Influencer marketing has quickly become one of the most effective strategies for marketers and business owners interested in building a strong brand. According to data cited by AdWeek, 94 percent of marketers who use influencer marketing strategies believe it is effective.

Other statistics indicate that consumers prefer content that features influencers over traditional advertising and mainstream celebrity endorsements. A study conducted by Ogilvy and Google found that 74 percent of purchases are made via word-of-mouth recommendations, and influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways to drive word-of-mouth purchases.

Unfortunately, however, in the rush to adopt an influencer marketing strategy, some brands and their marketers are making a few common mistakes. Don’t fear – these can easily be avoided once you’re aware of the issues. This article outlines 11 common influencer marketing mistakes to steer clear of in order to be effective in cost and results.

1. Not understanding your audience well enough. 

If you don’t truly know your customer, you will never be able to create an effective long-term influencer marketing strategy. Marketers who have not yet developed a clear marketing persona should place their programs on hold until there is a clear understanding of who the customer is and what the customer is interested in achieving from an interaction with your brand.

To create a marketing persona (some brands have multiple personas), you’ll want to understand purchasing habits, pinpoints, demographic information and psychographic information. Usually, all of this data can be collected through customer interviews.

Once you have a clear understanding of your target audience, it becomes much easier to identify the appropriate influencers to work with. Furthermore, you will be able to provide influencers with a clear brief that will help them to better serve your marketing goals and business.

With yomconnect, you can use our simple technology to gather reliable customer insights directly from real customers, while you advertise. This ‘double whammy’ is what sets us apart from other influencer companies that don’t use your advertising budget effectively – too many of them still take the ‘spray and pray’ approach.

2. Promoting your brand in the wrong channels.

Influencer marketing is not equally effective across all brand channels for every brand. There are a few variables that influencer how your campaign will travel with influencers, which is why having an agency partner (like yomconnect) that has operated hundreds of campaign is critical. Effectiveness will vary by channel depending on your customer focus (business to business or business to consumer) and your target audience.

3. Being impatient for results. 

While a powerful influencer marketing campaign can in some cases produce overnight results, this is usually not the case. Especially for companies that are not in the e-commerce space, influencer marketing can take time, but the results are worth it. The good news, is that with yomconnect’s unique technology, we’re able to track the campaign from the first minute it’s launched, optimising it throughout the campaign period to drive results. No other influencer company can promise you that.

Remember, effective influencer marketing campaigns usually help to increase brand awareness. Once a prospect is aware of your brand, they still need to move down the marketing funnel to the consideration and decision stages before making a purchase.

4. Focusing on the wrong KPIs and missing out on analytics.

The only way to truly know if an influencer marketing campaign is effective is to use an analytics platform to measure results. The need to measure performance is especially true for those interested in Instagram-based influencer marketing campaigns. Currently, most influencer companies only tell you how many likes, shares or comments your campaign receives with the influencer channels you book and pay for. We don’t think that’s good enough, so our team at yomconnect provide you full funnel reporting on every campaign, plus you receive reliable customer insights on every campaign, so you can continuously give your customers what they actually ask for, not just what you think they want. That’s how we help you gain new competitive advantage in market.

5. Avoiding influencer campaigns because of a single failed experiment.

No reasonable marketer would ever abandon email marketing just because one email marketing campaign was not successful. Similarly, marketers never consider abandoning influencer marketing just because one campaign was not successful.

Instead, use the data to improve your marketing efforts. Try to learn why the campaign failed so that you and your team can implement what you learned the next time you launch an influencer marketing campaign. Learning from failure is key to marketing success. Failing to try again is not learning from failure, it is succumbing to it. This is where your data comes in handy – and at yomconnect – you receive all the data needed to make great marketing decisions (and not just in your influencer marketing, either)!

6. Having a weak (or none!) call to action.

What action should your customer audience take when engaging with your native content? This is a key question that you should ask yourself before launching an influencer marketing campaign.

If you are planning to drive website visitors via influencer marketing, be sure to build a webpage that will allow visitors to take the next action as easily as possible. According to Google, 40 percent of shoppers will turn to a competitor if the original company does not offer a fully-optimised website. The same report also found that 57 percent of shoppers will not recommend a company that does not offer a mobile-optimised site.

Thinking carefully about the call to action associated with an influencer marketing campaign and ensuring it is optimised for your target audience are keys to finding success with influencer marketing.

7. Overlooking the importance of competitive analysis.

A great deal can be learned by analysing competitors, especially when it comes to influencer marketing strategy. If an influencer has already worked with a competitor, for example, it is probably best to work with a different influencer in order to create a unique brand voice.

If competitors have not worked with an influencer, it might indicate that there is a real first-mover opportunity.

8. Misunderstanding influencer marketing best practices.

Before beginning an influencer marketing campaign, take the time to learn best practices that will help you find success faster than if you try to pick them up on the go. Attending an event that focuses on influencer marketing is a good way to quickly become knowledgeable about this new marketing strategy.

yomconnect is a leader in influencer marketing campaigns in Australia, the USA and beyond. We have many years’ experience driving great results for brands in different industries. Contact us here to ask how we could do this for your brand. 

9. Allowing an inexperienced agency to manage influencer campaigns.

Since influencer marketing has become so effective, marketing agencies are scrambling to offer influencer marketing services. Unfortunately, many agencies do not have real experience with influencer marketing strategies, and are therefore typically not very effective when working with clients interested in pursuing an influencer marketing campaign.

If you are interested in working with an agency, be sure to select one that has experience working with influencer marketing strategies related to your industry or type of business. Speak with past customers to understand if the agency really is capable of helping you and your team be successful.

To create a successful influencer marketing strategy, it is important that you understand your audience and turn to analytics to guide choices. Be sure to properly brief influencers through your agency partner, and think carefully about the next step the target audience should make. Your agency should protect your brand from fraudulent activity, just like yomconnect does.

Remember that influencer marketing can take time to bear fruit, but an effective strategy can dramatically impact the bottom line if created properly.

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