Hello! Welcome to my first blog post :-)
In this modern day, I'm pretty sure many know by now what it means by a person being deemed as a "social media influencer".
He/she is an individual with a relatively large following on their social media (well... you may ask, how big of a number is large? I'll leave this up to you as everyone has different views about this!), active on social media and update their followers on a regular basis about the happenings in their lives. They are also "content creators" who constantly explore creativity in sharing quality content when they promote a certain brand and/or product online.
The term "influencer" is extremely broad and can easily describe anyone who can cause a reaction in others or impact the way others think. Ultimately, brands adopt influencer marketing with hopes of gaining brand recognition with the help of these individuals.
In every seed of good, there is always a piece of bad.
- Marian Wright Edelman
There are challenges that come with influencer marketing that brands should consider when they engage these individuals to promote their products and/or services.
1) Follower count is not everything
There is a common misconception that the higher the follower count, the greater the potential in the influencer's reach to wider audiences. However, with the booming black market to obtain fake followers, numbers can be deceiving and do not genuinely show the individual's actual engagement with their audience.
To avoid ruining the effectiveness of an influencer marketing campaign, there are online tools such as SOCIALBLADE and HypeAuditor available for brands to analyze the authenticity of an individual when deciding to approach them.
2) Alignment of the Influencer with Brand
When selecting influencers, brands need to be thorough when reviewing their content to make sure they will align well with brand. Have they been involved in any controversy? Were they involved in any scandals? It could be destructive for the brand's reputation when they get associated with these influencers who are perceived in a negative light due to such issues.
Take Laura Lee for instance, a popular beauty YouTuber with over 5 million subscribers. When her past racist Tweets got leaked and caused a storm in the community, brands such Ulta & Diff Eyewear broke off their partnership with her to avoid a brand safety issue.
Brands also need to be aware of an individual's suitability with the brand in terms of their online personality. For example, it would not make sense for a fitness enthusiast who emphasize on healthy eating to promote a new fast-food start-up. Influencers should align with the brand's voice or aesthetic to be able to craft out a post and genuinely recommend it to their audience.
What do you think are some other challenges in influencer marketing?
Let me know in the comments section down below!
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