[Infographic + Video] Virtual Views: How To Integrate Paid Media Into Your Influencer Marketing

In a recent panel, CreatorIQ sat down with agency experts to discuss how to effectively integrate paid media into influencer marketing campaigns and dramatically increase ROI of influencer marketing. Here are 5 big takeaways from the virtual panel, and if you would like to view the full discussion, the video is available at the bottom of the page.

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1. Paid media scales full-funnel impact

Simply focusing on last-click attribution, engagement, and reach limits the capabilities of paid media and your overall influencer marketing strategy. When designing an influencer campaign, consider the entire funnel and customer journey. For example, leverage influencers for engagement and reach but also ad recall (top funnel), brand lift (upper-mid funnel), search volume lift (mid funnel), UTM tags, Facebook Pixel, and sales lift (low funnel).

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2. Whitelisting and dark post ads offer a lot more than boosting organic posts

Boosting influencer content can be a great tool for guaranteeing additional impressions beyond organic reach and can be used for brand visibility, however, most marketers use whitelisting and dark post ads to leverage their influencer content. Dark post ads offer flexibility in editing captions and messaging, CTA, targeting and A/B testing and in turn guarantee better ROAS.

Glossary:

Boosting - Putting paid media dollars toward additional reach of an organic post

Whitelisting - Creator gives a brand permission to use their account to run ads (sponsored content) through their name

Dark Post Ad - A brand-sponsored ad using a creator’s content and likeness. Looks like an organic influencer post but doesn’t appear in an organic feed, only as sponsored content. Brand has control over caption, CTA, and targeting

ROAS - Return on Ad Spend

Learn more about paid media strategy in our guide.

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3. Integrate paid media into every step of your campaign

Always think of your influencer marketing strategy holistically and integrate paid media amplification from the start and throughout the customer’s buying journey. Add whitelisting and paid strategy into your creators’ contracts, and think about campaign management and reporting from the start.

For an optimal paid media strategy, spend adequate time on the creator discovery process - be sure to find creators whose audiences align with your target consumer profiles, and then be aggressive in your paid amplification strategy to ensure your company captures that segment’s all important mindshare.

When it comes to campaign management and reporting, make sure that your influencer marketing software integrates with your intelligence tools like Tableau, as this will improve the sophistication of your reporting capabilities and help you communicate just how successful your campaigns are. Finally, when optimizing your campaign process, remember that reporting on organic and paid media performance in one dashboard through CreatorIQ can cut down more than 80% of campaign reporting time, handing your team back time to run more successful campaigns.

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4. Take control of the audience you reach

Even if you work with a creator with 1 Million followers, you will never reach them all organically. Organic influencer content can be a hit or a miss, and results can vary depending on when it was posted, in what succession, it also depends on the platform’s algorithm and many other factors. If you want to increase your ROAS, the best way to achieve this is through paid media amplification. Paid media amplification allows you to set goals, KPIs, A/B tests, precise targeting, budgeting, and accurate reporting.

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5. To overcome challenges, communicate and educate

Even though sponsored content is becoming ubiquitous on social media and influencers are usually familiar with the process, there can be initial hesitation in giving account access to brands. On the other hand, brands may not be fully aware of the value of influencer content and the role it can play in paid media strategy. Educating clients, brands, and creators on the benefits of paid media for both parties is key. Use the following talking points:

• Brands benefit from additional reach and targeting capabilities, increasing full-funnel impact
• Creators benefit from greater exposure and incremental revenue, while spending less time managing campaigns on your behalf

Virtual Views Panel recording:

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