Introduction to Content Marketing
Influencer marketing is gaining widespread momentum in the dynamic advertising, marketing & PR age. It is a strategic part of content marketing. Content is the king. All communication revolves around content creation. Why are influencers so important to communicate a brand/service’s offerings? What has set them apart from other marketing channels? How are the strategies different from regular marketing methods? Are you indulging incorrect and ethical practices with Influencer Marketing? What are some common influencer marketing mistakes in this heavily branded world?
Influencers have transformed the way brands market their campaigns in this competitive world. Brands and large companies/agencies have realized the importance of the art of persuasion and the power captive within. Such power is being portrayed by the influencers with content creation and promotions over several social media channels i.e. Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Josh, Moj, etc. Influencers, with the help of innovative and exciting content, have the power to motivate and persuade their audience to consider the products. This results in high incremental organic searches for the brands over Google & Bing.
In today’s digital age, social media is racing to the top to become the leading voice of Digital Media for brands and its consumers (users of social media platforms who regularly engage in hourly or daily activities on such platforms). Moreover, if you are not on social media, then your marketing budgets are in for a spin. However, are we running the influence campaigns correctly?
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Common Influencer Marketing Mistakes
What are the common influencer marketing mistakes from the point of view of an influencer?
- Selecting Influencers based on followers
- Selecting Influencers solely based on engagement rates
- Running campaign with influencers who don’t have appealing content
- Not giving chance to new influencers experimentally
- Focusing on hard conversions from a branding/engagement campaign goals
- Stealing influencers from an agency group after conducting a campaign for the first time
- Exceeding the compensation duration for the influencer, i.e. delayed payment timelines
- Changing the content brief for the influencers multiple times
- Being scared to try out pilot influencer campaigns with agencies
- Not engaging in meaningful conversations with your audience
How about if we look from a brand perspective?
- Increasing influencer quarrels about the deliverables of the brand
- Loss of patience by influencers regarding time of compensation
- Non-qualified influencers becoming managers of influencer campaigns
- Underage influencers promoting a brand meant for adults (e.g. Alcohol, Sexual products, Financial Products and many more).
- Influencers becoming a part of campaigns without verifying its authenticity and other credentials
- Indulging in refund and rating deals with no confirmation on the date of refund
- Applying for Amazon review refund deals even after the knowledge of account closure
- Not wiling to be creative and think out-of-the-box content ideas
- Comparing profiles with other influencers and sulking to why they weren’t shortlisted
- Indulge into in-the-face marketing (NO NO NO – you will lose power and audience will be bored and not engage with your content)
- Having only product specific social media profiles: You lose credibility of your original content as there is none. Remember that you are not a brand that is promoting only products, but you are an influencer who must voice out their thoughts via your original content.
- Arguing with the campaign managers unnecessarily and without cause: This isn’t required, and you will lose the opportunity to work with the same manager again and spoil relations with the brands as well. You never know the same manager will have a wide bucket of brands that you wish to work on at a later date. What will you do then now?
It’s best to keep your relations with the campaign managers on a positive note and have the brands or marketing agencies establish the momentum of trust with you. You are now campaign-worthy!