7 Common Influencer Marketing Mistakes Businesses Make and How to Fix Them

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Influencer marketing is now a major trend in the business world, and it shows no signs of slowing down. If you open your Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or any social media account, you’ll find influencers from all walks of life trying to convince you to patronize different products and services.

So what’s the secret behind successful influencer campaigns? It’s simple – the brands and businesses behind them found out how to avoid the common pitfalls when constructing their campaigns. The good news is, you can too.

Read on to learn about the most common influencer marketing mistakes and how to avoid them easily.

Why is everyone opting for influencer marketing these days?

If you have a first attempt in influencer marketing that didn’t turn out quite well, you may no longer be a fan. And that’s mostly due to some of those mistakes we will still talk about.

However, when appropriately executed, influencer marketing can help you improve your brand’s reputation, boost traffic, convert leads to customers, and promote your business to achieve your desired results.

A quick look at the stats below is all the proof you need to believe that indeed influencer marketing does work. Numbers don’t lie, you know.

So, whether you’ve done it before and it was unsuccessful, or you’re considering a first attempt at influencer marketing, here are some mistakes or pitfalls to avoid to get great results from an influencer marketing campaign.

1 – No Detailed campaign plan

You know what they say about failing to plan and planning to fail? Yeah, that thing is real, even in influencer marketing.

You can afford to start an influencer marketing campaign without a concrete, detailed plan; it doesn’t work that way.

Fine, influencer marketing is the new cool, and everyone is jumping on it. But should that be your sole reason for joining the bandwagon? Of course not. Collaborating with a known influencer marketer is not all it takes to succeed; you need to start with a plan.

And that plan begins with setting your goal for the campaign. What do you want to achieve with this campaign? New followers on social media? Do you want to create awareness? Do you want people to sign up for your newsletter? Do you want instant conversion or want to generate leads? And so on.

This goal will lead you to strategize the best approach to the campaign and even guide you in selecting the right influencer marketer for your business goals.

Also Read: How Small Businesses Can Boost Their Sales Via Influencer Marketing

And it’s OK to have different goals for different campaigns. That’s like the best practice.

That’s why it’s always best not to make your collaboration with an influencer marketer a one-time partnership. And that takes us to the next mistake.

2 – Making the collaboration with an influencer one-off

So, let’s say you’ve had a successful marketing campaign with an influencer – do you then go-ahead to change the person because variety is the spice of life?

The truth is, more often than not, variety is not the spice of influencer marketing. 

There is a need to clarify this, though. The point here is not to discourage you from using more than one influencer marketer. Of course, you can have as many as you consider necessary. Also, it’s fine (in fact, often recommended) to change an influencer marketer or team of influencer marketers if they don’t give you your desired results.

However, the point here is to desist from changing influencer marketers after every campaign just for the fun of it.

This scenario is common because some business owners and marketers believe that social media platforms are a buffet, and they must taste all the meals on the menu. While this may seem like fun, it may not end in desired results.

The fact that an influencer marketing campaign gave you the results you wanted does not mean such results are guaranteed with every influencer. So, when you find influencers that get you results, stick with them. And with every new campaign, they better understand your products and services, so their efforts are more natural.

3 – Sticking to one social media platform

Apparently, this is where variety is cool.

Even when you have a presence on every social media platform, there’s always one where you have more followers than others. This often results in business owners feeling like they need influencers who are also popular there, leading to the focus falling only on that one platform. Not only does this stop you from getting the results you want with influencer marketing campaigns, but it also prevents your business from reaching a new and different audience.

If you have a strong presence on one platform already, try working with an influencer from a different platform to branch out and increase reach and follower count across your other social media accounts.

4 – Focusing solely on follower counts

Influencer marketers are targeted by businesses and different companies, mainly because of their follower count. Hence, it’s easy to draw the conclusion that the more followers, the better. Ermm, not all the time!

Of course, follower count matters, but it should never be the only factor to consider when looking for an influencer for your business. Remember that your influencer marketing campaign’s success or failure depends entirely on choosing the ideal person for the job.

Must Read: 10 Successful Influencer Marketers

If you focus mainly on the number of followers, you would get carried away and ignore engagement rates. An influencer having many followers is not enough; the ideal influencer is the one within your niche and can motivate and engage the audience.

Engagement and niche; two things you must never underestimate if you want to get the best result out of your influencer marketing campaign. And sometimes, an influencer with a lower follower count will get more engagement than those with more followers.

5 – Thinking you ’own’ an influencer

Influencer marketing is a collaboration and not employment. The influencer is working with you, not for you. The “I’m the one paying so I own you” mentality typical among some Nigerian business owners must be gotten rid of.

Under no circumstances should you see the influencer as less important or that you should be in total control of the entire process.

Of course, yes, you should plan and set your goals. Then communicate your goals to them, and together y’all can design the best strategy for the campaign, keeping the set goals in mind.

Influencer marketing is all about building relationships where both sides have the same level of power. Remember, you both need each other.

Failure to acknowledge means your campaign is headed for the rock. So, exchange ideas with them, collaborate with them, brainstorm together and most importantly, trust them and allow some flexibility.

And when you want to start doubting, remember it took some creativity and hard work from them to attain the influencer status in the first place. So, if they can do it for themselves, who knows, they may just be able to do it for your business too.

6 – Not Knowing when to ‘leave the room’

This is more like the continuation of the point above. It gets to a point where the influencers have to think on their own come up with contents that are best suited for their audience. And there you have the reason – their audience (followers), so they know them better.

7 – No follow-up

And this caps it all. Thinking just one influencer marketing campaign is all you need to keep your business or brand top of mind is a significant mistake most businesses make today. Because this is actually the beginning, not the end.

The first influencer marketing campaign would be to create awareness, followed by the second one for the generation of leads, and then there can be that last one for conversion.

Also, follow-ups can be done via mail and social media to convert leads and potential customers.

If you have plans to run just one influencer marketing and just move on, you should reconsider.

In Conclusion

Influencer marketing works like magic, provided you approach it the right way and avoid these mistakes made by others.