How does influencer marketing work in the cultural sector?

Social media influencers are typically associated with bikini-bearing Instagram models, the detox tea or contouring brushes are advertised and request to use their promo code. But this marketing form extends far beyond commercial topics - which also impressively demonstrates the increasing density of activists and politicians on Instagram and Tiktok .

The art and cultural sector can now also benefit from targeted cooperation with influential personnel spreads on social media, even if on this topic by many cultural representatives, frowning and a good dose of skepticism are the first spontaneous reactions.

So we ask ourselves: How could the influencer marketing approach also be relevant for art and cultural organizations? As part of this article, we would like to give you an overview of why cultural institutions such as museums, galleries, trade fairs, events and Co. should consider this marketing approach. And how it can succeed in practice.

Where do we stand? A short inventory

Influencer marketing has already established itself as an effective strategy for cultural institutions in order to bring a breath of fresh air into their content. Through cooperation with Content Creators, you get the opportunity to bring your messages closer to a wider and more diverse audience that could not be achieved with classic forms of advertising.

The collaborations between cultural institutions and influencers on social media, blogs, youtube and online magazines (we also work with cultural institutions) serve to give the cultural offers more visibility in an authentic way.

Influencer marketing already complements classic advertising for cultural offers in the status quo and achieves a different range and more interaction than the own digital communication of cultural institutions.

Influencer marketing has been an integral part of the marketing mix for some museums such as the State Kunsthalle Karlsruhe the Musermeku Kultur-Magazin states (see sources) .

Nevertheless, many institutions from the cultural sector still encounter challenges and uncertainties in dealing with influencers, bloggers, vlogers and podcasters.

The question arises how you can choose the right partners for your campaigns and what type of content fits best with your own brand. Careful planning and coordination is required to ensure successful cooperation and build long -term relationships. For renowned museums and galleries, this can become a tightrope walk because you don't want to damage your good reputation.

Ultimately, however, influencer marketing offers a unique opportunity to increase the awareness of the cultural institutions (in viral form) and to achieve a new audience that may have remained undetected so far.

The Louvre demonstrates the advantages of influencer marketing for museums

Influencer marketing extends beyond beauty, fitness and lifestyle and can also have significant influence in the art world. An impressive example of this was the record visitor year of the Louvre in 2018 after the publication of the music video “Apeshit” by Beyoncé and Jay-Z .

The video was shot in the Louvre and presented works of art from all over the museum. After the publication, the number of visitors in the Louvre rose by 25% to a total of 1.2 million in 2018. By presenting the Louvre as a modern, relevant and extremely trendy place, Beyoncé and Jay-Z made a significant contribution to this increase.

The art world has taken note of this with great interest.

Music Video by the Carter Performing Apeshit (Official Video). (C) 2018 Parkwood Entertainment LLC, Under Exclusive License to Sony Music Entertainment, and SC Enterprises, Under Exclusive License to ROC Nation

Although the support of Béyoncé and Jay-Z is not possible everywhere, the same principle can be applied to any cultural institution on a smaller scale. Influencers have the unique ability to interact with their audience in a way that cannot always be achieved by institutions alone.

Follower trust influencers not only because of their awareness, but rather because of the personal connection that they experience through regular access to the content of the influencers. This basis of trust is based on the authenticity , which can be of enormous value in the development of your brand and voice.

Cultural institutions of all kinds can effectively use this close commitment by entering into partnerships with influencers. Regardless of size, financial budget, niche or region.

In addition to classic press, influencers play an increasingly important role. The cultural landscape has therefore been at a point for a few years that makes a rethink in the communication strategy necessary.

The influencer marketing program "200 Creators" of the National Gallery, London

The museum for 2024 has started comprehensive measures in the field of influencer marketing for the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the National Gallery in London

“200 Creators” program was launched to build a network of 200 influencers to support the museum. These should not only be available to advise, but also create their own content for the National Gallery and share their followers over their channels.

The selected members of the network have the opportunity to meet the museum employees, to maintain exclusive insights behind the scenes and to explore the collection outside of regular opening hours.

