Influencer marketing has become one of the most powerful tools in marketing team toolkits today. It is not expected to go away anytime soon as most brands use this effective strategy. Research shows that it will likely continue over the years, why? People no longer trust brands. Many people are no longer influenced by these traditional marketing techniques and are now influenced by those they trust and respect. On the other hand, there are still many brands that still misunderstand what “influencer marketing” is, thus making it an effective tool. Truth be told, 74% of purchases are made through word of mouth recommendations, and influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways to drive word of mouth sales. It’s no wonder marketers are increasingly embracing influencer marketing and branding strategies to achieve their business goals and objectives.
This article outlines the most common influencer marketing mistakes to avoid in order to be successful and avoid overlooked costs.
Not understanding the audience
Your audience is your critic, if they want your product, they will be your customers. You will never be able to create an effective and long-term influencer marketing strategy if you don’t know your audience/customer. Marketers who have not yet developed a genuine marketing persona are suggested to put their programs on hold until they understand who their customers are and what their interests are for engaging with the brand. It should be noted that marketers need to understand buying habits, demographic information, pinpoints, and psychographic information to create a marketing persona, and conventionally, all these statistics can be collected through customer reviews.
Using influencer marketing on the wrong influencers/channels
Your marketing would not work unless you work with the right influencer for your campaign. Influencer marketing is not equally effective across all channels, niches, and target audiences. If you are promoting a beauty product, it is recommended to work with YouTube Influencers as it is much more effective in videos than a simple image of your product and a post on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
Expect results in a short period of time
If you have just started doing influencer marketing, you cannot expect a good result in a single instant. In some cases, for a powerful influencer, marketing campaigns can produce results overnight. But above all and especially for brands and companies that do not use e-commerce, influencer marketing should take time to take effect. Trust and patience are recommended. It should be noted that effective influencer campaigns help improve brand awareness. When a prospect knows about your brand, they still need to go through your marketing funnel process, the consideration and decision-making stages before making a purchase. So yes, it takes time to get the results.
I forgot to use Analytics
Using analytics is one of the most accurate ways to get up to speed and determine if your influencer marketing is effective or, to put it that way, ineffective. Monitoring and measuring your campaign performance is required on all kinds of platforms, from there you will be able to know which part of your marketing campaign needs to be improved. You can find many platforms online that can help you measure your campaign information and progress.
Failure to convey expectations with your influencers
When working with influencers, it is very important to clearly build your expectations. You should give your influencers a summary that includes the goals and objectives of your campaign. Collecting and including the marketing staff you have collected will help your influencers be more successful. You may also want to include analytics information that you find valuable when marketing to your target audience.
Focused on the wrong KPIs
Influencer marketing is a powerful marketing method, but everything in this world has its own limits. Marketers need to make sure that they are using influencer marketing in the right way. It is recommended to focus on KPIs that fit your brand, product and activity, don’t just focus on getting sales, start being genuine! An influencer marketing campaign designed to influence KPIs related to bottom-of-funnel behaviors is usually not perfect.
You avoided this strategy because you failed “once”
Just because you’ve failed once at this marketing strategy doesn’t mean you should give up. Marketers don’t quit marketing simply because one of their marketing campaigns was unsuccessful. Instead of giving up, if you have failed, use that failure to improve your marketing. You need to understand why the campaign failed so that you can implement better strategies and ideas the next time you set up an influencer marketing campaign. Remember: Failures are one of the challenges you will face when entering Influencer Marketing and learning from them is the key to success.
Neglected call to action
Before you launch your campaign, make sure you’ve considered this question: Where should my audience click to take action when interacting with my IM content?
If you planned to drive traffic to your website using IM, make sure you build a web page that allows your visitors to use the following action. Importantly, make sure to test the built web page if it works perfectly and is responsive on both mobile and PC. Associating the call to action with an IM campaign and making sure it’s optimized for your goal are keys to success with IM
Choosing an inappropriate agency to manage the influence relationship
Influencer marketing has taken a hit and is at the top of the line. Marketing agencies also track and offer instant messaging services. But guess what, not all of these agencies have valuable experience with IM strategies, I mean they have a little bit, but not in their deep understanding. Therefore, they cannot make your marketing successful. Be sure to choose an agency that has experience working with influencer marketing methods related to your business.
Misunderstanding of the influencer marketing process
If you want to start influencer marketing, be sure to learn what the process and activities involved in this strategy are. This will guide you to your success.