We’ve seen surveys of influencers—about pay, working conditions, their lifestyle, the types of platforms they like to use, whether or not they use contracts, how often they post—but a new study we just saw is a bit different. It seeks to understand how brands can build better relationships with influencers.
Tonic Life Communications, a Philadelphia-based PR firm specializing in healthcare, conducted a survey of influencers in the diabetes community during the summer. Although Tonic no longer works with brands in the diabetes field, it had relationships with diabetes influencers from previous campaigns.
Tonic restricted survey participants to influencers in the diabetes community with significant followings, mostly on Twitter, the diabetes community’s platform of choice. In fact, diabetes was chosen in part due to the community’s long history of social media activity compared with other disease communities, says Kelly Kutchinsky, EVP, global insights & innovation at Tonic Life. Most of those who responded to the survey are not paid influencers, she adds.
We removed findings specific to the diabetes community from the graphic you see here. We were struck, though, by how many takeaways can be applied to brands working with influencers in a variety of industries. The main takeaways include: 1. If a brand doesn’t pay an influencer, it should not treat the influencer like a member of its sales force. 2. Keep influencers abreast of brand news as early as possible. 3. Working with influencers is a two-way street. Avoid interacting with influencers only when you need something from them. 4. Should a brand seek an influencer’s opinion, provide evidence that the influencer’s thoughts were integrated into some aspect of the company’s operations.
Major Findings From The Diabetes Online Community
What are the most valuable benefits of partnering with industry?
91% Ability to share opinions to inform business decisions
82% Access to leadership/decision makers
82% Making connections with others in the community
What must industry better understand about working with patient advocates?
- We are not your sales force
- Value dissent and other opinions even if they conflict with your expectations
- Get us involved earlier...we have experiences that should be taken seriously and listened to
- Many of us have “day jobs”... consider this when planning events
Major Concerns
“I am concerned about the blurred lines and gray areas that exist when
advocates are enticed by free travel without a clear objective and follow-up to show that objectives were met and advocacy-driven changes occurred. I’ve seen a lot of talk and no action when companies have brought advocates together claiming to be interested in their thoughts about pricing and then raised prices anyway.”
“We’d like to be involved much earlier in the process…to collaborate together, to think of solutions and ideas together and to overcome challenges together.”
“I want industry to be very realistic with us about things they can and cannot do. It doesn’t feel good when we come up with a bunch of
collective ideas but don’t see any progress.”
Best Practices
- Involve advocates and influencers early in campaign planning, offer access to decision-makers and leaders to create collaborative outputs.
- Help elevate advocates’ causes via company/brand social channels, enlist them as partners to share ideas and information…both yours and theirs.
- Don’t just engage when a company or brand campaign is underway; continue to keep advocates aware of charitable causes supported, underserved populations your company seeks to reach and services provided to people in need.
Source: Tonic Life Communications (October 2017)