To Trend Or Not To Trend: Influencers (Part 2)

In Trends

Last week we spoke about whether it’s good to trend or not, but now we’re looking at the influencers themselves and the role they play within your brand campaigns so you can get it just right. When it comes to hiring influencers, your brand could head down the rocky road and rush into hot water if not done right. It’s not only up to the influencer to make things happen either, but the brand that needs to set them up for success with the audience they’re connecting with. Getting the influencer fit just right means having to know who your influencer is, what they talk about and whether that would align to your brand. Let’s get into it, shall we?

1. Misfits, Miss-fires And Going For The Win

Brand marketers often get starry eyed when approached by influencers who want to work with their clients and are quick to jump the gun and present them to the lot. The problem is that clients trust your brand expertise to know when an influencer is not right for your brand.

Reach, relevance and resonance are very important factors to consider when identifying the appropriate influencer for your brand. The fact that an influencer has a large following, may not mean that they are influential or engaging with their audience. Things to look for in an influencer could include how they respond to tweets, what they mostly speak about, whether they are consistent and how their audience feels about their topics.

2. Finding The Right Voice

It’s no secret that using celebrity spokespersons and/or influencers may assist in growing awareness for your campaigns and even get your brand trending, if done right. Be careful however, using the wrong influencer will only make your brand look inauthentic and pretentious. Afrillennials (African Millennials) can definitely tell when a brand is putting on a show.

It’s vital to get the influencer voice right, to be sure your brand message flows naturally and your messaging isn’t too hard for them to land. If you want to promote a beer brand to the youth, look at who’s discussing the topic, the lifestyle around it and whether they have preferences that clash with your brand.

Using influencers you’ve worked with before is also a great way to ensure a consistent voice. If they’re not available, your use of newbies is imminent because Afrillennials wait for no one, but avert the risks as far as you can.

Student Village recently completed a successful influencer campaign where the social media team had to go the extra mile as we selected the right voices for the campaign for the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA). As a result, the influencers that were used had loads of interaction as they were within their comfort zone when tweeting about ACCA. That meant the objective of the client, reaching and engaging with as many accounting graduates as possible, was met. For the same campaign, one of the influencers went as far as writing an article on his website to further promote the message.

3. Cruise Control

The hurdle is that brands cannot control influencer content word by word, and rightfully so as content needs to be real and from the influencer’s place of power. There are considerations to make when choosing influencers that can help you avoid any challenges:

• Screenings: Do regular screenings or as ‘The Fixer’ creator, Shonda Rhymes once vividly put it, “asshole checks” when hiring candidates. Get an idea of the social media habits of the influencer or spokesperson before locking into their audience. Granted, it may not protect your brand from their future social media flops but it can at least give you an idea of what to expect.  Screening may appear excessive to some marketers who may only consider an influencer’s following to make the decision about who to hire, but remember, the same people who get your brand the awareness it needs, may also set off your worst brand nightmare if they drop the ball.

• Brand alignment: Apart from doing checks on your influencers and brand spokesperson, it’s important to know how they communicate on a daily basis and if that resonates with your brand’s movements. Not only is it unlikely for Afrillennials to support trends that are too corporate or sound paid for but if it takes place in the wrong place and time, brands miss their target audience all together.

Stay In The Loop

As aforementioned, you are always selling to humans, not a dashboard of stats. A common mistake brands make is picking people who are popular on social media, rather than those who are right for their brand. By doing things the right way, you’ll find that an influencer may even go the extra mile for you because what they’re sharing, resonates with them.

Trust Student Village with your next youth influencer campaign and we’ll be sure to take your brand to new heights. Contact us on or call 011 885 3918.