MSL U.S. Makes Commitments Towards Equality in Influencer Marketing
Focused on creating opportunity and supporting equity and education for BIPOC influencers through its leading influencer marketing offering Fluency
NEW YORK, Aug. 13, 2020 – MSL U.S. today announced four key commitments to measurably improve diversity, inclusion and equity for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) influencers. Key actions to be taken through 2021 on its Fluency platform and beyond seek to create a more reflective influencer marketing industry.
Influencers are among the most visible, creative and impactful media platforms today. The industry is projected to be valued at $15 billion by 2022, cementing its place as a core communications channel for brands. A survey from the Influencer Marketing Hub found that 82% of consumers would take the recommendation of an influencer while data from Nielsen report that African Americans are 44% more likely than white peers to engage with brands on or support them in social media. A lack of diversity within influencer platforms means companies are missing large potential audiences.
“With the most sophisticated influencer management and engagement platform and tech stack, and the most expansive database of U.S. influencers, MSL, and the companies and brands we work with across Fluency, have a unique opportunity to meaningfully improve diversity and inclusion in marketing communications,” said Bryan Pedersen, Chief Innovation Officer at MSL. “We want to lift up influencers of color first and foremost because it is the right thing to do, but also because it’s what influencer media is – a representation of communities with shared experiences and interests.”
As part of its commitments and actions, MSL is partnering with The Influencer League, a community dedicated to educating, equipping and empowering influencers to reach their full potential, from growing followers to monetizing content. Brittany Bright, TIL’s founder states: “This is important work and it is exactly why I founded The Influencer League in 2019 – to empower influencers of color and create real change in the marketing industry. We are excited to partner with MSL and continue to advance inclusion and equality for BIPOC influencers.”
The Commitments
DIVERSITY
Increase the discoverability and the number of diverse influencers within the Fluency platform andimprove how we measure and optimize diversity in influencer engagement throughtrue tracking metrics.
In 2020, introduce new technology within Fluency to include secure, opt-in collection of influencer demographic data that is not provided through the social platforms tracking diversity data and improving discoverability of diverse influencers in planning and execution
Continually add diverse influencers to the Fluency database in the United States – through 2021 add at least 10,000 vetted BIPOC influencers to Fluency through ongoing community engagement, including a new partnership with The Influencer League, an organization focused on empowering diverse influencers
OPPORTUNITY
Actively supportequal access to opportunities for diverse influencers by recommending– as a matter of course – more diverse and reflective influencer representation in our clients’ marketing efforts.
Prioritize demographic and psychographic analytics in the planning processes to make data driven decisions about diversity-based influencer inclusion and goals
Incorporate education on the value-add and impact of influencer diversity – across race, gender, sexual orientation and experience – in all client and internal Fluency and influencer marketing channel training
EQUITY
Create thebest practiceapproach to drivepay parity in the influencer marketing industry.
In 2020, partner with The Influencer League to conduct and announce the results of study examining BIPOC influencer pay comparisons, as well as their industry experience
Recent data from a survey conducted by The Influencer League in 2020 shows that 94% of Black influencers are compensated below average market rates
In 2021, establish first-of-its-kind benchmarks for influencer pay, integrated into Fluency for use across all programs and engagements
EDUCATION
GiveBIPOC influencers access to leading learning resources that support their career development and professional journeys
Sponsor full 2020 tuition for 1000 BIPOC influencers to attend The Influencer League’s six-week Masterclass covering influencer branding and core value, social media growth, working with brands and monetization strategies
Provide individualized support around data analytics to all influencers of color who seek it; formalize the offering to include open-access online resources by 2021
About MSL
Eighty-two years young, MSL is Publicis Groupe’s strategic communications and public relations network spanning more than 100 offices worldwide with more than 3,000 talented professionals. With a mission to reimagine what PR can accomplish and what a PR agency looks like, MSL U.S. is focused on leveraging the power of communications to grow business and build reputation by influencing conversations, culture, choices and change.
