Tia Giannone 
Breegan Jane, TV personality and Influencer, attending and capturing content in attendance of Neolith event in a partnership coordinated by Torchia Communications.
As Influencer Relations prospers and grows as a practice area in our field, Torchia Communications continues to develop strategies and tactical programs across our customer base and mandates. The work of Influencer Relations and partnerships entails a variety of key components – from strategy (the overall approach to positioning our client’s products, services, or personnel), to budget management, creative asset development and reporting.
Influencer partnerships can fail without a reinforced and clearly defined plan between the agency and the client. Core assets such as yearly or campaign-specific objectives and goals, and a clearly defined budget and timeline, will lead to a clear road map that all parties can follow on our quest to fruitful and valuable influencer partnerships.
The importance of guidelines
At Torchia, we follow a set of guidelines that generate fruitful relations with influencers. By adopting open and democratic communication with the influencers with whom we collaborate, we introduce our clients and raise brand awareness to their audience groups without requesting anything in return. Not only does this open a channel of communication to help us gauge interest, but it also sets the table for our client in all future communication plans.
A hyper-targeted list
We use a hyper-targeted list of suitable influencers for each client or campaign to whom we reach out to present our specific goals of the influencer partnership. It is imperative to be well prepared with analytics for each selected influencer. Their statistics, for example — engagement rates, total following, etc. — all weigh heavily when defining the size or scale of the partnership.
The right compensation
When interest has been confirmed, we decide which influencers will be allocated a budget and which will be offered in-kind materials, both very valuable partnerships. Once the approach has been confirmed, negotiations and verifications begin. The key to these partnerships is having a mutually beneficial offering where we respect the function and the time-consuming process of content creation on the influencers’ side — the time they spend on the partnership. This mutual respect is key to a positive final result and ongoing relationship.
A defined contract
After the terms of the agreement are ironed out, a contract is submitted to the influencer or their agent. This contract contains the details of the partnership, the payment process, as well as various clauses. While allowing for authentic and creative content, our responsibility always lies, first and foremost, in the protection and nurturing of our client’s reputation – which finds its core in quality relationships based on respect, accountability and open dialogue.
We recently encountered a situation where an influencer disliked one of our client’s newest products. Rather than force them to share the product and mislead their followers, we offered alternative ways to speak to the product and creative content ideas that worked around their dislike, allowing them to authentically share the product in a way they were most comfortable with.
Ongoing communication with influencers and clarification of expectations is a top priority in any ongoing partnership. There must be clarity throughout the process, from the approval of the content, advising when content is live, to the payment timeline, and so on. These are items which vary from influencer to influencer, and from one agency to the next.
Overall, when an influencer partnership is successful, the value to both the influencer and the brand is tangible and measurable. This is a mutually beneficial way of working that is targeted, specific, and customized to each client and individual.
To learn more about influencer partnerships please contact Tia at [email protected] or check out more information on our services at torchiacom.com/our-services
