Posted by If you’re wondering what mistakes you can make in influencer marketing, read this article and you’ll be able to run your influencer campaign effectively.
Influencer marketing may seem like a simple process, but there is a lot of room for error, as it is a more complex field than we might think. We’ve gathered the most common mistakes that can be avoided with careful planning and agency help.
Every year, more and more brands are using influencer marketing to present their offer to their target audience through a more natural channel. However, although it is nothing new, veteran marketers often misunderstand the essence of influencer marketing and make mistakes that can destroy an otherwise perfectly sensible initiative.
1. Reaching real influencers, but without fun and interesting content
One of the most common mistakes agencies sometimes make is looking for influencer celebrities but neglecting one of the most important factors: cost-effectiveness (they should be looking at engagement and reach).
Often smaller influencers, who are less controlled, can create better and more entertaining content than big-name influencers who are overly concerned about image and have become less concerned about how to be more creative with their brand presence. Releasing stale, boring content is bad for the brand, the campaign will be ineffective and can even be negative for the influencer because fans may unfollow them. Many big influencers no longer have time for a creative campaign with a good story, even though it works best.
Many influencers have no content profile at all, so you can’t expect them to have a story, because they can’t produce good content, so how can they produce creative content for a brand? Regular quality content results in an intimate follower base. Others have “just followers”. From time to time and with little activity. Lesser-known influencers often have an enthusiastic and active follower base and a robust content profile, building it instinctively, even without any marketing knowledge.
2. Lack of tailored creative concepts
This is the key to success. The effectiveness of the campaign depends mainly on it. Five times or more engagement can be achieved if the creative is right. In many cases today, there is no creative concept. Just product promotion or a mention of the sponsor’s brand name, maybe a selfie with the product.
In other cases, influencers are asked to create a short story that fits the brand’s purpose. Many of these can even become unnatural, as the combination of a dominant brand photo and a seemingly well-constructed story still suggests that the content is simply advertising. The challenge is to either create a video story or post that includes the brand or to get the brand to appear in a truly entertaining way, almost imperceptibly, but still memorably and effectively.
3. They do not measure their performance
Even after the failure of most influencer campaigns, what was the problem? In the absence of metrics, there is no way to track how much “benefit” or result in you got from working with an influencer.
Even though most modern online marketers know that it is not only possible but highly recommended to track and measure digital marketing activities, somehow in influencer marketing many people do not pay attention to this. For those who do, it is a serious challenge.
When measuring influencer marketing campaigns, it is important to remember that the primary performance indicators will always depend on the campaign’s objectives. For two influencer marketing campaigns, completely different metrics may be important depending on the stage of the customer journey you want to target: the awareness stage, the consideration stage, or when they are ready to take a certain action (e.g. make a purchase). Identify specific goals at these stages, and the key metrics you need to track to know if your campaign is on track.
What indicators can you use to measure and monitor the success of your campaign? Use the session replay web analytics tool to see specifically which influencer campaigns are grabbing your visitors’ attention more, which posts they are viewing more or less, and where they are clicking…
4. Treat influencers as a one-off
It is important to keep in mind that successful influencer marketing is built on long-term projects. Think about it: if an influencer suddenly shows up one day to showcase a company’s products to his followers, and then two weeks later never mentions the brand again, it becomes clear that he did it solely for the money.
Successful influencer campaigns are based on long-term partnerships, where an influencer slowly becomes an official brand ambassador. If an influencer works with a brand on multiple campaigns, followers will see that their favorite genuinely likes its products and will sound more authentic when recommending them over time. Such collaborations can last for months, or even years, if you can find a common voice.
5. Use a single platform
Chances are, your brand is present on multiple social platforms, and there is one where you’ve built a significantly larger follower base than on the others. In this case, it’s easy to fall into the trap of only looking for influencers for your campaigns on this platform. The problem with this tactic is that you won’t expand in other directions, and you may not be able to reach a much larger audience.
The beauty of influencer marketing is that you can use opinion leaders to represent your brand on platforms you don’t want to engage with or don’t have the resources to do so. Of course, asking for some influencer help on your ‘main’ platform never hurts, but if you want to get the most out of your campaigns, use opinion leaders to take your news to other territories.
6. Treat influencers like your own property
If you’re treating influencers like your property just because you’re paying them, there’s something very wrong with your management methods. Remember that no influencer is less important than you or any of your actual employees. They play a very important role in your marketing strategy and the success of your brand — that’s why you chose them, right?
Influencer marketing is based on mutual trust and respect — a relationship where both parties have an equal say in how things are done. Remember, you need that influencer as much as they need you.
If you are unable or unwilling to acknowledge this, you will be setting your influencer campaigns up for failure with your willful, negative attitude. Fortunately, the solution to this problem is very simple: collaborate with influencers, exchange ideas with them and try to get to know them to create a stronger rapport.
However, try to tie their hands as little as possible when it comes to content. Remember that they know best what their audience would respond well to — give them a free hand!
7. CTA alone is not enough
If the influencer’s followers are given too complicated a task to complete during the promotion, it’s easy to lose the follower. If they are not attracted to the term, that is. So it is important to include in the document all the key information about the campaign, the expectations, and all the details of the campaign to avoid misunderstandings. including a precise, simple, and attractive CTA.
Summary
For influencer marketing to bring you success and increase your conversion rate and get many satisfied users for your company, it is important to avoid the mistakes mentioned above, then you will achieve success. Good luck, influencer marketing will open up a lot of opportunities for you, just apply it properly.