Are you tired of trying to crack the code of influencer marketing in Poland? Does the equation of "Your brand + influencer = great sales results" seem too good to be true? We hear you! Choosing the perfect influencer for your brand is no easy task. But fear not because we have the secret sauce to make it happen - and we're not afraid to spill the beans. In this blog post, we'll show you how we've mastered the art of influencer marketing using Polish influencers as our example. Get ready to take notes because this may be a game-changer.
Navigating The Challenges of Influencer Marketing in Poland
The stunning effects of influencer marketing have been broadly discussed over the past few years. And there is a good reason for it – influencer marketing really works! The high ROI is no myth. However, publications praising this type of marketing hardly ever emphasise that the reality of building influencer campaigns is not as rosy as the results declared. According to research conducted by Mediakix, measuring the return on investment and identifying the right person to engage with are complicated tasks. And it is better not to embrace them without the proper knowledge.
Influencer Campaigns in Poland: Why It's More PR Than Marketing?
To begin with, let’s make one essential thing clear. Influencer marketing… is not precisely marketing. In the digital age, any tool, term or process doubles in value if we add the magic word ‘marketing’ to it. Our practice demonstrates how powerful it is at drawing attention and the desire to implement anything associated with it as quickly as possible.
However, we need to establish one thing to save time, budget and nerves. The effects of collaborating with influencers meet the assumptions of public relations more than those of marketing instead.
Key Goals That Drive Successful Partnerships:
· building brand, product or service awareness,
· improving image, increasing trust,
· changing the image or the tone of voice of the brand,
· reaching different audience groups,
· enhancing communication among the existing recipients,
· promoting a new product/service.
Doesn’t this sound like a list of goals for PR to achieve? In our opinion, it is!
Unlike ‘classic’ marketing, influencer campaigns in Poland are closer to promoting much more indirect sales (e.g. through image building) than direct sales.
Naturally, there are niches which quickly and effectively increase product sales through referrals from online creators. The clothing or cosmetics industry is an example. In those instances, the decision-making process is short, the products are attractive and not necessarily expensive, and they are purchased and used relatively frequently. Influencers play a huge role in the development of such brands and often constitute the backbone of a brand’s online communication. However, not all of us work in these industries, right?
In most cases, the products and services on our offer have non-obvious applications and relatively low customer awareness. Selling niche products like vegan shoes or hair care products for curls will be solely upon the recommendations of well-known bloggers would be difficult. Does this mean that we should give them up? Of course not. Influencers are a powerful tool for building brand recognition and trust; after all, they are strong sales pillars. If you organise everything well, the results will become tangible. Just not immediately.
How Do You Choose an Influencer To Gain and Not Lose?
Let’s consider the two biggest challenges professionals face when incorporating influencer activities into a company’s marketing strategy (regardless of the industry):
Step 1 – Identifying the Right Person to Collaborate With
Before we start the search, we ought to consider:
· our available budget,
· what kind of reach are we interested in,
· how many people wdo e want to work with,
· what exactly do we want to communicate.
We can check the reach, the number of fans, readers and followers with tools such as BuzzSumo, NeoReach, Upfluence or Grin. Once we specify the industry and range of reach, we will get a list of people with whom we can potentially collaborate. The last three platforms are examples of tools that, apart from making it easier to target a few or a dozen people, also to get in touch with them and measure the progress of a campaign. Additionally, Grin also functions as a convenient plug-in for the Chrome browser.
We can also do manual research by checking which influencers feature in publications and specialised press or browsing lists of speakers at conferences and industry events.
Step 2 – Influencer Verification
Influencer scandals and storms erupt almost daily on the Polish Internet. The interest in content related to influencer scandals is so high that commentary content creators who specialise in describing whatever is going on in the world of influencers have gained in popularity! Then, how do you find the right influencer so on the one hand you have a real chance of making a profit and on the other hand you do not end up with someone who could potentially bring negative PR to your company?
Once your search is relatively narrowed down, you need to move on to the necessary but often disregarded qualitative analysis. Numbers are important, but the quality of the content and the values represented by the influencer are key. Here, the classic Google search engine and doing the work manually are worthwhile.
