Building Strategic Partnerships with Influencers

Are you a business striving to level up with influencer marketing?

Our guest, Dylan Huey, a content creator with a million-plus follower base, shared insider secrets on strategic influencer partnerships. Dylan Huey, the founder of the trailblazing USC Reach, juggles college life with managing influencers with 100M+ followers.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

How to Build Strategic Partnerships with Influencers
How Influencers Can Maintain Relationships With Brands
How Influencers Can Work with Brands
Mistakes Brands Make in Collaborations
Proving Social Media ROI for Influencer Campaigns

Shared Values Drives Strategic Partnerships

Dylan emphasized the importance of approaching potential partners in a tailored and thoughtful way, looking for organic synergy between what his organization, USC Reach, offers and what brands need. From his experience as a content creator, he stressed the significance of demonstrating value to brands, just as a celebrity might pitch themselves as a spokesperson.

This value-centric approach also guides Dylan's leadership at USC Reach. The objective is two-fold: provide value for its members, who are budding content creators, and also for the brands that wish to tap into their potential. It's all about creating a win-win situation.

“A strategic partnership is a two-way street. You need to know what you’re getting from a creator, and you need to know what you’re getting from a brand.”

— Dylan Huey

Influencers need a Social CRM

Dylan does not use a traditional CRM system to maintain brand relationships. Instead, he has an interesting approach where he uses a tool called Clay. It's a relationship platform that syncs with his LinkedIn, emails, and text messages.

Through Clay, he can identify contacts he hasn't connected with in a while and then uses that as a prompt to send them updates about USC Reach and discuss potential collaborations.

What struck me most is Dylan's philosophy on maintaining relationships - he believes in the power of persistence. With the rapidly changing landscape of the creator economy, our personal growth, and shifts within brands themselves, a 'no' today could easily become a 'yes' in the future. It's all about timing and staying connected.

Collaborating on Brand Guideliens

He explained that we are seeing a significant shift in the creative space. Brands are beginning to appreciate the benefits of more unique, experiential collaborations beyond your standard paid promotions. They're starting to see that creators have a unique understanding of platforms and audiences, which can bring a campaign to life.

“Creators know their platform the best.”

— Dylan Huey

Yet, Dylan also raised a critical point - the need for a balanced relationship. While creators can bring fresh ideas and a deep understanding of our audiences, we must also respect the brand's identity and guidelines.

It's about creating synergy - brands should seek creators aligning with their mission and vice versa.

Is the role of the Social Media Manager dead?

Dylan says marketing teams are shifting towards hiring content creators over relying solely on in-house creative teams.

🚨 Content creators possess knowledge of social media algorithms, viral content creation, and audience interaction. Traditional marketing teams may not have the same level of expertise.

He added that companies recognize the value of content creators who can effectively engage with their audience and tailor their content based on feedback. This trend highlights the increasing importance of leveraging the skills and insights of content creators in the current social media landscape.

Brand Partnership Mistakes to Avoid

According to Dylan, the biggest challenge is that brands often stick to traditional approaches and must adapt to the changing social media landscape. What worked two years ago may be ineffective today. While brands may have set standards and budgets, the creator economy constantly evolves, and partnerships must align with current trends.

Dylan highlights the importance of brands embracing new strategies and looking beyond paid media and one-off organic posts. Instead, they should focus on building organic relationships with creators and their audiences through experiential events and experiences, which generate excitement and encourage organic content creation. By shifting their approach, brands can achieve better ROI and long-term partnerships.

Content Creators Need to Prove Social Media ROI

Dylan focuses on multiple factors to demonstrate social media ROI. While conversions and sales are important, he strongly emphasizes brand awareness. Metrics such as the number of views, comments, engagements, and shares on the posts promoting the brand are crucial.

For Dylan, brand awareness speaks volumes, especially considering that sales may not apply to all types of brands, such as movies primarily consumed through streaming platforms. He believes that brands are becoming more flexible and recognizing the value of building their social identity through creator campaigns.

I would also like to add to Dylan’s insights the following tools and tactics to prove the impact of influencer campaigns:

Utilize a social media management tool like Agorapulse to track and analyze social media performance.
Connect social media channels and use tagged URLs with UTM parameters to accurately track campaign-specific metrics.
Report back to brands on the number of clicks and conversions generated through each social media channel.
Access GA4 analytics to provide detailed insights on campaign performance and conversions.

Building Strategic Relationships That Thrive

Dylan's parting words about building strategic relationships with influencers and content creators are to recognize that it's a two-way street. The brand and the creator must align regarding goals, mission, and future aspirations. Creators should not solely focus on money but understand their brand and long-term plans. It's about finding the right partnerships for the creator's growth.

Brands are starting to see the unique value creators bring, and creators should take ownership of their audience and content. The social media landscape is constantly changing, so it's important to adapt and leverage the expertise of creators who know social media best.