Influencer marketing is an excellent method for reaching your target audience! This marketing strategy has benefited brands across all industries and is here to stay. Influencer marketing is difficult as it depends heavily on influencers. For those who are unfamiliar, influencer marketing entails working with relevant influencers to promote your brand on social media platforms.
For an influencer marketing campaign to be successful, you must use the best influencer marketing practices available. If you want to increase engagement rates, you must abandon outdated influencer marketing practices. Bringing in influencers with a large number of followers isn’t enough. Social media platforms have been updated several times, and this has an impact on how you plan your influencer marketing campaigns. When a brand is curating content for an influencer campaign, it is critical to think strategically about everything from the Youtube shorts and stories feature to the inclusion of IGTV.
According to the research, several influencer marketing practices are failing on social media. Failures in influencer marketing can have a negative impact on your campaign’s outcome as well as your brand’s image.
So to help you out, we have curated mistakes one should avoid for influencer marketing.
Partnership with wrong influencers
Choosing influencers with a large following is one of the most common influencer marketing mistakes. A large number of followers does not necessarily mean a high engagement rate. It is preferable to collaborate with influencers who have fewer followers but higher engagement.
When it comes to deciding which influencer to bring on board, the quality of the content should also be a key factor. Choose influencers who may not have a large number of followers, but are producing high-quality, creative content that generates engagement. Focusing on quality rather than quantity will help you elicit a response from your audience.
The larger an influencer’s following and popularity, the more difficult it can be to approach them. Furthermore, collaborating with very famous influencers can be just as expensive as collaborating with a celebrity. You can save money by working with influencers who have fewer followers. You can work with influencers from different tiers at the same time if you have the budget for it.
A collaboration with an influencer who has a small number of followers is a win-win situation for both parties. The influencer brings his expertise in content creation and engagement to the desk. In exchange, you could provide the influencer with incentives and increased visibility.
Coming up with non-creative campaign concepts
Many brands will hire influencers and provide them with a generic piece of content to post, expecting spectacular results. So, what happens? In most cases, nothing. These posts stand out like a sore thumb because they appear to be obvious advertisements and have engagement numbers that significantly lower the person’s regular content reach.
When a campaign lacks creativity, no one wins. If the influencer partnership is long-term, you must create a fun and engaging campaign angle. Consider incorporating contests, giveaways, Q&As, and so on.
The more involved the influencer partner, you can get the better the results will be. It often takes several interactions among influencers and their followers to produce measurable results. Consumers are well aware of influencer marketing, and if the effort appears to be less than genuine, the majority will avoid it, viewing it as a cash grab by the influencer.
If you’re just testing the waters with one-time posts, let the influencer introduce your product or service in a way that feels natural to him or her. Giving influencers creative control results in a more authentic pitch and better results than simply providing them with an image or video to post.
Measuring metrics but not analysing them
Every influencer marketing campaign is designed to achieve specific goals and objectives. Brands make a concerted effort to curate campaigns, but when it comes to measuring the campaigns, they frequently fall short.
Other metrics, such as content reach, impressions, increase in followers, and engagement rate, must be measured in addition to likes and comments.
These metrics are more than just numbers; they reveal a lot about how well your strategy has performed. A high engagement rate, for example, indicates that your content is eliciting the desired response from your target audience.
Additionally, brand managers must monitor the comments and feedback they are receiving. Check to see if your impression rates are increasing as a result of the type of posts you’re posting. These metrics can assist you in determining what type of content is most effective with your target audience.
For example, if your video content is getting a lot of views, you might want to make more of it. Make sure you look beyond the numbers. These figures can sometimes help you see where your strategy is going wrong.
Continuing to rely on tried-and-true content strategies
Almost every social media platform is shifting its focus to video content. Brand managers who choose influencer marketing must take advantage of these newly launched features to improve the performance of their strategy. For example, if you want to plan an Instagram marketing strategy, you should include Instagram stories and Instagram Reels in your strategy.
These features must be included in your content strategy because your audience is actively using them! Furthermore, if your brand is not dynamic enough, it may lose a potential audience.
Furthermore, if your competitors are actively curating content to stay competitive, you have even more reason to revise your content strategies.
One of the most common influencer marketing blunders is only posting pretty pictures and expecting massive results.
Conclusion:
These are the top four mistakes one should avoid for influencer marketing. You need to carefully choose the correct influencers, create creative concepts, always analyse metrics after measuring and try out newly launched features to improve the performance.
Have you or a brand you know ever made these mistakes? Share what are they in the comments section below. And if you need help launching a successful influencer marketing campaign, please contact me.
