Influencer Marketing is About to Expire! Here’s How to Avoid Failure and Maximize your Influencer Spending

Yes, it’s true. The rules of influencer marketing are expiring. What we’ve known for years to work with influencers online is changing a little bit, as more influencers than ever are out there promoting on social media. As good as this sounds, opportunities to fail and spend more money than you need to has never been more present. Don’t believe too-good-to-be-true promises by influencers who probably won’t deliver. Here’s what to watch out for and how to avoid failure.

The challenge

There’s a lot of influencers out there, some micro and others macro, some who deliver and a lot who won’t. Tapping into influencer marketing is no “get rich quick” scheme. It takes research and having realistic expectations about what you can accomplish.

Finding the right influencer is a brand’s biggest challenge. They should have someone who is relevant and trendy among said brand’s intended audience. A brand can also encounter a challenge in whether an influencer is actually who they say they are. A lot of influencers will promote high ROI however not all can deliver on this.

Best practices for influencer marketing

Influencer marketing isn’t just transactional. Seeing a relationship between brand and influencer as such is a mistake. You want an influencer who is excited to be connected to your brand and promote your product. If someone’s not interested in being connected to you, they won’t promote you very well. You may wish to give them a free sample of your product or something free to reward them for their involvement in your brand. Do what you can to make them feel comfortable and excited about you.

Choose your goals

A sure-fire way to fail is by not knowing what you’re chasing. Know your goals. Identify what’s influential about your brand, understand what’s possible working with an influencer, and understand what the influencer’s goals are. If you can help them help you help them (we know, it’s tough to say!), you’re going to do very well for yourself.

Pick the right model

Don’t just search for the influencer with the most followers. Find a relevant micro-influencer who has a passionate fan base. Consider tapping into your employees as influencers, survey your customers to identify possible influencer marketing opportunities, and don’t discount the power of putting out a social media call to see who may respond.

Measure for effectiveness

In every digital marketing campaign, analytics and ROI count. Monitor influencer marketing by looking at engagement, participation, and their content. Measure the performance against marketing goals. Are they delivering? If so, reward them! If not, have an honest conversation about how to improve the numbers and let them know you’re not happy with where things are at. They may be able to provide some suggestions on how to craft a more effective strategy.

Can you guarantee success in influencer marketing?

Even with the best intentions and strategies at work, it’s still possible to fail with influencer marketing. It’s not always your fault nor the influencer’s. Sometimes it just happens. That said, avoiding failure in marketing is an art form and it takes effort. By choosing wisely, tracking the results, and keeping tabs on where a campaign is at, you hopefully won’t have to walk away having spent a lot of money on something or someone who didn’t produce. Join us today for more details!