We asked our community members an important question to find out their perspectives on working with brands for partnerships. As promised, we kept their names and online identities confidential. You’ll find the revealing results for partnership areas including paying bloggers, selecting bloggers by influence and race, and long-term relationships. Tell us if you agree or disagree with the honest responses from what bloggers want brands to know. We edited some of the responses for brevity while keeping the intent clear.
What is the one thing you wish brands and agencies did or would do differently when it comes to engaging bloggers for a campaign?
Paying Influencers
As an influencer agency, we know that bloggers deserve to be paid for their work. Our community members replied they’d like to see an increase in pay and hiring of Black influencers:
“Work with more Black influencers and pay us well.” ~ D.K.
Selecting Influencers
With the rise of micro influencers, brands are starting to recognize that numbers aren’t everything. Thanks to these replies, we can see that “smaller blogger” would like to be recognized:
“I believe they shouldn’t always look at numbers. It seems the people with over 10K followers always get the job, but I wish they’d look closer at those people. They might see they don’t have as much engagement as those with less. I am working on building my social media accounts and am close to 10K but I’m not quite there. However, my engagement is sometimes better than those with higher numbers. So I wish us lower folks would get more of a chance with certain jobs.” ~ M.A.
“Give opportunities to smaller bloggers.” ~ G.K.
“I wish they would work with a wider variety. It seems the same people get a lot of the campaigns, and the rest of us really have something to offer to.” ~ H.M.
“Stop the split and division of influencers [for a campaign] by only seeking one ethnic background.” ~ A.N.
Long-Term Relationships
One-off sponsored posts are part os campaigns, but our community members would like to have a longer-lasting relationship with brands:
“Ongoing partnerships! If a brand and influencer are a good fit, campaigns should include a series of posts that allow a larger story to be told and interlinking opportunities. Also, a quick brainstorming phone call can go a long way. ” ~ S.V.
“I wish brands would do long-term partnerships.” ~ O.C.
RELATED TOPIC: The Benefits of a Brand Ambassador Program
Engage with Influencers
When influencers craft content for brands, they replied that they’d like to see brands help promote it:
“Help to promote the blogger’s work once it is published.” ~ Anonymous
“Engagement is key, I have some that engage well with me on the posts and others just tag us or say thanks. The ones that are the most successful, share the post, repost the post and credit back to us, etc.” ~F.H.
“I really like when brands and agencies give feedback on campaigns, it’s something I don’t experience often enough.” ~ Anonymous
Give Bloggers Creative Control
Although our community members realize they’re working on behalf of brands to craft a relatable message, they’d like to have autonomy, as well as insight into the goals of the campaign. Here’s their insight:
“Let us do our work the way that we do best. Don’t rewrite my post because then it’s your voice and not mine!” ~ J.A.
“[Stop] requiring [blog post] drafts for approval. You hired me, you should trust me.” ~ S.C.
“Often they [brands] associate with PR agencies and only give their product specs and a budget. Money is great. However, it elicits a better product when the brands provide the influencers with specific campaign goals and some topics to spark creativity. ~ T.C.
CLICK TO TWEET: Revealing Survey Results: The One Thing Bloggers Want Brands to Know About Working Together LINK via @MommyTalkShow
Pin this to your favorite blogging board:
Would you like to learn more about growing your influencer as a content creator? Would you like to be connected to brands for paid sponsorships and invited to cover events in your region?
Join The Network Niche influencer agency, by adding your blog’s name, contact information and your blog’s stats so we can find the perfect fit for future brand collaborations.