Afterwards you should create content and share it with your online community. In addition, 50 people from the network are selected to develop concepts for the National Gallery in the museum's ideas laboratory.

Note for art influencers: The Open Call is now closed.

How influencer relations expanded the communication strategy of cultural institutions

What is the influencer relations?

The term can be understood as a reference to "public relations". Strategic communication with influencers has a significant status today. As part of the marketing strategy, the focus is on addressing a large number of online players who are considered “non-classic media”.

These are influencers that have a significant influence on their target groups and are regarded as opinion leaders. These influencers not only include traditional bloggers, but also vloggers (video bloggers on platforms such as YouTube), podcaster, microblogger (present on Twitter and Instagram) and influential personalities in forums and Facebook groups.

By addressing these actors, the potential is used to authentically convey the brand messages and build a closer bond with the target groups. It is not uncommon for multiplier effects in communication to the target group.

Benefit #1: Authenticity

Influencers play an essential role as a digital ambassador of cultural events and experiences. By working with these creative minds, museums and other cultural institutions can establish a unique and authentic connection to various target groups, which differs noticeably from their own social media communication.

In the best case, the content creators share the passion for cultural topics with the institution that support them and can link this with their individual perspective in order to make the cultural experience tangible for their followers.

Benefit #2: New perspectives and personal stories

Influencer marketing enables cultural institutions to present their stories in a new and fresh way. By working with Content Creators, you can not only advertise for events and cultural offers in order to attract more visitors, but also shed light on various facets of the institution from a new (personal) perspective.

This includes artistic processes, curatorial decisions and personal stories related to the cultural content. This content can be shared on social media platforms where the institution is normally not represented or its presence designed differently.

Benefit #3: More reach, addressing new target groups and sustainable dialogue base

By using influencers their reach and credibility, they can reach a broad target group and generate a high degree of interaction .

This represents a valuable addition to classic advertising, since the personal recommendation of an influencer can establish an authentic connection to potential visitors in a way that direct communication of cultural institutions cannot.

In this way, influencer marketing can help increase the awareness of the cultural offers beyond the original target group and to arouse interest from both regular guests and new target groups.

It also enables a completely new form of digital communication that allows cultural institution to get in touch with a larger audience and at the same time build a sustainable dialogue basis.

Benefit #4: Multiplier effects

The way in which customers process information and respond to advertising content has changed fundamentally. This also applies to cultural business. In 2024, conventional channels and traditional media planning are no longer sufficient to achieve the relevant target group.

Since customers still listen to various opinion leaders and interact with them, their attention is distributed over the entire media mix.

The influencer multiplier effect clearly shows how strategically planned influencer marketing can have positive effects in every phase of the brand guidelines by supplementing and sometimes even exceeding existing channels. In addition, with good planning and optimal timing, it can increase the effect of classic communication channels at all levels.

Current studies (e.g. Aberdeen Strategy & Research , one of the world's leading marketing intelligence companies) clearly show a positive correlation of influencer marketing and above-average increased income.

Success parameters during planning, implementation and evaluation

With successful influencer marketing, long-term relationships, the exchange of knowledge and experiences as well as the joint work are in the foreground. Instead of pursuing just short -term actions with influencers, institutions should aim to achieve new target groups, increase awareness or convey specific content, Angelika Schoder from Musermeku argues.

The concepts for cooperations with influencers are diverse, but require careful planning, implementation and measurement of success. In addition, the necessary resources, be it personally or financially to the appropriate remuneration of the content creators, are essential.

Find and identify 01 art influencers

Your journey in influencer marketing logically begins to identify the most relevant influencers for your specific target group and marketing messages.

Platforms and service providers

A useful digital PR service provider such as Buzzstream can help you to build your own database based on the topic, relevance and meaningfulness.

German platforms such as Seedingup , a partner of the established Internet Marketing Agency network companions are also a valuable contact point to find suitable influencers for cooperation.

Bloggers and influencers at Seedingup offer companies of all kinds (including cultural actors) the opportunity to consider their marketing messages and communication content considerably about independent editors and content creators in magazines, blogs, social media and video portals.

