Joona Haatainen

2.5.2023

How to navigate the jungle of influencer marketing?

The use of influencer marketing as part of the overall marketing mix has increased explosively. The rapid growth of recent years has led to the fragmentation of the industry and the ways of operating. What can an advertiser do?Influencer marketing has grown into a jungle, where there are as many practicalities as there are players. Some of the players focus on conveying a broad repertoire of influencers who become defined as ad space by the mechanical impressions received, while others make plans based on the influencers themselves (we of course count among the latter). And then there’s everything in between.Responsibility in influencer marketing is currently being defined in an alarmingly many ways. Marking of commercial partnerships, the recommended number of collaborations, working with competing brands, and marketing products targeted for adults are just a few examples where varied practices occur. An active discussion of these topics is ongoing and many of the industry players are working hard to find common policies.It might be impossible for advertisers to make out the big picture from the varied customs. That's why we at Troot are now strengthening our roots as a reliable expert in influencer marketing. Our experienced team consists of long-term influencer marketing professionals, each with their own speciality. As we constantly want to strengthen and challenge our own way of doing, our team has also been reinforced with new sales, marketing and communication experts. We want to challenge the market, our own work and of course our customers. Because we don't believe the easiest solution is the best one.

What is the minimum an advertiser needs to know about influencer marketing?

1. Get to know the content of the influencer, then create goals.

When planning influencer marketing, you should always get to know the influencer and his/hers content in different channels and in the long run first. Even if you do just one campaign with an influencer, your audience will relate your message to the content of the influencer. You need to be able to trust the influencer and give him/her the necessary freedom in implementing the cooperation. Also pay close attention to the audience profile in different channels in advance. Only then can you create realistic goals for the partnership that can also be measured.We solve this challenge by working with hand-picked influencers, whose contents we know like the back of our hands. If a suitable influencer is not found from our network, we will help you find the right one.

2. Don't multiply the content

Seeking the maximum amount of impressions with a repetitive content poses a threat to the credibility and effectiveness of doing. The success of the idea is not measured by what you think about it, but by how the audience receives it. Therefore, you should always plan together with the selected influencer, who surely knows their audience best.Our influencers are in our DNA. As a cornerstone of our campaign planning, we engage and commit them to the campaigns before we even submit a bid.

3. Select the channels carefully

A moving picture bends to many shapes and the message can be effectively reinforced with offline surfaces or events, for example. It’s worthwhile to plan your channels with a wide perspective, because the attention value may be unparalleled in unexpected channels. However, videos produced for the influencer’s own channel, for example, are not worthwhile to be utilized as such in other channels, as an effective message must be well targeted. Each channel must have its own content, purpose and objective. The utilization of new channels, such as Tik Tok for example, does not add value in itself.One solution into planning a comprehensive implementation is to use our new Strategic Solutions team. The team combines our expertise in influencer marketing, content concepts, paid media and events in an agile way. They have already planned comprehensive content solutions for Veikkaus and Panasonic, for example.