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If you want to make some extra cash or get some freebies, sign up as an ‘influencer’, writes Maya Fisher-French
Zamokuhle, who may be familiar to readers as a Money Makeover contestant, recently turned his car into a moving billboard for Dialdirect to earn some additional income.
This is part of an influencer campaign by Dialdirect to turn its satisfied customers into brand ambassadors. As a Dialdirect customer, Zamokuhle has been using its app to monitor his driving behaviour and is earning 60% of his R432 insurance premium back as a cash reward. As a five-star driver, he was asked to be part of the Dialdirect influencer campaign, which is being managed by a company called Brandyourcar.com.
Bandyourcar.com runs campaigns for multiple clients representing sectors from pharmaceutical products, entertainment and sports to clothing and office equipment. Depending on the campaign, you receive cash and even some free goodies. In one sportswear campaign, the influencers each received branded sportswear worth R10 000.
Zamokuhle had to agree to the terms and conditions of the campaign to receive payment, which included driving 500km a month and agreeing to certain social-media activities and engagements explaining to people how the cash-back programme on his Dialdirect insurance policy works and how he uses it. He had to have a minimum of 150 Facebook friends. Having met the campaign criteria in the first two weeks, he has already received his first payment.
Although Zamokuhle had not heard of Bandyourcar.com until it contacted him, he said that, now that his car is branded, he notices how many other product-branded cars there are out there.
According to Pieter Groenewald, CEO of The Salt, which owns Bandyourcar.com and has been running influencer campaigns for the past eight years, branding triggers conversations, giving the influencers an opportunity to talk about their experience of the product.
“Research shows us that 83% of people trust other people’s recommendations and, if they are a similar profile, they are considered even more trustworthy,” said Groenewald, adding that an individual such as Zamokuhle made a perfect influencer as he benefited from and believed in the product he represented.
Groenewald said that, while people initially sign up for the cash or rewards from being an influencer, they usually start to value the experience as they become well known in their community.
“When a young soccer player starts to drive a branded Puma car and wear branded Puma clothes, people start to notice and he becomes ‘that guy’.”
HOW IT WORKS
To sign up as a potential influencer, you need to register on brandyourcar.com You provide your details and interests and are added to the database.
Groenewald said the database had 80 000 people and it had engaged 50 000 influencers.
Once a company is looking to run an influencer campaign, its requirements are run through the database and individuals are identified. Potential influencers are invited to an intense workshop, where they learn the details of the product and what they are expected to do in return.
Although influencers can engage in more than one campaign, Groenewald said there was a “cooling off” period of six months between campaigns, and an influencer could not work for a competing product. For example, if Zamokuhle’s Dialdirect campaign ends after three months, he would have to wait for six months before being eligible to sign up with another product campaign.
He may also not partake in a campaign for another short-term insurer.
Be aware that once you brand your car, it is being used for business purposes and you would need to inform your insurer.
