Influencer marketing is opening up a range of new possibilities for brands and marketers.
Through influencer-generated content, brands can amplify their content and showcase it to a broad audience.
However, just like any other marketing strategy, influencer marketing has its downsides too.
Not sure whether you should leverage influencer marketing for your business?
Check out its pros and cons:
What Are the Pros of Influencer Marketing?
Let’s begin by listing out some of the benefits you can reap out from influencer marketing:
1. Influencers Can Influence Purchase Decisions
Typically, influencers hold authority in their niche. Their followers look up to them for recommendations. When they recommend a product, their followers are more likely to take notice of your brand.
What’s more, their recommendation can also influence their followers’ purchase decisions. This, in turn, can boost your sales.
2. Influencer Market Is Affordable
Even if you don’t have a big budget, you can still leverage influencer marketing. Partner with nano- and micro-influencers to create branded campaigns.
What’s more, influencers who are new to the industry may also agree to work for free products.
You can also negotiate with influencers to work with non-monetary compensation. In return for content creation, you can provide them access to premium events, free food, flights, hotel stays, or merchandise.
3. You Can Save Time
Are you short on time?
Lucky for you, influencers can accelerate your marketing campaigns by creating content for you. Plus, their strong sway over their audience can also help you shorten your sales cycle.
What Are the Cons of Influencer Marketing?
If done right, influencer marketing can help you grow your business quickly. But you’ve to proceed with caution.
Influencer marketing comes with its drawbacks.
Check them out:
1. You Could Damage Your Brand Reputation
When it comes to influencer marketing, your brand reputation is at stake. When you collaborate with an influencer, you attach your reputation with theirs.
If they end up breaking FTC guidelines or posting offensive content, your brand can come under fire. Additionally, it can also cause monetary losses.
2. It Can Be Challenging to Track Your ROI
With investment comes accountability.
Unfortunately, many brands find it difficult to measure their influencer marketing ROI. To make the tracking process easier, you can use UTM codes and promo codes for your influencer campaigns.
This strategy can help you gauge your ROI and evaluate if you really benefited from the partnership.
If you’re still skeptical, you can leverage influencer marketing platforms for your campaigns. Here are some of the best ones, as compiled on my blog shanebarker.com.
