How to work with influencers

By the time they’re on board, your influencer should realise that you’ve spent time researching them, their community, and the ways in which the collaboration can be mutually beneficial. Try to build a genuine, meaningful relationship – not one that feels purely transactional. For information on how to attract the right influencers, read our top tips.

Hopefully, the influencer will in effect become a spokesperson for your organisation. Taking time to educate them about your organisation’s work, not only the campaigns you’d like them to focus on, will help them to become more knowledgeable about your charity and comfortable answering any questions about it.

Once you’ve started working together, it’s essential that you continue to grow that relationship. In this article, we give some advice on how to work with influencers and how to make the most of the relationship.

Clear communication and expectations

It’s uncommon to pay an influencer to work with a charity or not-for-profit – it can put your charity’s reputation at risk, as well as the influencer’s.

Have a clear idea about what you want to achieve through the relationship (that could include campaign awareness, signposting people to the support your charity offers, or fundraising). Pinpoint your strategic objectives and goals to make the most out of the partnership.

Then have clear expectations about what you’d like them to do – which campaign you’d like them to support, how many posts, how frequently, embargo dates, specific hashtags to use etc. It’s good to get these details nailed down in advance.

Remember that an influencer’s time is precious. And that’s whether you’re working with a micro-influencer (who may well also be working a full-time job and blogging for fun) or a big name influencer, complete with agent and a packed diary. Either way, keep time limitations in mind and make sure what you ask for can be easily delivered.

Make sure your first ask is short and straightforward – for example a few simple posts that won’t take much time. It’s a good way for both sides to test out the relationship and iron out any practical teething problems.

Give the influencer autonomy

An influencer will have spent time building their community – it’s often their livelilhood. That means their audience relates to them and recognises their tone of voice. Integrity is crucial, which is why you should keep content direction to a minimum.

Using a templated post will be blatant to an influencer’s followers. Content produced by the influencer will be much more effective as it will resonate with their audience and keep them more open to your cause.

Have agreements about how often you’d like them to post and on what platforms. Give visual references for your current campaign, key stats, statements, and any hashtags you’d like used. But essentially leave content creation up to them. They’ll know their audience much better than you do.