Influencer campaigns have become a big trend in marketing. This trend isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and influencer marketing continues to gain power. When you visit Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, you can notice that there are many influencers who promote various products. Influencers have loyal audiences and this method of marketing is so popular because it can demonstrate outstanding results.
The main reason why influencer marketing is so effective is that our world is oversaturated with brand content. Consumers are not easy to convince because they have too many options, and the only things that grab their attention are authenticity and honesty. However, there is also another reason why companies manage to use influencer marketing successfully. It’s not a simple method and it requires you to know what the common pitfalls are so that you can avoid them.
The Success of Influencer Marketing
The effectiveness of influencer marketing is a reason why this is the fastest-growing approach to customer acquisition. Many brands that used to focus their efforts on celebrities realize that partnering with the right influencers can bring better results. According to research, 30% of people are more likely to buy a product that is promoted by lesser-known bloggers than a product endorsed by celebrities.
People don’t trust ads but they trust other people. Therefore, influencers are more trusted. Their audience engages with them on a regular basis so they have many opportunities to endorse brands consistently. Besides, they are more relatable and authentic than celebrities. Influencer marketing also allows you to reach niche audiences that are interested in your type of product. Take a look at some stats.
- 60% of consumers note that their purchasing decisions are influenced by reviews from bloggers and posts in social media.
- Influencers deliver a very high ROI. Companies that use influencer marketing get $6.5 for every dollar spent. The ROI is 11 times higher than in the case of using other forms of digital marketing.
- 88% of people note that they trust reviews on the internet as much as personal recommendations from their friends, and 72% of consumers are likely to buy a product after reading a good review.
- 74% of buying decisions are influenced by posts from social media. As much as 84% of businesses plan to collaborate with influencers in the nearest future.
Influencer marketing is a relatively new channel so it constantly evolves and changes. It doesn’t have standardized means that would allow you to measure the outcome, and its ROI considerations are quite diverse. As a result, creating an effective influencer campaign can be a difficult task. Therefore, we decided to provide you with the necessary information about the most common mistakes marketers make when developing and implementing influencer marketing strategies.
- Poor Planning
Unfortunately, many companies that try influencer marketing for the first time assume that their campaign is the influencer’s responsibility. Therefore, they don’t plan their actions properly and end up wasting money and time. Collaborating with influencers, you still have to develop a proper marketing campaign.
You need effective collaboration so you should demonstrate your control over the process. A detailed plan will not only help you prove the seriousness of your goals but also help you analyze the data on your campaign and calculate ROI. To ensure effective collaboration, clarify the following details:
- The number of people you want to reach and the objectives of your campaign — purchase, awareness, loyalty, etc.
- The key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you measure the results. For instance, you can use such KPIs as a click-through rate, revenue, views, organic traffic, sharing, etc.
- Methods that will be used to drive conversions. For example, you may use presale offers, free samples, discounts, trial periods, etc.
- Obviously, you should also decide on the budget of your campaign and specify its duration.
- Paying Too Much Attention to Follower Counts
Companies and brands usually choose influencers based on their follower count, and many marketers think that the success of their campaign depends on how many followers the influencer has. This is a common misconception. Of course, follower counts are important, but it shouldn’t be the only thing you’re thinking of when choosing an influencer.
We recommend that you also consider engagement rates because, if you don’t take them into account, you’ll miss out on many good opportunities or get bad conversion rates. Partner with influencers who have a highly engaged and motivated audience. Sometimes, niche influencers with lower follower counts can have much higher engagement rates.
- Working With Wrong Influencers
The success of your marketing campaign directly depends on your ability to involve the right influencers. Searching for the right influencer is the first thing you should do, and yet this step turns out to be very difficult for many marketers. The main thing is to know what exactly you’re looking for — frequency of posting and the number of followers shouldn’t be the main factors that influence your choice.
Instead, you should consider each influencer in the context of your brand values and determine whether they will resonate with your brand image or not. One of the main goals of influencer marketing is to make sure that your target audience will immediately associate your influencer’s values with those of your brand. Here are some tips that will help you make the right choice.
- Make sure that the influencer’s audience corresponds to your demographic needs.
- Analyze the influencer’s previous collaborations to evaluate the potential exposure and to understand how this influencer will resonate with your brand image.
- Consider the influencer’s engagement rates, including comments, shares, and conversions.
- Make sure that the influencer’s brand will be relevant for the necessary period of time.
- One-Time Collaborations
Sometimes, brands get good results from collaborating with a certain influencer but then decide to try another one for their next campaign. There are too many influencers on the internet so you may want to try as many as you can. However, you cannot be sure that the next influencer will be as good at promoting your brand as the previous one.
If you have an influencer who demonstrates great results, make sure to turn this collaboration into a long-term relationship. In this case, the consecutive campaigns will look much more natural and feel more authentic.
- Using One Platform
Even if your brand is present on all social media platforms, the chances are that you have more followers on one of them so you may want to involve an influencer from the same platform. However, in this case, your marketing efforts will only focus on one platform, limiting your potential success and stopping you from reaching out to other groups of people. We suggest that you involve other platforms instead so you can branch out and improve your other accounts.
- Not Measuring the Outcome
Influencer campaigns aren’t different from other marketing campaigns, as they also require you to carefully measure the results. Make sure that your objectives correspond to metrics so you can evaluate the success of your efforts properly.
For instance, if your goal is to increase the number of clicks on your website, you should know how many clicks come from the influencer. You can also use various analytics tools, measuring the impact of your campaign and being able to improve your influencer strategies in the future.
Wrapping Up
Influencer marketing can be extremely effective for brands and companies when used properly. The main thing is to know the common pitfalls so that you can make sure that your marketing campaign is as effective as possible. We hope that our list of common mistakes and tips will help you achieve your marketing goals and increase your sales.
Author’s bio:
Rhonda Martinez is a blogger, content writer and contributor at LegitWritingServices. Being a former college professor, Rhonda helps students write better essays and writes insightful articles on how to survive in academia. She also enjoys writing on topics related to marketing, and business.