How to Retain Your Influencers When Loyalty is Hard To Come By

Big brands are always looking for top influencer talent. They offer big deals that are hard to resist. As a small brand, you can't always match these offers. Even if it's not a big brand, there might be a new, more innovative, flashy brand that might attract your influencers if you can't keep them engaged.

This creates a real problem. You might find an influencer who loves your products. Their followers start to notice your brand. But then, the influencer gets bored and stops posting about you.Suddenly, all your hard work is wasted. You're back at the beginning, looking for new influencers.This is frustrating.

The only way to solve this is to retain your influencers. It means maintaining long-term, active partnerships with influencers, ambassadors, or affiliates who promote your brand on social media.

The goal is to get them to consistently post about your brand.

Let's dive in and learn why and how to keep your influencers excited about your brand.

Why you should retain influencers

Long-term partnerships save money and time

Onboarding new influencers takes time and resources.

You need to:

• Educate them about your brand
• Negotiate terms
• Set up tracking systems.

Retaining influencers means you can skip these steps and focus on creating great campaigns.

Authentic content comes from a deep understanding of your products

The longer an influencer works with your brand, the better they understand your products and values. This shows in their content, making it more authentic.

For example: A beauty influencer who's used a skincare product for a year can show the benefits of the product and speak more genuinely about it than someone who just tried it last week.

If you have a subscription product, check out what Jovana from Daily Elements, a microgreens brand shared about building long-term partnerships —

We've connected with a few influencers from the start, creating content with them over a longer period. Our product is not a one-time purchase but a subscription meant to be part of daily life. Our approach with partners mirrors this philosophy.

Your costs don't grow exponentially; their audience does

As influencers expand their reach, your brand's exposure grows with them, often without a proportional increase in cost.

Imagine you partner with an influencer with 50,000 followers when you start working together. Over the next year, their follower count doubles to 100,000. Your brand now reaches twice as many potential customers with each post without changing the cost if you're paying them a commission on sales.

Even if you're paying a fixed rate, the increase in cost won't be too high. If you've maintained a good relationship, they might negotiate a new rate of 20-30% more, but it would likely not be doubled.

You're more likely to get prime spots in their content calendar

Unlike brands making first-time contact, you don't have to wait in line or compete for the influencer's attention. You've already established a working relationship. Influencers also know your brand and your products and are more likely to prioritize your requests. This preferred status can be crucial during busy periods like holiday seasons or major industry events when influencers are swamped with partnership requests.

It helps you create genuine brand advocates

Long-term influencers often become true brand advocates. They start mentioning your products even when there's no direct incentive, simply because they genuinely like and use them. This organic promotion can't be bought or come from influencers who're new to your brand.

5 Ideas to keep influencers engaged with your brand

Brand-Influencer Fit

Before working with an influencer, ensure they're a good match for your brand. Because no amount of money or perks can make up for a poor fit. An influencer might initially be tempted by a big offer, but if there's no real connection with your brand, they'll lose interest quickly.

What does it mean to have a great brand-influencer fit?

• Shared values: The influencer's personal beliefs and what they stand for should match your brand's values.
• Content style: Their content should fit your brand's image. For example, don't partner with a luxury travel influencer posting photos from expensive resorts if you're selling affordable hiking gear.
• Audience match: The influencer's followers should be similar to your target customers. This ensures your products reach the right people.

We interviewed Jarred Smith, co-founder of NOOMA, an organic healthy drinks brand. Here's what he shared about brand alignment with the influencer:

They have to be a great representation of your brand, and they actually have to love your product, no matter what. If they don't like the product themselves, the content will be terrible. It's not going to work well, and it's not even going to be good if you're going to use it for your own ad creative or whitelisting.

👉 How to ensure brand-influencer fit

Study the influencer's content, audience, and engagement.

• Read their captions carefully.
• Look at how they respond to comments.
• Check out any long-form content they create (blogs, YouTube videos, etc.)

Ask yourself — Does the influencer's content capture attention immediately? Are they able to make persuasive points regarding a product and get people to take action (buy, sign up, etc.)? Does the influencer's visual style match your brand's look?

• Look at their past and current brand partnerships. Are these brands similar to yours or complementary?

You can use SARAL's influencer discovery tool to find and connect with hundreds or even thousands of potential affiliates quickly. Filter by number of followers, the location, the engagement rate you're looking for, etc. and get a list of influencers fit for you.

Share the mission behind your affiliate program

Money alone isn't always enough to maintain long-term interest and enthusiasm. When influencers first start, making money from sales commissions or promoting products is exciting. But over time, that thrill can wear off. They might begin to feel like they're just another cog in the marketing machine. That's when brands risk losing their enthusiasm and authentic engagement.

Successful brands understand this, so they position their affiliate program as part of a larger purpose.

Take Snif, for example. They invite influencers to join a community of scent enthusiasts and play a role in making luxury scents more accessible to everyone.

