Biggest Pitfalls of Influencer Marketing

It’s true that influencer marketing is a trend to make the most out of as almost 81% of the marketers in 2018 reported to be using it to get positive ROI and create better online marketing strategies.

But it’s important since most marketers we know are using influencer marketing, to realize some of the dangers there are in working with online influencers and to know how to cope with them.

Let’s discuss these pitfalls and understand them with clarity.

When influencers are treated as a commodity.

Influencers today have to be very careful with what they produce in their online space. It’s true that 52% of the Millennials don’t trust influencers anymore.

But, we cannot afford to dwell on the fact when there are many brands that are generating huge ROI for their business.

For marketers, however, these influencers are just like commodities. Most of them will try to buy the influencers to speak good about their products without even knowing the implications.

Striking the balance between making money and not selling the audience out is something that most influencers are concerned about and it’s only necessary to maintain the true nature of the influencer culture. 

When influencers buy followers and engagement.

This is one of the most dangerous things one influencer can do today as social media marketers are the ones that are most hit by it.

The ‘Bot Culture’ is real and it has been helping fake influencers get fake followers to get fake likes and comments and fake overall engagement rate.

Marketers, therefore, should make sure that whenever they approach any influencer, they do not fail to address the quality of engagement. There are many tools available to marketers that can help them distinguish fake followers from the real ones.

When influencers create disastrous controversies.

The most bizarre was that of Logan Paul, a YouTube sensation who lost his endorsement deals after he made fun of a dead body at a Japanese ‘Suicide Forest’.

Yes, that happened.

Today we see many influencers making the news for all the bad reasons. This is unfortunate because every brand makes sure their influencers get as much attention as possible and create great relationships with them.

Marketers should make sure they are free to end the endorsement deal with the influencer who causes harm to their brand identity and values. This can be done by introducing a morality clause in the contract. This will help you save your brand when an influencer goes rogue.   

When influencers mislead with sponsored content.

Marketers and influencers can face penalties and sanctions if their sponsored content is found misleading.

The Federal Trade Commission has had to intervene and it revealed that more than 90 letters were sent to influencers asking them to disclose their relationships with the brands when promoting products or services on social media.

To make sure influencers follow the FTC guidelines, all they have to do is use simple hashtags like #spon, #Ad, or mention ‘Paid Ad’ on the post.

When inauthentic content attacks a brand’s credibility.

We all know how it is on social media, right?

There are many influencers who don’t really use the products they promote in their online space. There are brands, as we mentioned earlier, that don’t really care about the influencer and treat them as a commodity.

For these brands, it doesn’t really matter if the influencer’s content about their product doesn’t come from the vein of authenticity.

Well, this callous attitude towards influencers is something brands should stay away from because if the influencer you chose creates content about your product that is interpreted as inauthentic by the audience, your brand’s credibility will be compromised big time.