Organic Product Seeding vs. Paid Campaigns

Influencer marketing and social media management have become two key components in helping spread awareness of a brand, product, and/or service on social media platforms like Youtube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. When it comes to how to collaborate with influencers, or content creators, there are two options — organic seeding and paid campaigns. Organic seeding involves sending product(s) on a gifting basis. An influencer paid campaign is a contract agreement between a brand and an influencer. Once the contract is signed, the influencer is required to share content for approval and post on the date agreed upon.  

Define the Client’s Goals to Determine a Budget 

 Before deciding which route to take in terms of influencer marketing, there are two factors the brand needs to consider: the goal and budget. What do they want out of the influencer campaign? What does a successful campaign look like to them? Once they know, then they can decide on a budget. 

The budget they allocate will determine how many influencers are allotted for the campaign, as well as the type of campaign you move forward with. If the budget does not allow, organic seeding is still an option. Organic product seeding is a great opportunity to get products in the hands of influencers and to receive feedback. Plus, there is always the possibility they will post on their socials for no cost at all. 

If the brand does have a budget for a paid marketing campaign, it will determine how many influencers are allotted. Micro-influencers (10K-100K followers) rates are usually significantly lower than macro-influencers (100K-1M+ followers). Deciding what type and how many influencers to bring on all comes back to your goals. Would you rather have more influencers talking about your brand or only a couple that could talk about it more than once? 

One of the great benefits of a paid influencer campaign is getting control over what the influencer says or posts through the signed contract. The brand can position the product whichever way it pleases. While working on paid campaigns, you can also review the influencer’s posts before they go live to make sure they’re exactly the message the brand wants to portray to its audience. 

How to Determine Influencer Payment

After determining the budget needed to achieve brand goals, it’s important to begin compiling a list of influencers that the brand can work with. It is important for an influencer agency to choose influencers that will likely achieve the ultimate goal of the campaign, either with sales or brand awareness, to the target audience. 

Once a brand compiles the list, they should begin reaching out to influencers to get a sense of pricing. A micro-influencer with under 20,000 followers may charge around $350 for an Instagram story, $850 for an in-feed post, or $900 for IG TV. While a macro influencer with 800,000 followers may charge $1,500 for an Instagram story, the brand may see a return of $2,000 or more in sales as a result. 

Making Sure Influencers are the Right Partners

This is why it’s crucial to ensure the brand is selecting influencers that will be beneficial to the campaign. Some ways to effectively choose influencers is to see if they’re a fan of the brand by organic seeding. If the brand has built a relationship with an influencer by sending them a product and they love it, their followers will have seen it on their social media previously, and with a swipe up link may be more inclined to trust and buy the product. 

Another way to make sure an influencer is the right fit is by making sure their content aligns with the brand’s overall goals. If the campaign is targeted towards a certain demographic, in age or similar interests, make sure the influencer frequently posts about it as well. This will make the paid Instagram posts look more natural in the influencer’s feed or on their stories and less like a paid ad. It’s also necessary to vet an influencer’s feed and make sure they haven’t partnered with any competitors within the past three to six months. 

Lastly, another thing to consider while working with influencers for a paid campaign is to check their engagement. Make sure the influencers the brand is selecting have a relatively high engagement rate. Some influencers have followers who might not interact with their posts or have a lot of followers but may not be “real” and instead are bots. Choosing influencers with high engagement is important for an overall rate of investment. The more their followers trust the influencer, the more likely they are to also trust the product and try it out for themselves. 

Why You Need Both 

Both organic influencer seeding and paid social media campaigns are beneficial to a brand and its social media goals. Organic product seeding builds relationships with influencers and allows their followers to become familiar with the brand, while paid campaigns allow the brand to have total control over the message and its goals. 

A good mix of both is key to being successful in garnering brand awareness through and on social media. Power Digital Marketing has countless relationships with relevant and successful influencers and offers services that can tap those influencers to achieve brand goals. As an experienced digital marketing agency, we can help introduce brands to those influencers to create long-lasting relationships with them and successfully launch social media campaigns that have a desired ROI. To find out more, contact us today. 

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