How To Use Long-Term UGC Creator Partnerships To Unlock Authenticity And Brand Loyalty

Influencer marketing is taking off. However, many brands still believe it’s best for short-term collaborations. Working with an influencer for a few weeks is okay they say, but going beyond that isn’t worth the trouble.

This guide is here to dispel that myth. It explores how long-term influencer relationships improve outcomes, including building deeper trust and loyalty.

So, what do you need to know?

The Power Of Long-Term UGC Collaborations: How They Cultivate Trust And Authenticity

Traditional UGC campaigns were short-lived. Brands would ally with a creator for a few posts and then move on to the next project.

However, some companies discovered the benefits of working long-term with creators. Forming lasting relationships lets them move toward their business objectives faster.

One perk of these long-term relationships is consistent messaging. Brands working with the same influencers over time avoid jerking their audiences in different directions. Repetition reinforces the brand’s values, reducing the challenge of getting messages across.

Another benefit is the depth of communication brands can achieve with UGC creators. Working with them long-term invests them more in the brand’s identity, allowing them to represent it more faithfully. Influencers can better meet the company’s requirements without long briefs and brand guidance documents.

These benefits also have knock-on effects, including:

• Superior brand storytelling where influencers can share their journeys in a branded or brand-friendly context
• Enhanced opportunities to build communities around shared brand-related concepts
• More familiarity with the influencer, the brand, and their style
• A deeper emotional connection with the personality behind the UGC

Finding creators to work with long-term can be challenging. Some individuals may not want to represent your company for years on end or see you as a stepping stone to bigger things.

However, with Billo, the process is more straightforward. Our creators associate with you as long as you require. Being part of our platform, these individuals are less likely to move on unexpectedly. Many brands working with us use the same UGC contributors for many months. These enable them to associate a face with their branding on social media that their audiences can trust.

How Long-Term Partnerships Lead to Deeper Brand Loyalty

Figures suggest that 70% of brands experience higher engagement when they use the same creators long-term. Using identical influencers seems to tap into an element of human psychology.

Commentators have several theories explaining why these partnerships lead to deeper brand loyalty. Interestingly, their answers mainly rely on fundamental aspects of human behavior, such as willingness to trust.

Familiarity with the influencer is arguably the main driving force behind this phenomenon. The more you expose audiences to a specific personality, the more likely they are to trust them and take their recommendations seriously. The first encounter usually brings some skepticism. But over time, that diminishes and users become more open to the influencer’s commercial messaging.

Sustained engagement and reach also play a role. Enduring relationships with creators exposes audiences to more branded messages, encouraging them to convert. Multiple touchpoints imitate traditional remarketing, again deepening brand loyalty.

10 Best Practices for Nurturing Long-Term Influencer Relationships

By now, the advantages of long-term influencer partnerships should be clear. But how do you nurture them successfully? What should you do to keep creators on your side long-term?

Using Billo is one option. The platform lets you continue working with the same influencers for as long as required.

However, you can also try other strategies when working manually. For example, you could:

Make Yourself Available

Ensuring the influencer can contact you when they need help is one of the best ways to maintain a long-term relationship with them. Keeping communication channels open supports them in continuing their work for you.

You can help them in numerous ways, including:

• Assisting them in brainstorming sessions on what content to provide next
• Answering their questions quickly so they can progress to the next stage of content production
• Provide support during busy schedules when they need to work longer hours

The more available you become, the more the influencer will trust you. Creators who feel supported are more likely to want to work with you and won’t seek opportunities elsewhere, enabling you to collaborate with them for longer.

Adapt To Changes In Their Personal Life

Formulating a plan to adapt to changes in influencers’ personal lives can also help. Putting a strategy in place lets you deal with matters as they occur while retaining the influencer as your public face.

Spend some time getting to know them and their evolving requirements. Talk to them about work and family changes, their aspirations, and what they’ve done already to work toward their goals.

Showing concern proves you care about their lives on a personal level. It also means you can set up alternative strategies to accommodate these changes so you can be ready for them when they arrive.

Engage With Their Audience

Engaging with an influencer’s audience is another powerful way to build long-term relationships with them. Getting involved with what they do shows you care about their online success.

Commenting is the most potent strategy. Leaving insights or words of wisdom beneath regular posts can help them stand out online and gain recognition.

It also gives them a chance to engage in some back-and-forth with you. Comment conversations can provide valuable, supplementary content for followers to enjoy and make their output more compelling.

Discuss Opportunities For Improvement

Don’t let an influencer relationship rumble on for years without discussing how to improve it. Evaluate the success of your plans periodically and evolve them to suit your changing audience. Remember that approaches that worked several years ago may no longer be relevant.

Avoiding these conversations can cause resentment to build. You may dislike the creator’s work if it strays from your brand image. And they may become tired of the original terms you signed and want an updated agreement with you.

Fortunately, you can overcome these issues with conversations. Redirecting the influencer or adjusting their payment plan keeps the relationship on track.

