The transition from conventional to digital marketing hasn’t been smooth for every brand out there. Especially with new-grads being specialized in digital marketing only & conventional marketers not being able to cooperate with the new minds, it’s a bumpy ride for brands established long ago. Let’s discuss some of the most common problems faced in influencer marketing.

1- First and most important problem: Understanding how Influencer marketing works

Call it influencer marketing, word of mouth marketing, or anything you fancy. There is no doubt that digital marketing has taken over the world with even more brands joining the wagon & spending huge amounts on influencers annually. But one thing that is different is that more money doesn’t necessarily mean better results. So you can’t pay more to get more exposure like you to rent the billboards. Influencer marketing requires even more research than conventional marketing, which also in return requires the using tools & potentially hiring people specialized in the field to understand said tools. Before jumping in and spending your one year worth of budget on one influencer to promote one the product at a one-shot project, you have to do your research on influencer, audience, budget, market, brand awareness, and much more.

2- Finding the right influencer with the right audience

While it’s kind of true that more followers might mean more engagement, thus reaching out to more people, with the technology on hand anyone can get any amount of followers in a matter of minutes by spending a few cents. So brands have to put some more effort & criteria while choosing their influencers, such as engagement rate, audience location, audience age, general profile, location statistics, and more. There are various tools that offer these at once, so maybe it’s time to invest some money into tools before blowing your money away.

3- Time is money but time is also in your hands

Conventional marketing meant you could get your project ready within the timeframe you set, and you can start getting exposure in a timely manner. “But”, when there is more than one side in a project, you should expect to see some delays & postponing. With influencers being the first marketing option, lots of brands are turning to these people to gain exposure, which means these influences have to create themselves a schedule to post a certain brand at a certain time to deliver what is expected of them. So your

influencer might have to post some ad for a brand on the day you want them to post for you, and you have to accept that you’ll be postponed because, in this world, it’s first come first serve. Be flexible if you want to succeed.

4- Understand that your aesthetics might not work for your influencer

Every influencer has its own set of aesthetics, and you’ll want to work with those who fit posts on their grids perfectly, in their own style. While you can and should definitely brief your influencers on what to show & what not to put into the frame, it is not ideal that you put pressure on them to share a certain photo in a certain way. If you want your influencer marketing project to succeed, you’ll have to trust the eye of your influencer to share your product & brand for maximum exposure, thus maximum returns.