtag campaigns to spread achievements or newsletter roundups to highlight top-performing influencers. The visibility boost strengthens their credibility and keeps your name top-of-mind as an ideal promotional partner. Recognizing efforts expands reach for future wins.
The most impactful influencer relationships move beyond measuring promotions transactionally towards fostering genuine personal and professional partnerships. With ongoing commitment of sincerely supporting influencers’ multimedia goals, education and welfare, brands ensure engaged ambassadors to authentically reach broad audiences for the long haul. Strategically prioritizing the influencer’s human needs alongside marketing KPIs cultivates powerful, enduring associations that benefit both parties for years ahead.