Influencer whitelisting, the latest buzzword in influencer and digital marketing, could be your brand’s secret weapon.
Sasha Jeppesen, our Head of Content & Creativity, arms you below on the advantages of whitelisting for brands, the benefits for creators and her top tips for true success.
So, what is influencer whitelisting?
Influencer whitelisting occurs when an influencer gives a brand access to use their social media profiles across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube to run sponsored ads.
What are the advantages of whitelisting for brands?
- Promotes Authentic Engagement: With creative diversity being top of the agenda for performance marketers, Whitelisting allows brands to easily scale the volume of creative in their ad accounts with authentic UGC, rather than relying on polished brand assets that may not resonate with audiences, because, simply, they look like ads. This is because the whitelisted post is run directly from the creator’s account, rather than the brand’s.
- 62% of social media users say they trust social media influencers more than celebrities. Micro and nano influencers (those with a following of up to 50k) have become the voice of authority among social media users with purchasing power.
- 62% of social media users say they trust social media influencers more than celebrities. Micro and nano influencers (those with a following of up to 50k) have become the voice of authority among social media users with purchasing power.
- Increases Brand’s Reach: You can reach potential new customers and advertise directly to an influencer’s engaged audience. Brands are also able to create new lookalike audiences for future advertising based on data from the influencer’s account.
- Allows You to Track, Test, and Reiterate: Brands can continuously A/B test whitelisted content by making tweaks to CTAs, changing the copy, testing new videos or images, or even targeting an entirely new audience. It also allows them to create new lookalike audiences for future advertising based on data from the influencer’s account.
Benefits of Whitelisting for Creators
Beyond brand advantages, the whitelisting process is also beneficial for creators. As brands use the influencer’s content to reach wider, like-minded audiences, the creator also gets exposure to new audiences who may not have interacted with their account before. This widened visibility can drive more people to discover the influencer’s account, allowing the creator to grow their following quickly.
If done right, whitelisting is a win-win for both brands and creators. With both parties able to access to performance metrics of the whitelisted post it allows brands to gain key insights into what UGC works for their brand, and creators can understand what type of content resonates with audiences best.
What about ROI?
A key pillar of our influencer strategies at Charlie Oscar is whitelisting, and using COmpass, our full-funnel attribution solution, allows us to measure the true incremental impact of not only Whitelisting, but influencer campaigns more broadly:
- Whitelisting META prospecting assets perform 30% stronger than brand assets when measured on full-funnel incrementality.
- Influencer campaigns are massively undervalued by last click or voucher code-based measurement. Up to 85% of influencer value is in upper funnel impacts, which are not measured by GA or voucher codes.
- An average of 54% of GA organic conversions can be reattributed to upper funnel marketing channels, such as influencers, which drove the organic activity.
- Micro-influencers perform strongest when targeted on Story posts driving towards search actions (2.9x), while Nano influencer content performs strongest on Feed content driving towards social follows (5.6x). This level of insight ultimately allows brands to optimise their influencer campaigns as if they were a paid marketing channel.
Our 3 Charlie Oscar Tips for Whitelisting:
- Test Different Creatives: Just like any other paid creative strategy, Whitelisting also requires a robust creative testing plan. Ensure to reiterate on the UGC assets that work, but also make room to test new styles to stay ahead of the social curve of what audiences are resonating with natively.
- Build Trusted Relationships with Creators: Encouraging a creator to allow you to essentially post an ad on their behalf requires trust, building strong relationships with the creator before asking for whitelisting permission is crucial.
- Measure beyond vanity metrics and in-platform last-click: Attribution solutions like COmpass, help brands break free from unreliable multi-touch and click-based attribution methods and navigate the true value of their marketing activity – especially hard-to-measure channels such as influencers. When you invest in vigorous measurement, you will be able to allocate your paid social budget to campaigns that matter (ie. Whitelisting) and cut wasted ad spend for optimum ROI and reduced CAC.
If you’re ready to see the success influencer whitelisting can bring to your brand, then drop us a line and let’s measure revenue not vanity metrics.
