The explosive growth trajectory of influencer marketing is refusing to hit the brakes. Digital marketing strategies are wrapped around paid and barter collaborations these days. While paid brand collaborations are a more prevalent marketing strategy, many brands are also venturing into barter collaboration. This provides a substantial value of products to influencers, depending upon their profile and preference.
As brands are embarking upon successful marketing campaigns through barter collaborations, Instagram and YouTube have become public squares where influencers are promoting brands day and night in exchange for free samples, perks and experiences. By way of barter collaborations, brands are imprinting their products in the minds of their audience to increase brand visibility and loyalty. Let us understand what barter collaborations are and how brands can begin their barter collaboration journey.
Barter collaborations vs paid collaborations
Barter is an exchange of a product or service as a reward for another product or service. When the concept of barter is fused into brand collaboration, it gives rise to barter collaboration, where a brand reaches out to an influencer to promote their products and reach out to potential customers in exchange for free product samples. Whereas in paid collaborations, the influencers are paid for every post or video they promote on social media by the brand. While paid collaborations can create brand awareness, barter collaborations can help brands win the audience's trust as they believe the opinion and reviews of the influencers. Furthermore, barter collaborations are more affordable marketing campaigns than paid influencer collaborations. Influencers can weave a variety of compelling content around the product after having used it and drive brand visibility.
3 steps to kickstart barter collaboration Journey
Setting clear goals
Before starting any campaign, it is imperative for a brand to establish clear and achievable goals. Barter collaborations too require specifics of expected results before commencing the campaign. Before brands can kickstart their barter collaboration journey, they should clarify their objectives as to whether they aim to boost sales, drive brand awareness, target audience or gain popularity on social media. These goals can help brands move in a focused direction and achieve the set goals. Brands can build an integrated marketing campaign by communicating these set goals to their marketers and influencers.
Matching target audience with right influencers
A brand must identify and understand its target audience before collaborating with influencers. A brand should distinguish its target audience, identify what appeals to them and analyze its expectations to choose influencers who match their target audience and can influence their buying decision. For example, if a brand operates in the food industry, it should identify food influencers for barter collaboration. By focusing on influencers in a specific niche, brands can reach out to their target audience effectively and add value to their campaign. With the help of the right technology and platforms, brands can connect with scores of influencers instantly. Additionally, they can approach influencers who resonate with the brand vision and ideology to build strong long-term relationships.
Finding the right scale
Brands that are beginning their barter collaboration journey must set the right scale for their marketing campaign. A brand looking to target a national audience cannot engage 20-30 influencers every month for barter collaboration instead, it should collaborate with at least 1000 influencers every month to create brand visibility. Therefore, it is important to establish the right scale that aligns with the brand goals whether it is boosting sales or creating brand awareness. Finding the right campaign scale is at the heart of any successful barter campaign.
In recent years, barter collaborations have gained huge popularity and many brands are choosing to collaborate solely through barter campaigns. Several luxury brands are charming droves of influencers with their product samples and freebies in exchange for social media posts, videos and reviews. A secret barter economy is burgeoning on Instagram, where influencers are eager to collaborate with brands in lieu of free products, experiences and perks. It can be a win-win for both brands and influencers and bring a tidal wave of change in influencer marketing.
(Ishan Jindal, Founder & CEO, Wobb-AI-based influencer marketing platform for brands)
