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Influencer Partnerships & Creative Control

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Hi All,

I wanted to open a conversation around influencer partnerships and how we might better balance creative freedom with maintaining a cohesive visual aesthetic on our feed.

Recently, we collaborated with influencers who have since published collaborative reels sharing their experience. The content is excellent; it has performed incredibly well and generated a lot of engagement.

The challenge, however, is with the cover images they've selected. While the reels are high-quality, the covers don't align with our overall feed aesthetic and tend to stand out in a way that feels off-brand. I did reach out to ask if they might consider updating the covers, but understandably, they declined, as the reels appear on their own feeds as well and were chosen to suit their aesthetic, which is completely fair. This is also not something we discussed in advance so I can appreciate that this request was not pre-established as a consideration for our partnership.

Looking ahead, I’m brainstorming if there’s a way we can introduce a bit more control or guidance over this aspect of collaborations in a way that still feels respectful and empowering for the creatives we partner with. As part of my brainstorm, I thought I would ask here!

I'm curious:

  • Have any of you encountered a similar issue?

  • Do you feel it would be reasonable to include cover image guidelines or preferences in future partnership agreements?

  • Do you have any suggestions for language we might use to communicate this in a clear but considerate way?

  • Or any other thoughts or best practices for navigating this?

(and wouldn’t it be amazing if Instagram eventually let us update the cover image even if we aren’t the original publisher? One can dream!)

I’d love to hear your thoughts, thank you in advance!

Thanks! 

Jonathan Zuluaga
alexknauer
2 people like this
  • Jonathan Zuluaga
    Jonathan Zuluaga
  • alexknauer
    alexknauer

2 replies

alexknauer

Great question, and I’d love to hear some other perspectives on it too! I actually don’t think it matters too much if it doesn’t align with your brand aesthetic, simply because it shows a visible distinction to the content that is published purely from the brand profile. If anything, it might stand out and lead to people showing a greater interest in the reel, as it doesn’t feel as “corporate”, if you know what I mean.

 

Update me if you’ve found any other solution for this though!

amanda.coe
1 person likes this
  • amanda.coe
    amanda.coe
A
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alexknauer wrote:

Great question, and I’d love to hear some other perspectives on it too! I actually don’t think it matters too much if it doesn’t align with your brand aesthetic, simply because it shows a visible distinction to the content that is published purely from the brand profile. If anything, it might stand out and lead to people showing a greater interest in the reel, as it doesn’t feel as “corporate”, if you know what I mean.

 

Update me if you’ve found any other solution for this though!

Completely agree with this take - I’d rather have a variety of aesthetics show up and have them be authentic to the creators than make them feel constrained to an aesthetic that isn’t their own.

However, I think it’s also reasonable to start implementing basic guidelines for future collaborations. This is probably something you’ll want to customize based on the creator. You could look at their existing covers and decide on a few guidelines that would make the content align better with your feed without completely boxing them in. 

Thank you ​@caitlin.ronda for posting this topic - it’s a great reminder for me to have these convos with content creators I work with, because it’s easy to forget about the cover image until content is already posted and then I realize it’s not what I would have preferred. 

amanda.coe
alexknauer
2 people like this
  • amanda.coe
    amanda.coe
  • alexknauer
    alexknauer

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