Carmen Baustert, Digital Communication Officer, Content Creator, and Influencer, shares that successful influencer collaborations go beyond follower count. Focus on local reach, aligned values, and authentic content for impactful campaigns.
How do you pick the right influencer for a brand collaboration?
Many brands starting influencer collaborations only focus on follower count. However, follower count is becoming less relevant as a metric, and it can be challenging to determine if a Luxembourg-based creator genuinely has a significant local following. Many creators have international backgrounds, with followers spread worldwide. If you’re a local brand aiming to reach a local target audience, it’s essential to investigate further.
Additionally, the content creator’s values must align with your brand’s values. For instance, a creator promoting fast fashion would not be a good fit for a small eco-friendly business.
What are some common hiccups you’ve encountered with influencer partnerships, and how did you overcome them?
From a brand perspective, a common issue is creators producing content that is too salesy or too different from their usual posts. Therefore, it’s important not only to review a creator’s regular posts but also to examine their previous collaborations to see how they have promoted products or services similar to yours.
How do you maintain authenticity in collaborations and avoid coming off as too salesy?
Content creation for a brand shouldn’t stray too far from a content creator’s regular style. When the brand and creator share aligned values, it becomes easier to integrate the brand into the creator’s universe authentically.
What metrics do you use to measure the success of an influencer campaign?
As a content creator, I know a campaign has been successful when I receive significant follower feedback, such as messages. Views alone aren’t valuable if people don’t feel entertained, inspired, or educated by the content.
In my professional role, I don’t expect content creators to provide an overload of metrics. I can usually tell from the quality of their content if they’ve enjoyed working with us, and I trust that this will resonate with their community.
Can you share a memorable story of a successful influencer campaign? What made it stand out?
From a brand perspective, I believe in the power of PR sample campaigns, where personalized boxes with our latest products are sent to various local content creators. These campaigns were popular in the early days of content creation but are less common among local brands now. Creators enjoy these surprises and often share them with their audience, resulting in campaigns with high ROI.
From a content creator’s perspective, I enjoy long-term collaborations where I have full creative freedom, such as my partnership with Lodyss. My followers remember the brand well, and some of the content I created for them even went viral.
What are your top three tips for brands starting their first influencer collaboration?
First, follow the content creator for a few weeks to understand the types of content they create and to ensure their values align with yours.
Second, avoid approaching creators without a clear internal discussion of your budget and the type of content you expect. Many brands simply offer a product or service and let the creator handle the rest, which only works with creators who are very professional and have a lot of experience with brand collaborations.
Finally, don’t spend too much time drafting an overly detailed briefing. The more you restrict a creator’s creative freedom, the less authentic the content will feel to both the creator and their audience.
This article was published in the special edition on artificial intelligence of Silicon Luxembourg magazine.
