Written by Hoozu’s Client Strategy Director, Lara Mowforth
In today’s digital marketing landscape, Influencer Marketing has shifted from being a novel experiment to a core strategy for many brands. However, as the industry expands, a key challenge has emerged—organic reach is decreasing. Algorithms are trickier, and even the most engaging content can struggle to reach the right audience. That’s where paid media has become an essential tactic. Below are the reasons that allocating budget towards paid media is a MUST for maximising your Influencer partnerships.
1. The Decline of Organic Reach
Let’s face it, organic reach on social media is not what it used to be. Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube have made it harder for creators to organically reach their full follower base. As such, if you’re still relying solely on organic influencer content, you’re leaving potential results on the table. With algorithm changes prioritising paid content, brands and influencers must rethink their strategies.
Working with fewer Influencers, and instead investing the saved budget on paid media, will certainly see your results with more aligned targeting
2. Paid Media is a Powerful Amplifier
Paid media isn’t here to replace Influencer Marketing, it’s here to enhance it. The combination of authentic influencer content and the precision targeting of paid ads creates a powerful synergy. This approach ensures your content reaches not just a larger audience, but the right one by narrowing it down by demographics, interests, or geography, ensuring the message reaches those most likely to engage.
Paid media allows you to maintain the personal recommendation and human-connection of Influencers whilst regaining the control of more traditional advertising.
3. Better ROI is Achieved Through Paid Media
Organic reach is unpredictable no matter how big the Influencer’s following size is. If you’re already investing marketing dollars to work with Influencers on creating the content, you’re likely considering how to guarantee it reaches your audience. One of the biggest advantages of integrating paid media into influencer campaigns is that brands can track, optimise, and refine campaigns to maximise results for a better return on investment (ROI), by taking the guesswork out of it!
Setting aside an additional budget for paid media to complement and enhance your influencer campaigns is a valuable investment.
Consider these things when Integrating Amplification into your Influencer Strategy:
- Most Influencers with a larger audience will charge for a paid usage period. This is on average around 20% of their fee per month of usage needed. Allocate about 20% of your overall Influencer budget for paid media.
- Pre-negotiate Influencer’s usage rates upfront and have this outlined as an addition to be activated on request, within their contract. This allows you to view and assess the final content and its potential for ads before committing to spending the additional, agreed budget.
- Make sure Influencers do not use commercial music, as this breaks copyright laws. While creators may use the music library, brands cannot for social media posts OR influencer-paid partnership posts.You don’t want a case of “Sony Music Entertainment vs. Marriott International: A Case of Rampant Copyright Infringement”. Play it safe when it comes to music.
Paid media isn’t just an optional add-on to Influencer Marketing anymore, it’s essential. To stay competitive, brands must embrace a hybrid approach that combines the authenticity of influencer content with the scalability and precision of paid media.
If you’re keen to bring this precision into your own Influencer program, but need support figuring out the holistic strategy, get in touch today.
