If you’ve been on your favorite social network much lately, you’ve likely noticed a trend. Influencer marketing is blowing up, and brands of all sizes are making it a part of their marketing campaigns. If you’re interested in influencer marketing, check out the pros and cons. Then you will know if this strategy is right for your business.
Pro – Influencers Are Trusted
You need people to trust your business so you can make sales, and influencers create trust, and that influences sales. Consumers tend to trust influencers more than celebrities and brands, and they listen when influencers talk. Six in 10 YouTube subscribers state they would be more receptive to product advice from influencers than they would be from TV or movie personalities. This type of trust is hard to find in the marketing world, which is one reason why influencers are so hot right now.
Pro – Reach a Huge Audience
Imagine getting your product or service out in front of hundreds of thousands of people. You would build brand awareness and increase sales in an instant. That’s easy to do with influencer marketing. When you hire influencers, they will promote your product or service to their entire network of followers. You will reach those people within seconds, expanding your network dramatically.
Pro – The Return on Investment
ROI is always a key metric in marketing campaigns. You want to make sure you’re earning more than you’re spending with each campaign you create, and that’s one reason that influencer marketing is so attractive. A study found that influencer marketing campaigns bring in an average of $6.50 for every $1 spent. Thirteen-percent of the campaigns studied brought in $19 for every $1 put into the campaign. With ROI like this, it’s easy to understand why so many companies use influencer marketing.
Con – You Can’t Control What Influencers Do in Their Downtime
When you hire an influencer, you have some control over what that person posts regarding your brand. You can iron that out in the contract. However, you can’t control what that person does off the clock, and those actions can damage your brand.
Logan Paul is the perfect example of this. It wasn’t that long ago that he was one of the biggest influencers on the planet. His YouTube channel had 15 million subscribers, and his videos racked up millions of views each. He earned millions of dollars promoting content for Nike, Pepsi, HBO, and other huge brands, and they reaped the benefits of the promotions.
Then he posted a video that showed an apparent suicide victim. He and his friends were far from sensitive in the video, and the backlash was swift.
This is an important lesson for business owners. It’s critical to choose influencers wisely because their actions reflect your brand, even when they aren’t promoting your content.
Con – Fake Followers
Influencers often charge based on the number of followers they have. However, many purchase followers so they can charge companies more. Just because someone has a lot of followers does not mean that person is a true influencer. You can end up overspending on influencer marketing and fail to get results if you fall for this trap. Fortunately, there are other metrics, such as engagement, you can look at to avoid this problem.
Do You Need Help With Influencer Marketing?
The benefits outweigh the drawbacks with influencer marketing. However, you do need to be careful when hiring influencers. You need to choose someone who has legitimate followers and won’t hurt your brand. Use a marketing agency to help with influencer marketing so your campaign will help instead of harming your brand.
Transformation Marketing is a full-service marketing agency. Our team not only can help with social media marketing, but also web development, search engine optimization, blog writing, programmatic advertising, graphic design, and so much more. Visit our website or call 402-788-2896!