As an influencer marketing platform, we’re not supposed to show you the other side of the industry. The side where brands come to us with laments like “We tried it and the results were disastrous. Why is our influencer marketing not working?”
But we promised to be the most honest corner of the internet. So, we say it as it is. For many brands, influencer marketing campaigns don’t work out, and there are valid reasons for it.
4 reasons why your influencer marketing is not working
Influencer marketing campaigns are more effective than traditional marketing. That’s been proven.
However, like every marketing strategy, missteps can happen. Most influencer campaigns that fail can trace the reason to the following factors.
1. Demanding only flattering words
No brand is perfect, and this applies to your products as well. If you restrict creators from writing anything negative, reviews will come across as fake and untrue.
It brings down the credibility of influencers amongst followers, reduces the impact of the campaign, and so you don’t get the expected lead generation from influencer marketing.
Takeaway: Allow influencers to be authentic and give them the freedom to speak freely about the experience. No one expects your product to be faultless. So why not let them talk about both the good and bad aspects of products and influence consumers’ decisions with honesty.
2. Hiring popular influencers instead of creators
Not all influencers are creators. Popular faces may drive awareness, but they won’t convert into sales. And that’s one of the major reasons influencer marketing does not work for brands.
They focus on vanity metrics like “likes” or “impressions” instead of objective influencer marketing KPIs. With that as the end goal, brands choose to work with mega influencers or celebrities, not pausing to realise that they don’t make good brand advocates.
For example, a travel influencer with 10 million followers collaborating with a makeup brand won’t have that much impact.
Takeaway: Choose influencers who are also creators and experts in the field in which your product belongs.
3. Not having a clear objective
Social media influencers are like wild cards. They are extremely useful but can be tricky if their influence is not used correctly. And that’s one more reason why influencer marketing fails. Many brands don’t match their creator partners with the campaign goals.
- If you are expecting brand awareness, hire macro-influencers.
- Reach out to reviewers or nano-influencers to influence consideration decisions.
- Micro-influencers are known for driving sales.
Takeaway: The best influencer marketing strategy is to use all tiers of influencers, from mega-influencers to nano-influencers. It’s more pocket-friendly, too.
4. Hesitation in trying out new strategies
Advertising was, is, and will always be a fluid strategy. What worked before won’t necessarily give successful results now, particularly in influencer campaigns where trends change quickly. Expecting the same outcome from every campaign will definitely lead to influencer marketing not working.
Takeaway: Approach each new campaign with a fresh perspective. Implement lessons from old success and failure stories. When new trends are fresh, jump on them, and when they stop producing results, take a leap.
Taking influencer marketing from not working to working
Success is not overnight in influencer marketing, which is what most brands expect. It’s by playing the long game in influencer marketing that brands win. And win big.
If your campaigns are not working, the number one piece of advice we give is to start seeding products. Send products to carefully vetted influencers for free and without the expectation of glowing reviews.
At least some of them will post about it on social media, and more will likely become brand users. Once they do, reach out to them and get permission to repost and repurpose their content. From there on, keep building a relationship with these creators and knit a loyal community that automatically drives revenue for you.
We know influencer marketing requires resources that few brands have. That’s why we built a platform to make influencer campaigns effortless.
