Who knew that influencer marketing would become of such huge importance in the marketing field, especially during the time of the ongoing pandemic? Before social media came into existence, the only way of marketing was the ‘traditional’ way. But with the birth of novel social media platforms and tools, we saw an uprise in the number of influencers across various platforms. Most brands have now started adding influencer marketing as a concrete part of their campaigns. But there still exists a few misconceptions around influencer marketing in terms of what works and what doesn’t.
Major 7 Myths of Influencer Marketing
Let’s shed some light on the major 7 Myths of Influencer Marketing that revolve around influencers and expose what actually working with them is like:
1. It’s an expensive deal!
One of the major myths around influencer marketing is that it requires an enormous budget and that influencers are pricey. Truth be told, it’s the opposite! Every influencer has a different fee based on their followers or engagement ratio, your requirements from them, contract duration, etc. Accordingly, you can do a selection of the influencers that fit your budget.
2. You cannot measure the ROI on influencers
You can measure your return on investment in an influencer with the help of tools available. Not only can you measure the sales of your brand but also clicks on the link in bio, sign-ups, website traffic produced, and other metrics. You can track metrics like Cost per thousand impressions known as CPM or CPL – Cost per lead etc. Apart from the KPIs, you will also get an insight into the feedback of the audience around your product, your packaging, dislikes, etc.
3. Influencer marketing is only a thing among the GenZ
Influencers don’t belong to just one age group and neither do their followers. These days, influencers from each age group can be found online. This helps plan your campaign and know which influencer will align with your brand’s image. We have influencers related to fitness, motherhood, food, automobile, and many more niches who are followed by both the younger and the older generations.
4. Influencer marketing is just an advertisement
Many people have this perception that every influencer’s content is an ad. Not necessarily, a lot of them are genuine reviews to help the audience understand more about a product. Moreover, with the new guidelines by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), it is now mandatory for every influencer to mention #ad in their content where they are endorsing a product.
5. Influencers can be a hoax (fake followers)
You can always examine if an influencer has fake followers or not. Most of the influencers with a large number of followers, actually have a genuine audience following them. The bonus part is that their content speaks for itself, so nothing to hide! Since the truth is out there, every influencer is careful with their brand. Hence, the majority of them keep everything related to their account authentic and real. You can also do an initial check on the basis of their engagement rate prior to influencer selection, the higher the engagement rate, the lesser the chances of them having fake followers.
6. Influencer marketing is meant for bigger brands
Not true! Many small brands have started integrating influencer marketing into their social media strategies, and that’s how they have gotten major online brand visibility. You can invest as per your budget and get the results accordingly. What’s more? It is not only limited to products that are for consumption, but also for retail stores, financial services, or B2B services.
7. You will get great results in a snap
It may take time for your expected metrics to be delivered but you will see results sooner rather than later. Moreover, influencers put up their content as per a planned schedule and may use your product again for some other content piece. Good networking and mutually beneficial agreement with the influencer may prove to be an advantage for your brand. This way, influencers can also be used for on-and-off campaigns. Long-term sustained campaigns based on mutually beneficial relationships are better at giving results.
Conclusion
Leaving all these myths behind, every brand should focus on the brighter side of influencer marketing. We hope to bust a few of these myths, and we suggest that it’s high time to adopt this new marketing strategy. You never know how fruitful it proves for your brand, and you see a hike in relevant metrics. Influencer marketing has been effective in the past and continues to be effective in the current scenario too.
If you found this blog to be helpful browse through our website for other blogs on similar topics or get in touch with us for your next influencer marketing campaign! Download the Kofluence app and find relevant campaigns catering to your target audience! To opt-in, download the Kofluence app here: iOS users, Android users.
