As social media collaborations have become more prominent, they have also become more intimate; influencer marketing has evolved beyond posting a photo, tagging your respective brand partner, and receiving payment. Today’s social media collaborations are thorough: from sponsored posts to Instagram story takeovers, discount codes to giveaways, every possible method of influencer marketing seems to be accounted for. And it makes sense that brands are in love with finding just the right influencer: you are trusted by your followers, have a unique voice, exercise creative freedom, and are dedicated to content creation as an art. Beyond follower count, they really do count on content creators like you for brand awareness!
But just because you and your brands are buddy-buddy now doesn’t mean you have to share everything with them - keep your password to yourself, regardless of the social media platform! Yes, we are really telling you that it’s okay to say “No” to multi-million and multi-billion dollar corporations; there isn't an influencer marketing campaign in the world that is worth risking your Instagram account security.
Influencer Partnerships- How much information do you need to share?
It’s not altogether uncommon for brands to ask for login information. But why do brands want your password anyways? In the world of influencer marketing,
- It’s essential that brands see your insights,
- it’s helpful to both of you if they can moderate your comments,
- and they can easily set up ads manager to whitelist your content (meaning they can run promotions under your handle, without those promotions showing up on your profile) if they have access to your account.
But all of these benefits are achievable without giving away your login info. That's right: we're saying that social media influencers do not need to risk online security in any way to get the success brands are hoping for out of social media marketing campaigns. You should never feel like you need to risk your online security or juggle the logistics of multiple brands on your account.
So, what are your options? How can you say “No” to sharing your credentials and still offer your brand partner the value they need?
Social Media Influencers: don't gamble your data security on a successful marketing campaign.
1. Manage the relationship manually
a) For paid amplifications, offer to run the marketing campaign yourself, adhering to the brand’s target market requirements. Here's how to do it: receive payment in advance of every promotion you run- then run the promotion as the brand wishes (proper target audiences, start and end-date, and types of content), paid from your own wallet.
b) For results: Take screenshots of your post and story insights. Brands will be particularly interested to see your engagement rates, but there are a lot of other details they're curious about on from influencer posts as well. Sharing these insights is crucial to assure your brand partner that you're the right influencer for the job.
Offering to run everything yourself is the easiest response when a brand asks for your password, but requires the most effort and communication throughout the length of your contract. Something to note is that your brand partner might be trying to run large social media campaigns that push viewers to click on a specific page (that's called a CTA, or Call to Action, by the way). If that’s their goal, this tactic might not be right for your collaboration. However, this is a great option when new to working with brands, as you have full control over everything that happens on your Instagram posts.
2. Tag the brand in the Instagram post(s) via the Branded Content Tool
Using the Branded Content Tool means giving your brand partners permission to turn specific posts into ads. No password sharing, no logistical nightmare, just full transparency. This will give your brand partners unique capabilities that don’t exist in the option above, giving your influencer marketing campaign a step up. Read more about the ins and outs of whitelisting here.
3. Lumanu
As humbly as possible, we recommend ourselves. Our technology gives brands the insight they need to run campaigns well, but most of all to give influencers full visibility and understanding of the entire process. No giving away your password, and more in-depth stats on your posts than Instagram will provides with the Branded Content Tool. We are a certified Facebook Marketing Partner who believes that influencer marketing deserves every bell and whistle it can get, without ever giving the powerhouse content creators (that’s you) the short end of the stick. Whether you're a macro- or micro-influencer, our tool was created for you.
Influencer Marketing and Data Security should go hand in hand
An end to this article is hardly needed, so we will keep it short. You are offering a service to the brands you work with, and giving away your credentials is never required to perform that service. Choose from the above alternatives to ensure that privacy and security for you, marketing campaign results for them, and a healthy collaboration for both of you is possible.
Social Platform Rules and Regs
As always, we like to remind Instagram influencers to abide by the FTCs guidelines when making sponsored content on any social media platform. To see a clear explanation of these guidelines, check out our explainer article here.
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