If you are not repurposing your influencer content, you are missing out on a goldmine of branded images. Obtaining the same quality, quantity, and variety of branded assets in-house would cost tens of thousands of dollars, and when they’re used in place of stock and professional photos, you add a trust-building element to the value of this content as well. Read on to find out how brands are extending the value of their influencer campaigns by leveraging content.
What Does It Mean to Leverage Content?
Basically, to leverage content means to repurpose it. Many agencies use the “recycling” analogy to underscore the importance and process of maximizing the value of influencer media, but we’d argue that’s an underdeveloped parallel. Perhaps it’s the prefix of the steps of leveraged content such as reuse, repurpose, and Regram that led to the half-baked comparison, but it’s caused some brands to wonder how much work is required to maximize the value of their campaign.
This is a legitimate concern. After all, recycling connotes a laborious process of transporting, sorting, preparing, processing, and manufacturing junk. However, in reality, leveraging content is straightforward. In fact, it’s more along the lines of upcycling, wherein existing assets are repurposed to create something of even more value.
Two Types of UGC
UGC is some of the most valuable content a brand can acquire. It’s high-quality, license-free (at least when you work with ApexInfluencersTM), and most importantly, authentic.
The authenticity and candor of their posts are what truly builds trust with consumers. According to Adweek, a whopping 92% of buyers trust recommendations of other people—even those they don’t know—over traditional adverts.
Despite advertisers knowing the importance, power, and affordability of this content, many of them fail to maximize the value of their campaigns by repurposing it. It’s for this reason that we wanted to highlight a few best practices to ensure you and your team know exactly how to leverage every image. To do so, you first need to know that two overarching types of content come from an Instagram influencer campaign: polished and candid.
Polished photos are the perfected shots that usually take multiple attempts to capture. They’re beautiful and professional-grade but obviously staged. From the pose and model(s) to the background and lighting, everything is considered before the shot is taken. Polished photos tend to be less relatable than candids, but are usually more captivating.
On the other hand, candid photos capture the look of real life. Think of a candid photo as the first shot you take. Maybe the background has a few items out place, a hair is astray, or there is a small wrinkle in a shirt. The setting and subject of a candid photo are relatable, not perfect. While it may not strike a consumer the way a polished photo would, a candid photograph builds trust.
It’s critical that we note that “candid” doesn't mean poor quality. It simply means the pictures look real. “Realness” is an important quality to have in your marketing content, especially in the current landscape of “fake news.”
Best Practices for Leveraging Content
You may be surprised to know that candid photos are proven to increase conversion rates on your shopping channels. In fact, during ad testing with hundreds of brands over the past few years, ApexDrop
discovered that candid images often outperform polished images. The effectiveness is seen repeatedly across hundreds of brands, industries, and target audiences based on sales data collected from websites, emails, and search engine marketing (SEM) ad campaigns. With that being said, let’s dive into best practice number one.
1. Test Your Content
In a similar way to how culture shapes style, time and technology change consumer behavior. To ensure you're making the most of your content, know that it's vital that you test both polished and candid photos to learn which increases conversions for you. Remember, what works for one brand won't necessarily work for another. When it comes to the ratio of polished versus candid pieces, let your customers be the judges.
2. Start Now
As the old saying goes, “there is no time like the present.” It’s important that you start repurposing content as soon as influencers begin posting it. Keep the process simple by sharing the content on your social feeds. We recommend reposting one influencer image on Instagram daily.
3. Share Content with Your Organization
To maximize the value of your campaign, you need to share influencer content with everyone in your organization who is responsible for marketing. Some brands even create a content library for all of their influencer assets.
We recommend you share both your polished and candid photos with the marketers in your organization who need general content. Share polished photos with your colleagues who need content for product shots, social feeds, Regramming, media, website material, and email newsletters. Conversely, share candid photos with your colleagues who need content for social feeds and shopping channels.
Take a look at how some of our clients have repurposed their influencer content:
4. Mix and Match Your Medium
Don’t stop repurposing content once you’ve reshared and Regrammed it. Use your images for:
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Is Repurposing Content Always Possible?
Unfortunately, no. Brands often make the mistake of using micro-influencer marketplaces to find their content creators. While the top-rated and most expensive influencers on those platforms produce excellent content, many of the others are completely unvetted, often leaving brands with a barrage of unusable content.
Furthermore, many influencer marketing agencies limit your rights, charging you extra for image and content rights. But not ApexDrop! ApexInfluencerTM content is license-free.
Influencer-created content can continue to perform for you on your channels long after the creators feature the posts. These branded assets will help fill your endless need for content, drive consumers to your site, and increase conversions long after the influencer campaign is over. If you're interested in working with ApexDrop, schedule a call to learn about how we activate hundreds of vetted micro-influencers for your brand.