About The Influencer League
The Influencer League is a digital platform dedicated to creating opportunities for Black & POC influencers and content creators. Its mission is to provide influencers with an exceptional education that will enable them to reach their full potential in the influencer marketing space while cultivating a sense of community among their student body. With an enrollment that exceeds 500 students located in 12 countries, The Influencer League is an emerging influencer marketing education platform for influencers of all races, ethnicities, and backgrounds.
As an influencer, there are a few things you need to consistently have on your to do list in order to be successful. One of the most important things on that list is pitching. We discuss pitching a lot here at The League, because it is one of our 5 education pillars (Influencer Branding, Social Media Growth, Blogging, Monetization & Brand Deals). Being on the brand side of Influencer Marketing has been extremely insightful because it has given us first hand experience with dealing with pitches from influencers. We know what our client wants to see from influencers, and we know what we want to see from an influencer, in order to receive a response. The difference between a response and being ghosted are these 10 tips for pitching to brands.
Align Your Content
The FIRST thing you should do when wanting to pitch to brands is to make sure your content aligns with their brand.
When scouting for influencers for a campaign, we always have to keep the brand first in mind, and find influencers who fit well with the brand. It’s easy to skip over an influencer whose content doesn’t feel like the right fit.One of the most common reasons an influencer can not feel like a “good fit” is their lack of relatable content.
If you’re a fashion influencer but your content is comprised of mostly selfies and makeup looks, it can be hard to gauge whether you will be a good fit for a fashion campaign. For example, if Olly is scouting for influencers for a new campaign, they are going to be searching for fashion, beauty, lifestyle, health & wellness influencers to promote their products using the #happyinsideout tag. These type of influencers are likely to consistently share content that is high-quality, bright and fun. They also smile. A lot. So, take a good look at their content. What type of content do they share on their social channels and does your content align with theirs? Pro Tip: The best way to gauge whether your content aligns with their brand is to check out other influencers they work with.
In your pitch, be sure to include an example of a previous post of yours that aligns with their brand.
Write an EFFECTIVE Subject Line
People who run influencer campaigns get tons of pitches in their email on a daily basis. Because there are hardly any set rules to follow when pitching to brands, this part can feel a bit overwhelming. Unlike digital publications, most brands do not openly have submission guidelines for influencers to follow. When deciding on an email subject line for your pitch, you have 2 options:
Keep it short & sweet
Make it fun & engaging
Email subjects that are short & straightforward are easy to recognize in a cluttered inbox.
As an influencer marketing manager, it’s easy to see when a new email is from an influencer if it is titled, “Influencer Collaboration Request.” I can set aside time during my day to open those specific influencer emails.
The other route to take is to make your subject fun & engaging. Try making it intriguing enough to where the receiver feels like they HAVE to open it to know more.
For example, “130 hours, a dog, a toddler & a Toyota Highlander” is a lot more interesting than, “Influencer collaboration with Toyota.”
HOWEVER, “[Influencer Name x Toyota Collaboration] WILL suffice.
The choice is yours, so don’t fret! Try AB testing your subject lines. If you are pitching on a weekly basis, try sending half of your emails with a straightforward subject line, and the other half with a fun subject line. Keep count of which pitches you receive responses to the most.
Know WHO You’re Pitching
Do Your Research! The most common advice when it comes to pitching to brands is to send your pitch to a “PR person.” This advice is faulty for numerous reasons:
If someone works for a PR agency that runs influencer campaigns (in addition to 10 other services), everyone in the agency is a “PR Person” yet not everyone runs influencer campaigns.
Everyone who DOES manage influencer campaigns DOES NOT have the title of “PR Person.” The titles very GREATLY. Some titles do not have the word “influencer” in it at all.
Secondly, if you send your pitch to a general PR email address, then you risk it not falling into the right hands.
WHAT do you want to promote for the brand of your choice?
Nothing is worse than receiving an email from an influencer & it simply says, “I would love to work with your brand. How can I do this?” There’s no backstory, no brand affinity established, no products mentioned, and no mention of WHAT they influencer wants to do.
Do you want to create a blog post? YouTube tutorial? Share a static post on Instagram? If so, what will it be about? Think of that key factor that is going to set your idea apart from everyone else. If you know exactly the product you want to promote, or you have organically promoted the brands products in the past, include a description of the product in your email.
