3 Reasons Why You Should Outsource Influencer Marketing

The most challenging question that brands and agencies ask themselves when it comes to influencer marketing is, “Is this something we can keep in-house, or do we need to outsource?”

More importantly, is influencer marketing something our team can execute swiftly, successfully and in-line with our brand standards, or are we better served working with an agency who has more experience, strong influencer relationships and has their pulse on the latest best practices, including fraud detection?

You’re not alone.

Brands are seeing the benefits of collaborating with out-spoken influencers to create visually appealing content that promotes their brand, product or restaurant and drives word-of-mouth awareness. They are also discovering that it generates a lot more work and has more nuances than they initially anticipated.

If you’re already questioning yourself, here is what you need to know to confirm your next steps.

According to a survey by Linqia:

• 86% of marketers already use influencer marketing

• 39% want to allocate more to their budget for this strategy

• 52% of marketers find influencer content more effective than branded content

For some, even getting started presents challenges.

• How do you select the appropriate influencers?

• Do you already have relationships you can go off of, or do you need to start from scratch and research a team to work with?

• Are you sure they will create content that portrays your brand in a positive light?

• What if they don’t publish the content during specific flights dates you have identified?

• What does an influencer brief even look like?

Once you’ve answered all those key campaign level questions, how do you decide which route to take when it comes to keeping influencer marketing in-house, or outsourcing to a team like Foodie Tribe?

There are cost benefits to outsourcing.

Budgets are tight, so how do you keep costs down, but still reap the benefits? Outsourcing influencer marketing costs less. Putting together an internal team can cost you, on average, about $4,000 to $4,425 (cost-per-hire), according to recent studies by Glassdoor and Society for Human Resource Management. And, you can’t forget to factor in the median salary of a marketing professional.

By outsourcing influencer marketing you don’t need to factor in salaries, or even cost-per-hire. You would just need to worry about the companies flat fee, which would include in the agency and influencer sponsored content fees bundled in one. This price can vary depending on the number of influencers you want to collaborate with, how many pieces of content you want them to create, and the influencers followers and engagement. The right agency can guide you through this difficult budgeting step.

Let’s talk about everyone’s most valued resource. Time.

Putting together the right group of curated influencers can take you a lot of time, if doing it in-house. In addition to selecting the right creators, who can act as on-brand ambassadors while still garnering engagement, outsourcing to an agency also saves you time when it comes to following up on content, going through an approval process, ensuring content goes live on time, and even pulling together a campaign report post project.

What if you have never put together an influencer marketing campaign?

Many brands are new to the benefits of influencer marketing, and don’t even know where to start. Specialized agencies can bring you eye catching content and awareness that promotes your brand in a positive light with a laser focus.

The FTC is not playing games, and neither is your legal team.

The FTC has very strict and defined guidelines on how partnerships need to be disclosed. Risking being non-compliant can be cause for massive legal issues and loss of time. What type of contract do you use for influencer campaigns? Who are the right influencers to execute my campaign? How do I know if the partnership was successful? While you are still researching what is and what is not FTC approved and making sure your legal department is on board, the right agency not only knows the letter of the law but has a view of best practices across the industry.

The Foodie Tribe Difference

We live and breathe influencer marketing everyday. It is the only thing we do.

Foodie Tribe can save you time, get you better results and make influencer marketing fun. We are also here to answer all of your questions along the journey.

When working with an agency like Foodie Tribe, we have over 1,700 approved and vetted influencers that are ready to promote your brand with just one email from our team.

Foodie Tribe is laser focused on pairing brands and agencies with content creators for high-quality and creative results that fit the exact bill for your campaign. It’s the reason we get out of bed.

Contact us today to work together on bringing your integrated marketing campaign to the next level with hand selected content creators that are ready to bring your marketing goals and strategies to life.

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Katy Coffield is the CEO at Foodie Tribe. When she isn’t eating or talking about food, Katy also loves to hang out with her husband and two kids, drink PepsiMax, and workout.

Benefits of Working with an Influencer Talent Agency

If you’ve been skeptical about joining an influencer talent agency, there’s really no need to be. You might be surprised to learn that there are many benefits to working with an agency like Foodie Tribe.

What exactly do we do?

We find social media influencers to work with our partners, and we represent our influencers during the partnership. Many talent agencies work with big, expensive influencers, as opposed to the smaller or micro-influencers. And, that’s where we come in. Though, to note, we do work with influencers of all sizes.

