Influencer marketing simplified

At one point, every brand and marketer has faced the following challenges:

1. Lack of fresh and innovative content for audience engagement
2. Difficulty to grab consumer’s attention, due to an overload of content
3. Inability to build brand identity and trust among the audience

Saving them from the ‘content fever’, the influencer communities enter the world of brands and their marketing strategies. It is no secret that ever since, they have been one of the biggest by-products of social media, having a significant impact on consumers.

So, what’s the problem, you ask? In today’s world, every time we browse our social media accounts, we see every second person being an influencer or wants to become one. However, there is always a villain in every story, that hides in plain sight!

To help brands understand that, influencers are not always an answer to their marketing plans, we have listed out a litmus cheat sheet to see if you really need to jump on that bandwagon or not.

1. Obstacle? Influencers are expensive

Like any other strategy, influencer marketing is costly especially because of the high profile of mega influencers like celebrities or known faces. Since there is no understanding or control, there is a huge variation in the sponsored rates charged by the influencers.

Alternative?  Variety of influencers

Since this kind of marketing is expensive, brands have started using a mix of mega, macro and micro influencers as their strategy to help in optimizing their budgets.

2. Obstacle? Risk involved

There is always a high risk involved in influencer marketing. If an influencer is unable to create impressive content, (s)he will fail to leave an impact on the consumers, thereby nullifying the efforts and investments.

Alternative? Analyzing if they fit for the brand

Before listing down the influencers, brands must analyze and observe the type of content they (influencers) create on their page and whether it relates to the values of the brand. The purpose of the campaign and planning promotional strategies should be explained to them (influencer) for better clarity towards creating unique content.

3. Obstacle? Credibility of the influencer

One of the biggest concerns of influencer marketing is fake or paid followers. These accounts (influencer pages) buy followers rather than having genuine or organic members. Brands need to be very careful with such accounts as they will not resonate with their (brand) target audience in the long run.

Alternative? Checking their social media profiles thoroughly

It is very important for brands to scrutinize followers of the influencers before listing them out. Fake accounts of influencers can be spotted by small analysis of the page in terms of identifying irrelevant/ generic comments or a sudden spike in the likes on their posts.

4. Obstacle? Too much influencer noise on social media

Another challenge of influencer marketing is saturation with influencers all over social media platforms. At one point, the audience starts disengaging when they are bombarded by promotional posts all over their account, leading to ‘unfollowing’ of the influencers.

Alternative? Using influencers only where needed

Brands must make sure that only limited promotional posts are made by influencers to avoid it becoming overbearing for the audience.

5. Obstacle? Not easy to find the right influencer

It takes a lot of time to find the right influencer. It is not an easy task to figure out the apt person for a brand or product.

Alternative? In-depth research about the influencer

Brands must carry out in-depth research in terms of their work and how the influencer’s personality compliments and blends with the product.

Therefore, there are pros and cons in planning influencer marketing and is not always ‘the ultimate solution’ for a campaign or long-term collaboration. Brands must keep the above in mind in their approach for a successful execution.