Gifted or paid collaborations with influencers, Are you also looking for influencers for your next marketing campaign? But do you struggle in deciding the right way to compensate them. Don’t worry, we are here to guide you and help you decide between the two kinds of collaborations: Gifted and Paid Collaboration and the benefits and uses of both of them to help you decide the right way to go about it for your next campaign. 

What are Gifted Collaborations?

In simple terms, gifted collaboration involves a partnership where the influencer or creator is sent a free gift by the brand in exchange for the content, review or promotion of the product or service on their social media accounts. 

This kind of collaboration works best with nano and micro influencers as they have a smaller audience as compared to Mega influencers and they benefit from gifted collaborations. 

Advantages of Gifted Collaboration 

Some benefits of this type of collaboration include:

• Increased brand awareness: Influencers have a large following and by gifting them with your product, you expose your brand to their audience, which can lead to increased brand awareness and potential customers.

• Authenticity: Influencers have built a following by being authentic and relatable. If they like your product, their endorsement will likely be seen as authentic and more trustworthy than traditional advertising.

• Cost-effective: Gifting collaboration can be a cost-effective way to reach a targeted audience compared to other forms of advertising and it can lead to great outputs. 

• Targeted advertising: By partnering with an influencer whose audience aligns with your target market, you can reach potential customers who are more likely to be interested in your product.

• Long-term relationships: Gifting collaboration can be a way to build long-term relationships with influencers. By consistently sending them products or other gifts, you can establish a strong bond with them and encourage them to continue promoting your brand over time.

• Product feedback: Influencers can provide valuable feedback on your products, which can help you improve your offerings and make them more appealing to consumers as the audience relies on the opinions of influencers.

• Increased engagement: Gifting collaboration can help increase engagement on your social media channels. Influencers will share your products posts on their own channels, which can drive more traffic to your page and increase the chances of your posts being seen and shared by their followers.

• Unique content creation: Influencer collaborations can provide unique content creation opportunities for your brand. Influencers are creative and often come up with new ways to showcase your product that traditional advertising may not be able to achieve.

What is Paid Collaboration?

This is the kind of partnership between Brands and Mega influencers, wherein the influencers are paid for posting the brand’s product or service related content on their social media accounts. The higher the engagement rate of the influencer, the more the brand pays them for the content they are promoting and posting on their account. 

Advantages of Paid Collaboration 

Some benefits of Paid Collaboration are as follow : 

1. Increased brand visibility: One of the main advantages of paid collaborations with influencers is the ability to increase brand visibility. Influencers have a large following on social media and other platforms, which can help increase brand visibility and reach a larger audience. This is because influencers have already built trust and credibility with their followers, and if they recommend a brand, their followers are more likely to trust and be interested in the brand.

2.   Increased reach and engagement: Paid collaborations with influencers can help to        increase the reach and engagement of a brand's content. Influencers have a large following and can help to amplify a brand's message by sharing it with their followers. This can lead to increased engagement, such as likes, comments, and shares, and can help to increase brand awareness. 

3. Credibility and trust: Influencers have built a relationship of trust and credibility with their followers, which can help increase consumer trust in a brand. When an influencer promotes a brand, it can be seen as a "social proof" that the brand is reputable and trustworthy, which can help increase consumer confidence in the brand.

4. Creativity and authenticity: Influencers are often creative and authentic in their content, which can help brands create unique and engaging content. They can often provide fresh perspective and ideas to the brand, which can help to create content that is more engaging, authentic and relatable.

5. ROI: Paid collaborations with influencers can be measured by metrics such as website traffic, social media engagement, and sales, which can help determine the return on investment for the brand. By measuring these metrics, brands can see which campaigns are most effective and adjust their strategies accordingly.

Gifted or paid collaborations with influencers, So which one is better?

It's important to consider the goals of both parties when deciding Gifted or paid collaborations with influencers. A paid collaboration may be more suitable if the goal is to generate revenue, while a gifting collaboration may be more appropriate if the goal is to build relationships or promote a cause. Both types of collaborations can be mutually beneficial, but ultimately it depends on the marketing goal of the business. 

Looking to connect with influencers? WhizCo is India’s leading influencer marketing agency. WhizCo bridges the gap between creators and Brands and helps brands execute unforgettable influencer marketing campaigns and helps them grow online. WhizCo offers a complete solution to brands for running campaigns- from shortlisting, evaluating and onboarding influencers, to gathering feedback and performance tracking- All this coupled with years of expertise in working with thousands of creators and executing multiple campaigns at once.