Dear Esteemed Readers,

Welcome to the latest edition of "TalentZ," your go-to destination for all things related to cutting-edge marketing & branding strategies and trends. In an era where the Business landscape is constantly evolving, we are thrilled to embark on this journey of knowledge-sharing and innovation with you.

Influencer campaigns are all the rage these days and for good reason. In the wake of this runaway success, firms everywhere have poured money into this new channel.

However, things don’t always go as planned. In the rush to find those large marketing returns, brands make mistakes leading to suboptimal outcomes. As a result, those brands are left frustrated and disillusioned, wondering if they should revise their marketing strategies and focus on traditional channels.

In reality, they likely made simple mistakes that could have been avoided with proper research. In this blog, we’ll provide you with the most common influencer marketing mistakes–and how you can avoid them.

 

What Are the Influencer Marketing Mistakes?

The world of influencer marketing is competitive enough as it is; you don’t need unnecessary errors weighing you down. Here are some influencer marketing mistakes to avoid:

  • Poor Vetting Procedures

When you use an influencer to promote your product, understand that they’re acting as a full representative of your brand. If you choose an influencer with negative baggage, this can reflect poorly on your brand, whether or not you were even aware. Firstly, be sure to comb through your target influencer's social profiles, and confirm they haven’t posted anything that would reflect poorly on your business. 

  • Not Building Real Relationships

When promoting with any influencer, it’s essential to remember that you’re dealing with a person rather than soulless advertising automation. Take the time to get to know the personalities you’re working with and convince them to love your brand. This will make for profitable long-term relationships and more effective advertising campaigns. When it comes to promotional material, there’s no replacement for genuine enthusiasm.

  • Ignoring Micro-Influencers

While big influencers are great for reaching lots of people at once, their audience engagement is probably worse than you think. High followings do not necessarily translate to high engagement, and the big bills that those influencers rack up may not be worth it. Instead, consider investing in micro-influencers: influencers with smaller followings. While your reach may not be as big on paper, the more intimate relationships between small profiles and their following can translate to much higher engagement. Micro-influencers are also the preferred way of reaching local audiences. While bigger influencers speak to a broad audience, targeting people influential in specific communities can lead to great results.

  • Forgetting about your target audience

When running a new campaign, you want to ensure that everything feels natural and organic — that's the whole point of influencer marketing. The goal is to use the power of trust and social proof to influence your audience’s purchasing decisions. But suppose the influencer you are working with suddenly starts speaking in an entirely different voice than what their followers typically expect from them. In that case, it won't be a good fit. Your target audience might find it spammy and run for the hills. To prevent this dreaded fate, take some time to learn more about your target audience before diving into any sort of campaign.

  • Ignoring analytics and sales data

Throughout the year, there are peaks such as holidays which are an incredibly busy time of year for influencer marketing. After all, consumers are on the hunt for the latest fashion trends, tech gadgets, and gifts for their loved ones. Comments, likes, and shares are rising as consumers turn to social media as their go-to source for product research. The absence of a clear goal and how to measure performance seriously hinders the potential of the entire campaign. Use these periods of high demand to take notes of campaign performance. Analytics and sales data provide valuable insights into what's working and what isn't.

  • Excluding influencers from creative and content strategies

Influencers are great content creators. How do you think they gained a loyal following in the first place? One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a brand is not allowing influencers enough creative freedom over the content within the campaign. It's easy to want to control everything from the start. But that's a huge mistake. Because when an influencer has the freedom to create content on their terms, their audience will feel like what they see is real — not something created by a brand or agency (which is often a problem). So tap into your influencer's expertise and offer them the ability to take creative control.

FINAL WORDS:

Influencer marketing is a powerful tool to help you reach new audiences, improve brand awareness and boost sales this holiday season. However, if you're not careful with your selection process, you may end up with a disappointing campaign that doesn't deliver and may even damage your brand reputation. The best way to avoid these common mistakes is by partnering with the right influencers who are aligned with your brand values and know their audience well enough to deliver high-quality content over time. 

We are excited to embark on this journey with you, exploring the vast realm of online marketing, branding, technology and other informative topics and sharing our insights to empower you in your business endeavours. The digital world is ever-evolving, and together, we'll navigate the trends, challenges, and opportunities that lie ahead.

Thank you for joining us on this enlightening ride. Stay tuned for the captivating insights and knowledge that we are all set to bring in each edition.