In this day and age of social media, being an influencer isn't necessarily just limited to gen z, but people of all ages are jumping into the influencer game. The question arises—what motivates this trend? Is it the allure of fame or financial gain? Likely, it’s a combination of both. But from the standpoint of a brand, influencers offer the chance to take branding from the typical glossy ads and celebrity sponsorships and change it to a more personal, more credible form of influencer marketing.
How Influencers are Shifting Branding Approaches Social media influencers have fundamentally changed how brands reach and engage with audiences?
There are various social media outlets like Instagram and YouTube that allow people to have a following that can trust them and believe what they say about a product or service. This shift from traditional ads to influencer-driven marketing stems from a key advantage of influencer marketing—authenticity. It's almost like influencers have that direct, personal touch with their audience, they share real life experiences so brands can use that to their advantage and reach the consumer in a more natural, less intrusive way. This approach allows brands to reach specific customer segments, leading to a higher return on investment (ROI) compared to traditional advertising methods.
Famous vs. Budding Influencers: The reach and impact of influencers vary widely. The top influencers have millions of followers and offer a lot of exposure and familiarity with a brand, and most of the time, they are a better way to advertise than the conventional methods. But lately, brands are catching on that working with these "niche" or micro-influencers (the smaller, newer influencers who may not have as many followers, but have a more dedicated audience) is just as important. This strategy, often referred to as “micro-targeting
Maintaining Authenticity and Trust: People are becoming more and more savvy to sponsored content, and if the messaging is too promotional, it could cause loss of trust. Maintaining authenticity is difficult, especially if influencers promote multiple brands simultaneously, which can make their endorsements seem insincere.
However, if an influencer's moral standards or way of living does not match the brands image, then it could lead to a great backlash which will in turn hurt the brands image.
Choosing the Right Influencer: It is hard to choose influencers that truly reflect a brand's image or audience. With the vast pool of influencers available, identifying those who will deliver meaningful engagement rather than just reach is critical.
Fake followers and engagement inflation make it difficult to assess an influencer’s true impact. So, the brands are just wasting their money on these influencers who have all these follower metrics, but those metrics don't even mean that they are influential or that anyone is actually going to engage with them.
Compliance and Disclosure Regulations: All the regulatory agencies in most countries require disclosure for compensated endorsements. If one does not follow the disclosure laws, (using the #ad or #sponsored tags) then they can get sued and it is also just shady, and loses the trust of followers.
It's not easy to wade through all these guidelines especially when influencers are in different parts of the world, and those parts of the world have different disclosure laws.
Controlling Brand Messaging: When brands work with influencers, they lose a degree of control over the messaging because the only way their message is going to get across is through the influencer's unique voice. Which can lead to messaging that is not in the voice the brand would like to use, or even content that is just flat out wrong for the brand.
Also, influencer behavior is another risk, if an influencer gets in trouble or has a scandal of some sort then it can ultimately hurt the brand.
Measuring ROI and Performance: One thing that is still hard to do is to track the ROI of influencer campaigns. While metrics like likes, comments, and shares indicate engagement, determining the true impact on sales, brand perception, and customer loyalty is often difficult.
Without the proper tracking tools/analytics, how can brands measure the success of their influencer partnerships?
Keeping Up with Changing Trends and Platforms: Social media is always changing, there are always new popular sites coming up and others fading out. Brands need to be quick on the draw to jump on the newest platforms and fads that their audience is most prevalent on.
Algorithms are always changing, and these changes affect the visibility of content and the amount of engagement, which means that influencer strategies must continue to adapt and be agile.
Balancing Influencer Diversity with Consistent Brand Identity: While working with a variety of influencers means that a brand can reach many different types of people, if not done correctly, it can also lead to a confused and jumbled brand image.
Ensuring that different influencers reflect a cohesive brand image while allowing room for personal expression requires careful planning and coordination.
Risk of Oversaturation and Consumer Fatigue: With more and more brands jumping on the influencer marketing bandwagon, consumers are going to get burnt out on sponsored posts and start to lose trust in those endorsements.
But with this, brands run the risk of contributing to influencer fatigue, where people just don't care or are straight up annoyed by all the influencer ads.
All of these issues demand that companies take a strategic, data-driven approach to influencer marketing, building long-term relationships and being transparent in order to create authentic relationships with consumers.