Typically, a campaign brief includes key messaging that covers the product description.
For example, if you plan to pitch a clothing brand, say to them, “I would love to create a clothing haul on IGTV titled ‘5 prints you MUST own this Summer. I recently purchased this top and shared it on my Instagram (include screenshot & link to post). This top is my favorite because of the cotton-blend material, and how easy it is to wash!'”
Explain how the Brand Will Benefit
Just like with the art of negotiation, you should NEVER be the first to mention how you will benefit from this partnership. It comes across as if you are reaching out to the brand with the intent of being compensated, and not because you are an avid supporter and fan.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t benefit as well. It simply means that you will introduce your rate AFTER you’ve received a response from the brand. When pitching to brands, make sure it’s clear that they will benefit from this partnership. Key metrics that brands look for are:
Engagements (Likes, Comments, Shares)
Reach
Impressions
Link Clicks
Views
What can the brand expect as a result of partnering with you? Prove that by providing screenshots of your most recent (relevant) posts or stories.
Media Kits
Are they necessary? Yes & no. Depending on who you ask, a campaign manager may not ever take the time to check out your media kit for a number of reasons.
Media Kits are not 100% trustworthy and need to be constantly updated
Larger brands typically use influencer databases where they can vet an influencer, review their stats, and see their previous brand deals.
If they’re receiving numerous media kits per day, it can be difficult to keep up with everyone.
Outline everything clearly in a short, concise email (3 SHORT paragraphs MAX) instead. If the campaign manager is truly interested, they WILL want more information, so use that second email to send your media kit over!
However, it never hurts to send your media kit in an initial email. Instead of adding it as an attachment which could potentially be blocked, add a LINK to your media kit to the email.
Follow Up – But Don’t Blow Them Up
It is a best practice that after you submit a pitch, to follow up with the person you emailed within a week. If you still do not hear anything after you have followed up, then they probably do not want to work with you at that particular time. That DOES NOT mean give up on pitching. Double check that you are sending your pitch to the correct person & try again in a few months.
For example, an influencer sent a pitch to a brand manager one day. No response. Instead of giving up, she sent a follow up email 8 days later, and immediately received a response.
The follow up email does not need to be anything fancy. Simple reply to your initial email with a quick check in along the lines of, “Hi! I hope your day is going well. I’m sending this email as a follow up to the email I sent last week. I’m eager to work with and I look forward to your response. Please let me know if there is any additional information you need from me.”
PROOFREAD
This is one of the most important tips! If you have typos, spelling errors, etc. in your pitches, you risk it going ignored. If you cannot submit a simple pitch without errors, then it will be hard to be trusted to complete the sponsored posts without the manager having to do some serious editing on their part (which is more work for them). There have been times where my influencer team & I have decided not to work with someone again because of the minimal attention to detail they gave their assignment, their captions, and their blog posts.
Write concisely
Make the pitch short and sweet. As I mentioned before, people who run campaigns get a lot of inquiries. Make a large statement in a few words. Review this thread on how to format your pitch!
Working with Brands: The other day, we shared a little Golden Nugget for you all re: working with brands. Today, we want to drop a few tips & answer some of our most commonly asked questions.
If your Pitch is Rejected, Build a Relationship, Pitch Again Later
Just because one of your pitches does not get a response, does not mean your others will not.
Before you pitch, make sure you have a well-crafted message, your content is relevant to the brand you are pitching, and you have found the correct contact person.
If you’re really passionate about working with this particular brand, try to provide your idea from a different perspective or different angle. If you get rejected, re-evaluate your pitch, and make necessary adjustments so that you are ready to pitch again in a few months.By following these tips on pitching to brands, you will be well on your way to scoring the collaborations of your dreams!
The Do’s and Don’ts When Working With Brands for Influencers
So, you have secured a brand deal with a brand you really want to work with! What’s next? Typically, the next step in the process is to sign a contract, review the campaign brief, purchase (or receive) the product, and get to work creating your content! Once you start working with a brand, there is a set of rules that comes with it that influencer should be aware of. Keep reading to find out the Do’s and Don’ts when working with brands for influencers so that you can make a good impression and build a solid relationship!