When using automated tools, it is reasonable to verify straight away to what extent the number of fans indicated by social media platforms is genuine and what share is artificially driven by bots.
The Ultimate Checklist for Verifying Influencers: Key Questions You Need to Ask
Does a particular creator have an audience interested in your product or service?
Have they declared likes or dislikes towards the phenomena, persons and topics you find important?
Have they recently collaborated with our competition?
Have they had any publicity blunders recently?
Do we want them as our brand ambassadors? Will this work to its advantage?
Step 3 – Measuring the Campaign Effects
Here we have two pieces of news for you. The first is that accurate results measurement is definitely possible. The second is that it is neither an easy nor a quick task. It is not uncommon for campaign results are visible after a few days or weeks. And this is often discouraging.
To read the results well, we need to know our objectives. And these should be set even before we find ‘the’ influencer. Will it be increased recognition, trust, engagement or perhaps sales? Naturally, these can be combined. However, it is not worth overfilling your plate – trying to catch up with all the achievable goals.
To assess whether your campaign has had an impact on your brand following its completion, use as many tools as possible to provide hard numbers, such as:
· Google Analytics (the more accurate the metrics, the better),
· social media statistics,
· SocialBlade data.
Verify how many people have visited the company website, liked the social media profile, bought a product in the store and sent enquiries. Monitor if and how the number of mentions of your brand or product has changed. You can do this with tools such as Brand24 or BuzzSumo. You can also apply influencer-specific discount codes and check how many of them have been used in your CRM. Criss-cross and combine data from different sources. This will provide you with a comprehensive picture.
Avoiding Costly Mistakes with Proven Strategies
Influencer marketing or influencer PR usually (but not always) operate in social media. Here, however, communication is governed by the law of… casualness. People who spend time online are looking for information as well as entertainment. And preferably, knowledge served as entertainment.
People want to have a good time online. There is no place for rigid, business-like communication. You can, or rather should, rely on directness, freedom and, if consistent with the brand's tone of voice, a sense of humour and transparency.
Creativity, and an idea of how to stand out and capture the recipient's attention, are also essential. When devising your campaign concept, think of a stereotypical customer who scrolls through your Facebook or Instagram feed. How can you attract their attention for at least a split second longer?
And before you start creating crazy and funky scenarios, we need to temper your enthusiasm just a bit. The Polish internet history has seen cases where brands (and influencers) wanted to gamble on the elements mentioned above, genuine and… they overdid it. An example from the Polish market is that of a girl, who, on a beach set up at home, read a book to… fabric softener. This case (and it is not an isolated one) is more likely to evoke a smile than a real desire to buy the product.
A situation can bear even more severe consequences than causing a burst of laughter online, especially if the campaign realistically bends reality. This was the case with one influencer who informed her audience about a motorbike accident. Each photo shows a woman lying on the ground and in the foreground… a perfectly displayed bottle of mineral water.
Such slip-ups are a vital lesson for influencers and marketers or PR professionals. Even in an environment as liberal as the Internet, there is a low tolerance threshold for an overly pushy promotion, lack of authenticity and blatant lies. Even if you decide to work with an influencer and everything seems fine at the credibility check stage, you should keep an eye on everything. All the way through.
Absolute communication transparency
The basis of a successful influencer campaign is transparency. When choosing influencers, make sure your company or products' recommendations will align with the offer of your company or products will be in line with their content. The currency exchange brand Revolut is a fantastic example of well-done homework. Katarzyna Mecinski, on whose profile the company was mentioned, explicitly said that she uses a Revolut card, is happy with it and is happy to recommend further the product she knows. This is consistent with her image, as most of her content is about travel, and she is a US-born Pole.
Choosing the right influencer does not indicate everything will go as planned. We need to draft in advance what we want to achieve, the assumed timeframe, the allocated budget and who we will work with throughout our campaign. Stay in control and follow the plan. The creative process itself is a joint effort.
Effective influencer campaigns in Poland require honesty, sharing knowledge, and using various tools. If you want to know what tools work best for your brand, it is worth seeking advice from an experienced consultant.
Feel free to request a free consultation with the experts at Awesome PR girls using the button below.
Comments