Throughout the last five years of my marketing career I have been solely focused on connecting influencers with brands. Up until now, I have managed campaigns in-house, for freelance clients and at an agency level. With that being said, it’s safe to say that I’ve seen my fair share of influencer campaign fails and have learned a thing or two about what type of influencer campaign mistakes to avoid.
Influencer campaigns are more than contacting an influencer, sending them a product and getting a few images or videos in return. There is actual strategy that goes into building a successful influencer campaign. I’m here to help you understand why your influencer marketing efforts haven’t been as successful as you thought they’d be.
Let’s dive right in.
What causes an influencer campaign to fail?
Contrary to popular belief, influencer marketing does not have a one size fits all approach. While there are basic rules and foundations to creating and managing a successful campaign, no campaign will be the same as the next or drive the same results.
There are so many reasons why influencer campaigns fail. Below I’m outlining some common reasons why I have seen influencer campaigns be unsuccessful. Long story short, I’ve had clients leave and have ultimately seen brands lose money due to poorly planned and executed campaigns.
Influencer campaign mistakes to avoid:
1. Brand is not established
One of the biggest reasons I’ve seen an influencer campaign fail is because the brand prematurely launches a campaign.
This means there is little or no Instagram or social media presence, no press, no product (it’s happened) and very minimal brand information on the web.
More often than not, I’ve had new brand owners approach me asking for help starting their influencer campaigns thinking this will be their ticket to fast success. Unfortunately, when a brand has minimal presence, influencers tend to be more cautious and usually decline partnerships unless there is payment involved.
Paying influencers as a new brand tends to be a deal breaker leading the campaign to have minimal participation and ultimately fail.
2. No campaign direction
Campaign direction and goal setting is CRUCIAL when it comes to influencer campaigns. Some of the worst performing campaigns I’ve worked on have had little to no direction or end goals.
It’s important to always set a deadline, always guide the influencer on what you are looking for and most importantly, let them know the goal of the campaign so they can better understand the collaboration. Not only does this build trust with the influencer, you get exactly what you’re looking for out of the partnership.
3. Focusing on amount of followers and engagement
It’s 2022 and I still have clients that refuse to work with influencers under a certain amount of followers or engagement rate. Using outdated metrics is the worst thing you can do to select the influencers you bring on to your campaign.
Surprisingly, most of the nano and micro influencers I have worked with that have had low engagement rates and have converted like crazy. Just because someone has low engagement and followers doesn’t mean that they can’t convert. At the end of the day, small accounts tend to have a closer relationship with their audiences leading to more trust and sales. Aside from that, just because someone doesn’t have a ton of followers on one platform it doesn’t mean they don’t have a presence somewhere else.
Solely focusing on vanity metrics will ultimately lead to a failed campaign because you leave out the potential of nano influencers and risk partnering with influencers who inflate their metrics by participating in engement pods.
4. Not working with the right influencers
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, just because someone has a following does not mean they have influence. Followers does not equal sales and neither does high engagement.
Most brands find it surprising when I bring up influencer engagement pods. Truth is, a lot of influencers (not all, but a lot) have fake their engagement at one point or another in order to get a swipe up link or other perks of having a following. By doing so brands that look at vanity metrics tend to sign them up for campaigns and ultimately end up upset that an influencer didn’t convert.
Instead of focusing on vanity metrics, focus on the overlapping audience that an influencer has. That will ensure that 1) you are reaching your target demo and 2) your chances of converting will be higher.
5. Not properly compensating influencers
At the end of the day you need to remember that influencer marketing is indeed a form of marketing. Brands typically spend thousands on photoshoots, hiring models, photographers, stylists and printing marketing materials to make their brand look good.
When it comes to working with influencers you need to make the same investment to see a successful return in your campaign. While unpaid campaigns can still get you what you need, in order to take your brand to the next level and put in front of the right eyes, chances are you will need to open up your marketing budget.
6. Having Unreasonable Expectations
A huge misconception about influencer marketing is that you will see a huge spike in sales and business will be booming once an influencer posts or mentions your product. Unless you are willing to spend the money to make that happen, chances are you will not see much traction. Yes, it does happen to brands and there are so many ways to go viral these days but you simply cannot expect an instant return. Especially is you have a new brand with no recognizability or no budget to spend on influencer marketing.
Truth is, the pandemic has forever changed the influencer marketing space. Partnering with influencers is no longer about expecting to sell out once they post or mention. It’s about how the product and/or brand are perceived. Are they excited to partner with you? Does the product align with their followers?
If you liked today’s post please like, share, subscribe and be sure to drop a comment letting me know how you’ve seen influencer marketing campaigns fail.
Ready to get your influencer campaign off the ground? Feel free to contact me for rates and availability!