Create An Open Feedback Loop

Creating an open feedback loop between you and the creator is another helpful strategy to maintain the relationship. Setting up a system where you and the influencer can share thoughts and suggestions helps to “grease the wheels,” making it feel more two-way.

Start by setting up a secure communication channel with the influencer. Ensure you can share your thoughts with them when the situation requires it. Provide them with a forum to supply their ideas with minimal friction.

Don’t be afraid to take their advice and suggestions on board. Often, their contributions can lower the cost and increase the impact of your campaigns.

Focus Less On Compensation

You also want to focus on offering value beyond compensation when aiming to work with an influencer for the long haul. Often, they need more than money to maintain the collaboration.

For example, you could offer perks like:

• Behind-the-scenes access to your business or venues
• Invitations to branded events they can use for content generation
• Resources and packs to assist with content building
• Early access to new information regarding your business or products

While money is important, it isn’t everything for many UGC creators. Most want to feel supported in several ways by your brand.

Give Them Creative Freedom

Giving creators the ability to generate the content they want is another way to facilitate long-term relationships. Such leeway helps them build their “personal brand” while promoting your products and services.

Creative freedom is essential for authenticity. Allowing influencers to step outside the tramlines introduces their audiences to original content that doesn’t feel canned or overtly commercialized.

It also makes their content more compelling. Video skits and image posts feel less generic and sales-oriented.

Celebrate Their Contributions

Celebrating creators’ contributions is also highly effective for maintaining long-term partnerships. Recognizing their achievements lets you deepen your relationship, build trust, and maintain a connection with the influencer for longer.

You can make creators feel appreciated by:

• Thanking them for their efforts regularly via email
• Inviting them to creator awards ceremonies at your business
• Recognizing the hard work that went into achieving a specific milestone
• Offering financial rewards or bonuses for exceptional performance

Recognizing influencers’ achievements is soothing. Creators who feel valued are less liable to up-sticks and seek recognition elsewhere.

Set Shared Goals

Setting shared goals is another tactic to secure long-term influencer partnerships. Ensuring you’re both on the same page can be highly effective because it fosters a true sense of relationship. Influencers want the same outcomes as you.

The best way to do this is to create performance-related goals. If the influencer achieves a certain target percentage, you reward them accordingly.

You can also align with them on a shared purpose. For example, the goal could be to help a million people live longer with help from a supplement brand. Intrinsic motivation is often more effective and sustainable because it comes from the heart.

Communicate With Them

Lastly, focus on communicating with your creators effectively. Check-in with them regularly to see how they are doing. Don’t go months without talking to them, especially if they produce large volumes of content for you.

Successful Long-Term Influencer Campaigns That Rocked

Numerous companies have succeeded with long-term influencer campaigns using UGC. These examples demonstrate this strategy’s effectiveness and why it may be superior to short-term approaches in most situations.

H&M

H&M wanted to promote its holiday line using various celebrity influencers. It saw a way of using engaging video ads to showcase its lineup to millions of consumers.

The campaign aimed to build brand awareness and desirability around the company’s clothing lines. H&M gave celebrity influencers the freedom to choose how to incorporate the brand into their socials for more authentic content and consistent messaging. Peyton List, Hannah Simone, Tyler Posey, and Jana Kramer all contributed.

The teaser clips and advertised posts were successful. H&M achieved a 10% engagement rate and generated over 1.3 million likes throughout the campaign, 14,000 comments, and 19,000 shares. The initiative was such a hit that many other fashion brands now use similar concepts in their own marketing drives.

Olay

Olay knows the beauty influencer space is crowded. Dozens of companies are vying for attention across every significant online platform. As such, it sees developing long-term influencer relationships as a strategic advantage.

Several years ago, the brand approached several female influencers to take part in a long-running marketing campaign to be “unapologetically” themselves. The goal was to connect to a diverse audience, encourage women to embrace their real beauty and establish a brand affinity with the movement (similar to Dove).

Eventually, Olay built a partnership with nine diverse women, dubbed The Fearless Nine. These influencers already had substantial online followings and agreed to work with the company on the project.

The idea was for the creators to go make-up free using the company’s skincare products and post the results online. Each member of the team received a welcome pack containing everything they needed. News of women going without makeup online reached Vogue magazine, which wrote an article on the experiment, increasing its popularity further.

Ultimately, the campaign generated more than 298,000 video views for Olay and engaged over 21 million followers. The engagement rate was 8.33% and over 11,000 people commented across the content.

Dunkin’

Dunkin’ was always famous for its donuts. However, consumer tastes changed a few years ago, switching to hot beverages. Now the brand focuses mostly on making coffee.

During this period, Dunkin’ saw the need to transition its brand away from its traditional products (and the name of Dunkin’ Donuts) to a drinks-focused brand. It started leveraging UGC influencers to facilitate this change, asking creators to raise awareness of its hand-crafted espressos.

The results were spectacular. Dunkin’ achieved a 5.2% engagement rate, 1.1 million impressions, and over 21,000 likes. Working long-term with influencers like Josh Eats Philly and Vanessa Ferraiolo supercharged the rebranding and kept customers interested in its products long-term.