Aleksander Rokavec’s Post

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Owner of the company Universal Business Management Consulting

Influencers Want Brands’ Sponsorship, But Not Their Rules In partnering with online influencers, many brands try to maintain creative control. But Associate Professor Navdeep Sahni has a word of caution for advertisers: Don’t influence the influencer. It’s understandable why brands want to steer the content created by the influencers they hire. However, new research by Sahni reveals that when brands are too hands-on, they can undermine the impact of influencer marketing campaigns. Teaming up with several coauthors, Sahni looked at 984 contracts worth $6.9 million, written by 286 brands and offered to 7,101 influencers. He wanted to know: How did the influencers respond to contractual constraints, and how did these constraints affect the performance of sponsored posts? As Sahni discovered, the more restrictive a contract, the less likely an influencer was to take it. What’s more, posts produced under restrictive contracts had significantly less audience engagement. The takeaway? Putting excessive restraints on an influencer’s creativity and interfering with their relationship with their audience can be a poor business move. As brands attempt to leverage influencer partnerships, Sahni asks: “Is the [advertiser] willing to lose some control and rely more on the influencer?” As his study reveals, how brands answer that question could make all the difference in the impact of their campaigns.

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