Write a detailed description of what you are looking for and what kind of advertising campaign you are planning. publish this description on a platform such as Tribe or Takumi These platforms bring influencers or content manufacturers with companies looking for advertising partners for their brand. Micro-influencers in particular show great interest in such platforms because they are looking for cooperation opportunities.

YouTube Brandconnect offers an innovative platform for cooperation with video content It is a comprehensive self-service solution for YouTuber and brands to realize branded campaigns. With the help of an advanced influencer dashboards, brands can efficiently carry out their campaigns and identify talented content manufacturers that fit their brand perfectly.

Other influencer platforms are:

• Shopify Collabs
• Grin
• Upfluence
• Fire watch
• Hashlove
• Clear
• Neoreach
• Traackr
• Izea
• ShoutCart
• Whalar
• Influence.co
• Creatoriq

In principle, such specialized platforms are a simple starting point, since such services have done most of the work for you and enable you to select from the people who are probably the most relevant for your institution.

Social media

Use the power of social media to find influencers. These are particularly active on social media. Follow hashtags like #prrequest, #prrequests on X/Twitter to see which cooperation opportunities offer other institutions and brands.

You can also try to publish your own cooperation inquiries with these hashtags that are aimed at smaller influencers.

Entry to relevant Facebook groups worthwhile to find similar cooperation opportunities for influencers as with the Twitter haash tags mentioned above.

Also use your own followers on social media to draw your attention to influencers (e.g. via an open call as in the National Gallery campaign - see above). Depending on the size of your own follow -up, it can be helpful to mention in your own articles that you are looking for potential cooperation partners.

A look at our following contributions will also open up the direct line for important social media influencing factors in the art world:

• The rise of influencer culture among artists: on personal values ​​and financial remuneration
• 20 famous artists who should definitely follow on Instagram
• Füllhorn of inspiration - 60 incredibly creative Instagram profiles from all over the world

Media research

Cong through well -founded research to find the ideal influencers for a partnership. Analyze the platforms and content that your target group consumes in order to identify suitable cooperation partners. Search specifically for relevant niche publications that are frequented by your target audience.

Examine which people regularly publish high -quality contributions or are present on social media.

Analyze their followers and people to whom you follow to identify potential influencers.

The good old "Google search"

If you go out the ideas, a quick Google search can sometimes work wonders.

Simply enter terms such as “Top-Influencer in Art and Culture” or “Young People from Art and Culture” and let yourself be surprised which interesting personalities could meet you there.

Note that the number of followers when choosing is not always decisive. Even with a smaller audience, a collaboration can be valuable if it is relevant for your project.

The cooperation with an influencer differs significantly from the commissioning of an advertising agency. ”

In “relationship marketing”, the focus is on trust and reputation. Influencers have spent a lot of time building a committed fan base by creating relevant content. When accepting cooperations, they are picky and will only work with brands if they have a real interest in the project.

02 Selection of the right social media influencers

The selection of the right influencers for collaboration is crucial for the success of the marketing model. It is important to find someone who authentically represents their brand and whose followers are interested in cooperation. First you should know your brand and target group exactly to address the right influencers on the right platforms.

Not necessarily the size of the fan base, but the trust in your target group is decisive. Different types of influencers should be taken into account in order to enter into the optimal partnership. Information about your target group from the past few months should serve as guidelines when choosing the ideal influencers for your company.

Macro-influencer

Consider well-known internet personalities such as Yusaku Maezawa or Joan Cornellà . These influencers usually have between 100,000 and millions of followers. You can reach a large target group, such as "young people" or "women".

Cooperation with such an influencer can be associated with higher costs. Cooperation with a macro influencer becomes visible to an audience of millions.

Micro-influencer

Micro-influencers are viewed as ordinary people with a supporter of around 1,000 to 100,000. These influencers are characterized by a strong commitment to their followers who have a close bond with them and trust them.

Because of this familiarity, the followers are rather inclined to believe that a micro-influencer actually supports the advertised products. You are actively looking for cooperation with companies that fit your audience.

Nano-influencer

Do you know of a friend who is really familiar with social media and always get well with his contributions? This acquaintance has probably never worked with a brand, but it is exactly the type of content creator that is perfectly suitable to become a nano-influencer.