Do: Effectively Communicate
In my experience with working with influencers, there are many things that stand out to me, as well as my clients, the most. One of those things is effective communication. When managing an influencer activation, time is of the upmost importance. From the time a strategy is completed, all the way to end when a campaign report is completed and sent to the client, timing is important. Therefore, when communicating with an influencer, the timely response from influencers is the difference between us wanting to want with them again or not.
When working with a brand, the most important thing you can do is COMMUNICATE. It is the brand’s job to communicate certain details such as timeline, product, messaging, etc. However, it is your responsibility as an influencer to stay on top of your emails, reach out to if you are having timing issues, or if you are unclear of the messaging.
Don’t: Ghost Your Campaign Manager
It has happened time and time again. An influencer has agreed to participate in a campaign, and ends up ghosting in the middle of the campaign. No explanation as to why. If the relationship between you and the brand is important to you (which it should be), then NEVER ghost.
If you have agreed to participate in a campaign, and something comes up where you can no longer participate, then you should let the campaign manager know immediately, so that they can relay that message with their client, and possibly replace you.
There are times where campaigns have a certain number of influencers that the client wants involved. They are likely to have a “waitlist” or “stand-by” list of influencers they can choose from, should a space in the campaign opens up.
So, be mindful of your manager, as well as other influencers who would like the opportunity.
Furthermore, if you have been gifted an item as a part of compensation for the campaign, then you could possibly be responsible for returning the product as a result of your removal.
Do: Ask for a Contract
Never enter a partnership without a signed contract. There are plenty of things that could go wrong without a contract in place signed by both parties.
Contracts not only protect the brand, but they protect you as the influencer as well.
The contract covers clauses such as:
posting timelines
compensation & payment terms
content guidelines
FTC laws
Usage Rights
Exclusivity
This is an extremely important note to make when working with brands for influencers.
Don’t: Expect a Verbal Agreement to be Enough
Depending on the size of the brand or agency you are working with, they may not offer a contract.
However, a contract gives everyone involved a sense of security.
A simple agreement via email is not enough.
Do: Negotiate Your Rate
In our textbook, The Unrivaled Guide to Elevating your Influence, as well as our course, #InstagramGoals, we go into depth regarding how to negotiate better rates.
The main point to know is that campaign budgets vary from brand to brand, and agency to agency.
The bottom line is, you NEVER know what is available for you in terms of compensation unless you are willing to ASK, and not being afraid to negotiate.
Don’t: Accept a Rate You are Uncomfortable With
In the negotiation stage, try not to be the first to throw out a number. Instead, ask “what is your budget for these deliverables?”
You never want to walk away feeling like you did not receive a rate that you are satisfied with.
Do: Send a Follow-Up Email
Once the campaign is complete, send a follow-up email to your campaign manager.
While it is more than likely the manager has seen your stats for your posts, it’s always a good Idea to reach out to them with a recap of your own.
In the email, include things such as:
Likes
Comments
Reach
Impressions
Shares
Saves
Snippets of comments from your followers.
Let the manager know how much you enjoyed working with them and that you hope to work with them again in the future.
Now that you have finished the campaign and you have a new brand contact, you need to do a couple of things.
Add the contact to a pitch spreadsheet. This pitch spreadsheet should have all verified contacts from brands and agencies with which you have worked with in the past.
Send an email every few months, checking in with them. This email will include a recap of some of your recent campaigns, and updated media kit if your stats have changed, and the interest to work together soon.
If you did really well in your campaign with the brand, you will want to continue to water this relationship.
Do: Encourage your Followers to Engage with your Posts
As soon as your sponsored post is live, make sure you share the news with your followers! Get them involved and engagement. Ask for their feedback and/or their opinions, so that you may share that with your campaign manager.
Don’t: Purchase Fake Engagement
As tempting as it may look, NEVER use fake engagement on your sponsored posts. It is illegal, for starters. It also skews the campaign results, which can hurt the brand, as well as your future engagement.
Now that you’ve read this list of Do’s and Don’ts of Woking with Brands for Influencers, let’s get ready to pitch!
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