A Canadian Lifestyle PR Agency shares its influencer relations secrets
With the clutter of information on social media and many brands all vying for the same audience, attracting and keeping customer attention has never been more difficult. According to MuckRack, consumer attention span has now dropped to just eight seconds. And with video, this is even more crucial as the attention span drops to just five seconds, according to SpotDigital. White label content is becoming a popular strategy with Canadian lifestyle PR agencies like Zak Communication are deploying with many of our clients and seen outstanding results. But white label content must be done right in order to reap the rewards.
White label content is paid content produced by a creator who gives rights for the content to be published and branded on a brand’s platforms, under the brand name. This can take the form of any digital content you can think of – from blog posts to social media posts. With social media posts, the most common form is video.
White label content saves brands a lot of time and resources by outsourcing to a content creator rather than producing the content in-house. It also allows the brand to leverage the expertise and circle of trust of the content creator or influencer within their niche, thereby increasing their visibility to new audiences. For creators, it positions them as an expert in their niche and broadens their repertoire of content, while building brand connections and increasing their visibility to brand audiences.
Here are five tips for both influencers and brands to make the most out of your white label content partnerships:
Find the right balance between control and autonomy
You want to provide enough direction to ensure that content creators understand the brand mission, values and goals of the project but you don’t want to hold the reins so tight that it stifles their creativity. Remember, you hired them for their expertise and ideas! Provide a collaborative environment that allows them to feel free to ask questions and ensure to share a content brief with clear instructions to ensure you end up with the content you want.
Likewise, content creators should ensure that they have all the info they need by asking as many questions as needed. Being inquisitive in order to get the right content is better than producing something quickly but having to reshoot.
Tell a story
The best way to capture consumer attention? Allow your creator to tell a relatable story.
People love stories they can resonate with. By using your white label content to build an emotional connection with your audience, you can build long-lasting brand affinity.
For content creators — make it relatable, shareable, authentic and compelling. Speak as a fellow consumer and connect with a common problem, positioning the brand or product as the solution. Dig deep and find out what matters to you because it probably matters to others.
The first five seconds matter the most!
Grab attention in the first few moments with a question, relatable story, or eye-catching visuals. Since these are the most crucial seconds, brands should detail in their briefing when and for how long their product or brand should be featured in the content.
Close with a call-to-action
Always let your viewers know what you want from them in the end! This is highly visible on YouTube where many creators will close with direction such as “Subscribe for more” or “Like this video so I know to keep creating more content like this”.
Ideally, the brand should provide this direction during briefing, whether it be driving consumers to purchase at a specific link, follow on social media or sign-up at a brand portal.
Make the content mobile friendly
While this last tip is more technical than anything, it is important! Brands should ensure to provide their influencers with filming/shooting guidelines (landscape, portrait, resolution) based on where the content will be hosted.
Creators should ensure to use good lighting, shoot landscape or use video-resizing tools such as Kapwing or Resizegram. Make sure content is not blurry, dark, noisy or unrelated.
Et voilà, white label content done right!
