What are Influencer Marketing Challenges Faced by Brand?

 

Influencer marketing is, undoubtedly, one of the best tools that brands have when it comes to putting their brand out there. When done right, influencer marketing can get excellent results for the brand. However, like most things, that also comes with its own set of challenges. Here, we will tell you about some of the most common influencer marketing challenges faced by brands.

If you have already run influencer marketing campaigns for your brand then you might have already faced these challenges. Or this might be your first campaign and you definitely need to look out for these challenges so that you get the best out of your campaigns. Here, we won’t just tell you about the challenges of influencer marketing faced by brands but also how to avoid them.

 

5 Influencer Marketing Challenges Faced by Brand

 

1. Understanding and Choosing the right kind of influencer

This is probably one of the biggest influencer marketing problems faced by brands, especially at an initial level. Understanding the type of influencers and then choosing the right one for your brand can be difficult.

To get the basics right, there are four types of influencers- nano influencers, micro-influencers, macro-influencers, and mage influencers. How these influencers are differentiated is by their following size; with nano influencers having less than 10k followers and mega influencers having millions of them.

Now that you know the types of influencers, the next is how to choose the right influencer for your brand. By taking into account what your needs actually are, you can choose the right influencer for your brand.

 

2. Spotting Fake Followers

Another one of the biggest influencer marketing challenges faced by brands is spotting fake followers. Many times, influencers, especially the ones who are new to the industry, tend to buy followers in order to increase their followers’ count. Buying fake followers doesn’t just generate low engagement but it can also take a toll on the brand’s reputation if a brand chooses to work with an influencer with fake followers.

All social media platforms fall prey to these fake users. In fact, it was projected that out of the $744 million that was spent of influencer marketing, about $102 million was wasted on fake followers. So, this is a big challenge faced by brands and if you are a new brand, make sure that you steer clear of this. Here are a few ways that can help you steer clear of the fake followers-

• Taking a look at the comments on the influencer’s posts can give you an idea of whether they look authentic or not.
• Calculate the influencer’s engagement rate and if it is abnormally high or low as compared to the influencer’s following then it can be suspicious.
• If an influencer has relatively low content on his/ her feed but a high number of followers then this can mean fake followers too.
• If an influencer follows a very large number of people then it could mean that the influencer is using the ‘follow for follow’ or ‘follow-unfollow’ strategy.
• You can also take a look at the influencer’s followers’ list. If you see too many accounts with no profile picture, low follower count, low or no posts on their accounts, or no name on profile then this could all mean that the followers are fake.

 

3. Keeping a track of all influencer activities

Keeping a track of all influencer activities is also one of the influencer marketing problems that brands face, especially when a brand hires many influencers for one campaign. However, it is also extremely important to keep a track of all the activities. 

So if you are a brand facing similar issues then, in such cases, making use of software or a tool can be really useful. This won’t just make your work easier but also reliable and much more effective. Alternatively, you can also hire a company or an agency specializing in influencer marketing that can take care of all these things for you.

 

4. Measuring ROI of campaigns

Measuring the ROI of a campaign is also one of the top influencer marketing challenges that brands face. After a campaign has been completed, many brands struggle with measuring its results. However, measuring the ROI is extremely important and it absolutely shouldn’t be overlooked.

So, if that’s something that you have been missing out on or struggling with, you can read our detailed guide on how to measure ROI. Once you start measuring the ROI, you can start planning your upcoming campaigns even better. 

 

5. Managing Campaign Expenses

The next on our list of influencer marketing challenges faced by brands is managing marketing expenses. According to the Mediakix report, this is a concern for about 38% of the brands as influencer costs are on the rise. Not just influencer costs but the costs of tools, software, platforms, etc. also add up to these costs.

Hiring an influencer with a higher follower count will cost you even more as compared to an influencer with a lower follower count. Considering all of this, marketing campaigns can certainly go out of budget. Calculating your ROI is also very important here as that can help you with budgeting as well.

Here, we told you about the top 5 influencer marketing challenges faced by brands. Have you ever faced these influencer marketing problems? Or are there any other challenges that you have ever faced?

Even if you are a new brand just starting out with influencer marketing, it is important to not worry and take precautions and the correct measures to tackle these influencer marketing challenges.