One of the biggest components of what we do is bring you projects, specifically those that fit your brand. Since our core focus at Foodie Tribe are food and beverage partnerships, these are the opportunities we bring you.

After pitching campaign concepts and signing a contract with a brand, we then email you about the opportunity, with the full campaign brief and requirements. All opportunities are sent out to the entire Foodie Tribe network, and are available for any member to RSVP. Based off of who RSVPs, we determine which influencers are the best fit for the campaign, and then present our list to the client, who then makes the final selections.  

What differentiates Foodie Tribe from other influencer agencies? Most of our projects are paid opportunities. It is important to us that Foodie Tribe members are rewarded for the time and effort they put into creating content for our partners. As you might be aware, not all brands and agencies pay their influencers, and simply opt for “gifting” instead.

Some agencies stop there. But, not Foodie Tribe. We are here to help and guide influencers through the entire campaign process. Answering questions, reviewing content, and more, to make the process as seamless and easy as can be for our influencers.

Aside from bringing our influencers projects, we also offer resources and programs to help them better their content.

Our blog is filled with articles on topics like how to use Instagram Stories and how to increase story engagement, photography tips, FTC guidelines, and so much more. We are always on the pulse of what is happening and changing in the industry and the way we see it, is that it is part of our job to keep our influencers up-to-date and aware of everything as well. We are on our influencers team - any way we can help them create better content, get better engagement, grow their following, build their brand, or anything else - we are always here to support them. Afterall, we wouldn’t be Foodie Tribe without our Tribe of influencers!

And, we couldn’t be more excited to be launching the first Foodie Tribe Social Experiment. With the Instagram algorithm always changing, it is our job to stay on top of this and let our influencers know what they can do to make sure their content doesn’t get lost in the crowd. We will be working with a group of our Tribe members on a two-week hashtag experiment to see where they fit better: in the post or in the comments. The results will be shared with the entire Tribe, for everyone to utilize the findings to their benefit.

Have we convinced you yet that working with an influencer agency has its advantages? We hope you join us! Become a Tribe member.

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Dara Schlossmann is an Influencer Manager at Foodie Tribe. In her free time you will find her taking advantage of the sunny Florida weather, traveling, or in the kitchen cooking up a new recipe.

Why You Need to Stay Up to Date on FTC Guidelines

In our industry, there is nothing more important than staying up-to-date on current FTC Guidelines for sponsored partnerships. We value all our relationships - with brands and influencers - which is why we always require you to clearly disclose ad content associated with our brand partners.

If you’ve worked on campaigns with us, you’re already familiar with the fact that you are required to follow FTC Guidelines when you sign your Influencer Agreement for every campaign you take part in. If you have yet to participate, keep an eye out for this section of the agreement when you are selected to work on a campaign.

All Foodie Tribe influencers are required to follow FTC Guidelines. Failing to do is subject to Tribe membership review and removal. To learn more, please see FTC Endorsement Guideline Summary and Native Advertising: A Guide For Businesses for the proper way to disclose endorsement.

Why do you need to follow these guidelines? The FTC helps people make informed buying decisions, by protecting consumers from deceptive advertising. Due to the rise of sponsored social media content, these guidelines have been created so influencers remain ethical and follow the law.

At Foodie Tribe, we pride ourselves on honest, authentic, collaborations and are proud of the work our influencers create. We urge all of our Tribe members to stay on top of the constantly changing FTC Guidelines so you can continue creating stellar content!

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Dara Schlossmann is an Influencer Manager at Foodie Tribe. In her free time you will find her taking advantage of the sunny Florida weather, traveling, or in the kitchen cooking up a new recipe.

What To Do When Instagram Goes Down

Let’s revisit last Wednesday, AKA the day everyone freaked out because Instagram was down. What did you do? How did you handle it?

The app wasn’t allowing users to comment or like posts, making it impossible for influencers to engage with their followers. And, many users weren’t able to upload newsfeed content either. Of course, this isn’t the first problem Instagram has ever had, and it is important to remember that there is always a chance for some kind of glitch. So, we decided to share a few tips for how you should handle a situation like this in the future.

How You Should Handle It

• Whenever you notice something that is not right with the platform, report the problem to Instagram.

• Check with others to see if they are experiencing the problem too. If many people are, it is probably a platform-wide issue, not an issue with your account.

• Apologize and explain the problem to your followers. Let them know you value your relationship with them but the issue is preventing you from engaging/posting/etc.