Loop Earplugs takes a similar approach. Rather than just pushing sales, they frame their mission as empowering people to "live out loud." This gives influencers a sense that they're not just selling earplugs, but helping people enjoy life more fully.

This approach also helps build stronger, longer-lasting relationships between brands and influencers. It's no longer just a transactional thing. There are shared goals, and a sense of working together towards something meaningful.

✍️ Think deeply about your company's larger purpose. What positive change are you trying to bring to the world? Once you've identified this, share it with your influencers. Make them feel part of something bigger than just a sales campaign.

Offer the right compensation for their efforts

Sending free products or sharing words of encouragement is all great, but at the end of the day, influencers need to pay their bills, too. They'll probably move on to other brands if they can't make a living from their work.

Here's how you can provide financial motivation

• Pay them fairly if it's a collab based on upfront payment: Use SARAL's Chrome extension with its fair fee feature to decide an appropriate compensation. This helps set fair rates based on an influencer's metrics and market standards.

• Competitive commission rates: Offer attractive commission percentages on sales. To do this, you need to have healthy margins on your products. If your net margin is high, you can offer a good influencer commission, and a generous customer discount, and still make a decent profit.
• A tiered reward structure: It's a system where affiliates earn higher commission rates if they keep increasing their sales volume. This gives influencers different goals to hit and they keep posting about your products to hit those goals.

For example, Obvi uses a commission-based tier system. They offer a standard rate of 10% commission, but affiliates who sell 20 or more orders get bumped up to a 20% commission.

Keep in touch with your influencers

You know the old saying, "Out of sight, out of mind"? It couldn't be more true when it comes to working with influencers. When so much happens daily, it's too easy for your brand to slip off an influencer's radar if you're not trying to stay connected.

You can send influencers regular emails such as:

• Company updates
• Product sneak peeks to build excitement
• Feedback requests for any process or your products
• Success stories of your top influencers
• Event Invitations

Your outreach doesn't always have to be about business. Share content they might like, congratulate them on recent achievements, or simply ask how they're doing. These small gestures show that you value them as individuals, not just as marketing channels.

For example, influencers who work with Snif get direct access to the company's founders. This makes them feel valued.

Treat your influencers like actual humans. Be genuine. Show interest in their lives beyond what they can do for your brand. Share a laugh with them. Because when they like you and your brand, they will talk about you in a way that no amount of money can buy.

👉 Staying in touch with multiple influencers can be challenging when you're busy. That's where tools like SARAL can be helpful. You can set up friendly, casual emails to go out regularly.

We've also got a library of templates that you can choose from. Try SARAL for free.

According to NOOMA, influencer outreach is a delicate balance between personalization and efficiency. And SARAL's email templates and automation features have been a game-changer for them.

Having the email templates and email drips is really nice. The best part is that custom fields allow us to add specific lines and different types of messaging within those email drips. If I wrote the emails one at a time, it would be exactly like what I can do within SARAL.

Build a community of influencers

We're all social creatures who thrive on connection and shared experiences. Communities fulfill this need. Maybe be a part of a group of DTC founders, a book club, or a community of marketers.

This applies to influencers too. When influencers are part of a community with their peers, it makes it hard to leave that community, and the connection with your brand.

Giving your influencer program a specific name

This creates a shared identity for all your influencers. When you give your program a name, it's like creating a special club. For example, Gymshark calls their influencers 'Gymshark Athletes'. This makes influencers feel like they're part of something bigger than just promoting products. It can make them feel proud and more connected to your brand.

Create a dedicated Facebook group

This gives your influencers a private space to connect with each other. Pura Vida has an invite-only group for influencers where they can share tips, ask questions, and support each other.

This makes them feel special and recognized. It also helps them see what other influencers are doing, which can inspire new ideas.

Take influencers on trip

When you take your influencers on trips, they get to know each other and your brand better. They can have fun together, learn from each other, and create memories. These shared experiences can make them feel more loyal to your brand and excited to work with you. It also gives them great content to share with their followers.

Topicals, the skincare brand takes its top influencers on a trip every year. As a bonus, videos that influencers created around the trips generates millions of views on TikTok alone.

Send out a monthly newsletter

It's best if it comes from the brand founders, as this makes influencers feel valued. You can use the newsletter to highlight influencer achievements, thank them for their support, and remind them of any perks you offer. This regular communication helps keep your brand at the front of their minds.

Host in-person events or Zoom calls

These gatherings bring your community together. These events can be used for training, sharing news, or just socializing. They help influencers feel connected to your brand and to each other, even when they're working independently.

Final Thoughts

You can't build influencer relationships, or keep them engaged if you're buried in spreadsheets and manual tasks.

You need tools to help you automate mundane tasks and work more efficiently. That's where SARAL can help. With SARAL you can:

• Find influencers
• Reach out to them
• Manage relationships
• Ship out your free products
• Measure results

…and do so much more.

Start your 7-day free trial with SARAL today. Test out everything for yourself, talk to the founder, and even run your influencer program. It is built to help your brand get its worth from influencer marketing.