Influencer marketing is a highly data-driven approach, but it’s not rocket science. Though more than 54% of marketers include influencer campaign in their marketing mix, there are still quite a few misconceptions that exist about this high ROI generating marketing option. Let’s try to clear the air and debunk some of the most common ones-
#1 Myth: Influencers cost a fortune
Many marketers think that it is almost impossible to afford influencers for their campaigns. But not all influencers charge a fortune for your brand advocacy. Their charges depend on the kind of industry they talk about, their fan base, location, experience, campaign requirements and several other factors.
There are many sets of influencers that will cost way lesser than your PPC campaign, and needless to say, with chances of earning you higher ROI. Many-a-times, you can get influencers on board by offering your product or services, without having spent any money. The key is to find a proper set of influencers for your campaign, hitting optimum ROI.
#2 Myth: Only top-notch influencers get you ROI
Influencers come in all shapes and sizes, from celebrities to subject matter experts. The crucial question while selecting the right influencer is, “Is this person going to truly connect with the demography of my target audience?” There have been many success stories where a team of influencers, tier-2 or tier-3, have taken a campaign to the next level.
Many budding influencers will go the distance to impress an established brand. When you invest in their individual growth, they’ll often go beyond the contract to drive yours.
#3 Myth: The only metric that matters is ‘Followers’
The number of impressions is indeed an essential parameter, but influencer marketing is more than that. What matters at the end of the day is how many relevant people are getting engaged with your brand. So, there are is a couple of things to consider while looking for an influencer:
How many people in the ‘Followers’ list are relevant to your campaign – It might happen that someone with 10 Million followers, charging quite a lot, have 50,000 people relevant for your campaign. On the other hand, someone with 1 Million followers (costing you less) may give you 60,000 relevant people.
How well does the influencer engage with the followers? The ‘Engagement Score’ becomes a quintessential factor for all influencer campaigns.
#4 Myth: Influencers need to be handheld through the campaign
Many marketers think that influencers need to be supported with all sorts of content throughout the campaign. With an apprehension that the influencers might miss out on the brand voice, marketers try to develop all sorts of content and ask influencers only to post on their channels.
This is a huge misconception.Influencer campaigns are built on mutual trust. You need to trust the credibility of the influencer running your campaign. Let them devise the content for you. There may be a case where you are working with a photographer who is not great at written copy, something that you might be needing. You can collaborate and provide him with the copy from your end. Also, the influencer understands the pulse of the followers better than you do. You might be trying to push too hard to align them with your brand, but influencer campaign succeeds through the other way around. Your brand gets aligned with the followers through the influencer. So let the influencer work independently.
#5 Myth: It’s impossible to manage influencers
Marketers are often intimidated by the thought of remotely managing influencers for their campaign. Proper communication of requirements and the workflow might become a little issue with influencer campaigns, but there are many influencer agencies to help you out with that.
Leading firms like Greenroom provide you with an end-to-end support for your influencer campaign’s, from helping you identify the right set of influencers through a thorough research of their huge bank to a fully analyzed campaign report.
Hope it clears a lot of doubt that you may have. So don’t wait to launch your first influencer marketing campaign. Start today.
Cheers!