What You Can Do

• Stay calm! Know that Instagram is working to resolve the issue.

• Don’t log out. This could lead to further complications once logging back in.

• Check via web browser to see if your account is still live. If so, you weren’t hacked.

• Check known issues on the Instagram Help page.

• Check Instagram’s Twitter account to see if they have issued a statement.

• Get off Instagram and go have fun! Use it a social media cleanse to take a little break.

How We Communicate The Issue To Clients

• During a campaign, we are in constant contact with the client. We let them know what’s going on, what the issue is, and that it is not the influencer's fault.

• We provide them with a published article or statement from the company noting the problem and that Instagram is working on it.

• In a dire scenario, if the issue is not resolved by the end of the campaign, we will always have a Plan B. This way the influencer can still share their content and be paid for their work, and the client will still be satisfied with the campaign and working together.

Just remember, when things like this happens to the platforms we use most for content creation, keep calm, and over communicate with any clients and followers.

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Dara Schlossmann is an Influencer Manager at Foodie Tribe. In her free time you will find her taking advantage of the sunny Florida weather, traveling, or in the kitchen cooking up a new recipe.

What goals can you achieve with influencer marketing?

There are several goals that a food, beverage or hospitality brand can achieve with influencer marketing. Influencer marketing in a bubble, done by itself will yield some likes, comments, follows and some awareness, but it’s intensely more powerful when its a part of a large plan and tied to other goals and efforts.

Influencer marketing is a way to gain awareness and credibility through the endorsement and recommendations of outspoken market leaders who have curated their own audience. Those audiences trust the influencer to advocate for products and services that align with their needs and lifestyle.

Said another way, influencer marketing is advertising at the word-of-mouth level.

The best use of influencer marketing is to gain audience with a desirable audience. Whether you are launching a new product, service, menu, a limited time offer or have a larger branding campaign, influencer marketing adds the ability to reach a highly targeted focus segment of customers.  

Many people think of influencer marketing as a great way to drive awareness, because it is. Often times influencers can be the first person to introduce a product or service to their followers. Typically however, a customer journey has many touch points. A consumer might see your television ad and think “mmm that looks good. I want to eat it,” and then go back about their day.

The next day they could see the post from an influencer, and it could be just that kick they needed to grab lunch from your restaurant. Suddenly that influencer is now driving decisions and actions in the same way a coupon emailed to your list might, or handing someone a sample bite as they walk by your kiosk.

Influencer marketing works at all levels of the customer funnel. That’s why it's important to have a campaign goal and understand where influencer marketing fits in your marketing stack.

Lights, camera, action … budget. Hiring photographers, script writers, a studio, graphic designers and other creatives needed for a photo shoot, TV commercial or social content is expensive, takes a lot of time and demands a lot of creative direction. Once you’ve created that amazing content, it still needs to be activated and promoted. It’s a lot of work.

Influencer marketing helps you to generate quality content that comes with awareness built in. Once you have provided direction, the influencer handles the content creation and shares it with their followers.

Here are some examples where influencer marketing could be an effective strategy.

LIMITED TIME OFFERS / NEW MENUS

Hospitality businesses rely on regular timed releases of new menu items, old favorites and collaborations to attract new and returning customers. These items boost excitement and can even get consumers to add it to their regular offer, thereby increasing average ticket size. They can also help attract a new audiences to a restaurant normally out of a consumer’s consideration. This is a great time to work with influencers to promote your specialty items and new or seasonal menus.

Example: Red Lobster

STORE OPENINGS

You’ve spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions on building out a new store, staffing up, testing the kitchen and making sure everything is operationally ready. The PR company is working to get some key placements, you’ve readied some Facebook ads and are posting to social.  You can invite influencers to a special tasting or press preview ahead of opening or during soft launch and have them share content with their followers to get people to know about a store now open near them.

Example: Charleys Philly Steaks

EVENTS / SPECIAL PROMOTIONS

Many brands rely on holidays, events and special promotions to drive repeat trips and and incremental revenue. Whether it’s new packaging, participating in a large event or tasting or promoting a new green initiative, influencers can help you augment your promotion through calls to action and creative content.

Example: Schweid & Sons

LOYALTY PROGRAMS / APPS

Driving adoption for loyalty programs and new apps starts with awareness. You should email your current customers and let them know but how do you attract new customers to the features offered? That’s where influencer marketing can get people interested in becoming a stickier customer.