Nano influencers have up to 5000 followers. They are more like a good friend who gives them a reliable recommendation than a celebrity.

Nano-influencers are usually the most authentic and personal form of influencer marketing.

Awareness and reputation in harmony with their values ​​and ideas

Before you contact an influencer, it is important to carefully evaluate your awareness and reputation. Finally, they transfer a certain responsibility to their reputation when they work with him. It is therefore crucial to ensure that the resulting relationship is in line with its ideas and that the influencer authentically reflects its institution and its values.

When choosing the right influencer, you should therefore ask yourself some important questions :

• What is the field of influencers?
• How does your institution fit the audience and image of the influencer?
• Do these influencers and its audience use the same channels and platforms like their audience?
• What does a typical followers look like this influencer?
• Is this follow -up in your institution?
• What is the reputation of this influencer? Is it common?

The platform and the content type to which the target group accesses should also match the target group that you want to address.

Here is a list of marketing channels and content types that you should take into account when you contact influencers:

• Instagram (posts, stories, reels)
• YouTube (videos, clips)
• Facebook (especially live videos)
• LinkedIn (specialist articles, videos)
• Twitter/x (contributions, videos, hashtags, discussions)
• TIKTOK (videos, clips)
• Snapchat (photos, videos, filters)
• Blogs (posts)
• Reddit (contributions, discussions)
• Pinterest (photos, infographics, videos)
• Twitch (videos)
• Mastodon/Fediverse (contributions, discussions - currently still a small reach, is still under construction)
• Relevant forums
• Podcasting platforms

03 contact - pay attention to the correct address

In a way, searching for the right influencer is similar to online dating-it may require a close checking of many options to ultimately find the ideal partner. If you are ready to propose a partnership, it is crucial to tackle this in the right way.

The most uncomplicated way to get in touch with an influencer regarding potential cooperation is to contact us by email. Your request should stand out from others and be relevant and appealing for the influencer. In relationship marketing, it is essential to understand why you want to work with this influencer and to make it clear why cooperation would be advantageous for both sides.

Below you will find some proven guidelines from Museumnext for the first contact:

• Keep your email concise and brief, especially when dealing with influencers who receive countless inquiries every day.
• Be directly and transparent in your communication by clearly describing the goals of your institution and your desired results. Present this information in the introduction to immediately give the influencer an overview of your concerns.
• Adjust your message on the respective influencer, because even if you contact several, individual speeches should be done.
• Justify exactly why you chose this special influencer. Give concrete ideas for possible content, while at the same time you remain open to cooperation in the development of campaign ideas.
• Write your message in a personal tone to establish a human connection-a formal speech is occasionally appropriate, but authenticity is crucial in the influencer context.
• Communicate the value of a partnership with you for the influencer, even if no financial cooperation is planned.
• Simplify the influence to the influencer by unproblematic asking for interest and availability. A simple yes is enough.

If you don't have the e-mail address of an influencer, it is a way to contact direct messages on social media platforms

However, it is important to consider the direct message as a starting point. You should present the Elevator Pitch (method for a short and concise summary of an idea) to the influencer and ask whether you can contact him for further discussions about the partnership by email or telephone. If you don't get an answer immediately, you should not be discouraged and keep in touch.

Influencers receive many emails, so it does not hurt to recall and bring their own messages to the top of their inbox. In the case of tracing, care must be taken to find a balance between gentle memories and spam.

04 Conception of the campaign - set clear expectations and guidelines

You now have a successful contact and are at the starting point to work with an influencer and start a successful campaign.

Now it is crucial to determine clear expectations and guidelines in order to develop an effective strategy together. Use this opportunity and convince the influencer of collaboration that brings added value to both sides .

Options for a collaboration

The following cooperation options are available:

• Peposting: Influencers again publish their content on their own channel. This represents the most uncomplicated form of the partnership, which can be achieved by a simple direct message or email with the request for permission. Many micro or nano-influencers will agree to a repost on the basis of the connection to their brand (keyword: halo effect)
• Designed content together: Your organization and influencers work closely together to create original content that can be published together on both channels.
• Event or product marketing : The aim is to increase traffic and awareness to your institution, be it for a special exhibition, show or event. You could ask the influencer to post your followers something about the event and/or to invite him to participate.
• Takeovers: With this rather rarer type of cooperation, an influencer takes over your social media channels for a specified period. This encourages its followers to deal with their channel. This allows you to win new followers and at the same time offer your regular audience a fresh wind.

Campaign planning and budgeting

Depending on the type of your campaign, the next step is to create a campaign plan . Work closely with the influencer to determine a schedule, goals and important performance indicators .

These indicators can include impressions, calls, engagements, clicks, follow-up and/or sales. Make sure you agree on the message and the implementation of the campaign. Show examples of similar posts that fit your brand and at the same time let the influencer to adapt content to its target group.

Check the content created before it is published. Take specific requirements, guidelines and payment terms into account and consult your legal department or your consultant before finalizing your campaign plan and contract.

Some influencers may be paid by free tickets, backstage access, exclusive interviews, insights behind the scenes or cross-posting content.

In contrast, larger micro-influencers and macro-influencers probably require financial compensation. Cong down thorough research and pay attention to the Return on Investment in budgeting . Especially with nano and micro-influencers, it can be difficult to predict the ROI.

So consider exactly how much you are willing to spend. If your organization operates social media advertising or sends sponsored newsletters, it may make sense to compensate for the costs and commitment rates of these campaigns with the expectations of your influencer by contacting your marketing or digital department.

It is essential that you always plan a certain budget when using influencer marketing. Even if you build a personal relationship with the influencers, it ultimately remains an exchange of goods and services. Depending on the type of marketing campaign for influencers, it can happen that in the end you even spend more for an influencer than for a general campaign.

It is important to consider that you pay for a carefully selected and committed fan base and the trust of this group. One should be aware of your own brand value and the brand value of the influencer, as this influences the remuneration. It could make sense to maximize the budget by using several influencers in a simpler way and summarizing the campaign with a hashtag.

Here are some helpful tips that you should take into account when developing your campaign plan:

• Be transparent . What expectations do you have for the campaign? According to what performance indicators do you measure success? They work with an individual, not with an agency. Influencers are occasionally accused of being difficult to manage.
• It is important clear guidelines . However, keep in mind that this is not just about business interaction - you build a relationship with the influencer and its followers.
• Strive for continuity . Relationship marketing is not a purely business matter. So remain in contact with the influencers and maintain the relationship. You may want to work with you again in the future.

05 Evaluation of the campaign and measurement of success

thorough analysis of the result after the cooperation . Only through careful evaluation can you ensure that the cooperation was successful and the goals set were achieved.

Based on this evaluation, you can gain important insights that enable us to prepare the results sensibly and use it for future projects. This is the only way to ensure that the potential of the cooperation has been fully exploited and long -term success is guaranteed.

However, it is difficult to measure the success of influencer marketing in numbers. Since often no direct conversion takes place, the determination of a ROI for the campaign budget used is as tricky. Also, the number of likes, shares, views, comments, etc. only have a limited meaning. Not to mention the quantification of branding effects.

It is best to rely on an advanced software solution such as TraackR , record a wide variety of data points and to evaluate in a detailed reporting in an intelligent way.

With the help of Traackr, you can measure your activities, analyze what works and, for the next campaign, data -based made the right decisions.

Conclusion

Influencer cooperations can be designed in a variety of forms and concepts. However, a common feature of successful campaigns is always a well -thought -out process, starting with the planning, to implementation and success measurement.

This requires suitable resources, be it in the form of qualified staff within the company or a budget for adequate remuneration for the content creators.

This is the only way to successfully design the cooperation and the performance of the influencers are appropriately rewarded.

Joachim Rodriguez y Romero

Owner and managing director of Kunstplaza. Publicist, editor and passionate blogger in the field of art, design and creativity since 2011. Successful conclusion in web design as part of a university degree (2008). Further development of creativity techniques through courses in free drawing, expression painting and theatre/acting. Profound knowledge of the art market through many years of journalistic research and numerous collaborations with actors/institutions from art and culture.

www.kunstplaza.de/