Example: Potbelly

RECIPE CREATION

Brands can also rely on influencers to create content around their brand by developing unique recipes. Working with influencers to create easy, simply recipes that their followers can re-create, as well as giving away special codes for them to use for their followers can redeem, will ultimately increase awareness and sales of your product. You can take this route for a new product launch, new packaging, or just because your product needs an extra push in the market.

Example: Jana Foods and FAGE

PROMOTE TOURISM

Not only do people plan where they are going to eat on vacation, with the rise of food TV and influencer marketing, people are now planning their vacations and off-time because of food. Tourism boards and organizations have realized this and are starting to use influencers to help influence people to visit.

Example: German National Tourism

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Rev Ciancio is a Senior Marketing, Branding and Digital Strategist with 20 years of experience, specializing in hospitality marketing, content and local SEO. He has led many clients to new levels of local, national and international success in the hospitality, financial service and entertainment sectors.

He is also former agency owner as well as a former New York City bar owner. Rev is an “expert burger taster” and pens hospitality and marketing tips on his Instagram @revciancio as well as his LinkedIn Profile.

How To Plan Your Influencer Marketing Campaign

Word-of-mouth marketing is crucial nowadays. When I started in the public relations industry over 10 years ago we were laser focused on ensuring our clients were featured in large newspapers, magazines, and that we got placed on the right TV segment. Fast forward ten years, and I’ve seen a lot of changes. I’m sure you see it too, influencer marketing is on the rise.

I recently read these stats and thought you might also find them compelling:

• 70% of millennial consumers value peer endorsement over a celebrity endorsement

• Micro-influencers, a content creator with up to 100k in following, receive higher engagement than those with over 100k

• Studies show influencer marketing returning as much as $6.50 for every $1 spent

This only solidifies the importance of incorporating a strategic, and effective, influencer marketing plan that partners with the right creators who are targeted the right audience.

Chances are there are 2 main reasons why you are reading this now:

• You want to learn about influencer marketing strategy

• You’ve worked on an influencer marketing campaign and want to improve on your efforts

Here at Foodie Tribe we have developed a process, and a plan that has worked for the clients that have partnered with us. I’m going to share it with you.

WHAT YOU NEED TO ASK

If you know what you want to market, your plan starts by answering these questions:

1. How many content creators does your plan need?

2. Which platforms is your target audience using (Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, etc)?

3. What type of content do you want them to produce?

4. Do you need the impact of macro or micro influencers?

5. Are there specific markets you want to target for awareness?

6. How many pieces of content per influencer will drive the awareness you need to generate?

7. When do you need the campaign to start, and how long should it last?

8. Most importantly, how are you going to measure the success of the campaign?

Once you have identified these key aspects of a campaign plan, you can move forward with the influencer selection and invitation process.

Something very important to note, that’s an inspiration for our work; 94% of marketers think that ‘transparency and authenticity are key to influencer marketing success.’ Honesty is a core tenet here at Foodie Tribe. We hand-select and approve our influencers to ensure that they are authentic creators.

After you have decided on the group of creators you want to collaborate with, and you have finalized a content brand strategy, next step is going to be to put your content strategy into action, and let the influencers get creative. I’d recommend providing the influencers with brand and/or visual content guidelines, but always remember - the influencer knows their audience the best, therefore, they will know what content to create to ensure it resonates with their followers.

Here is the part we really enjoy at Foodie Tribe: content and collaboration management. We then review all of the content to ensure it’s on brand and delivers to goal. We then let the influencers know content is approved, and can be uploaded. That’s when the fun happens, we all get to watch the engagement and interaction.

After all of the content has made its initial impact we officially “close” the campaign, and run the numbers. We are looking for key metrics like how did the content perform against the agreed upon KPI’s? Was the campaign successful?

You can view some of the KPI’s we have tracked our campaigns against here. According to Linqia’s “The State of Influencer Marketing 2018” report, engagement seems to be the most popular metric (90%), with clicks (59%), impressions (55%), conversions (54%), and reach (50%) following.

Influencer marketing is something every brand should be looking into an exploring, as this is where the consumer is most heavily involved in when it comes to purchasing a product, or visiting a storefront.

Are you ready to put together a successful influencer marketing strategy? Email us to get started info@foodietribe.org.

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Katy Coffield is the CEO at Foodie Tribe. When she isn’t eating or talking about food, Katy also loves to hang out with her husband and two kids, drink PepsiMax, and workout.