The Hidden Pitfalls of Influencer Marketing (and Smart Alternatives)
Blog
Sep 06
At its best, influencer marketing introduces audiences to brands and products they might otherwise never encounter. The opportunity to engage with these large, pre-built followings has reportedly led over a quarter of polled advertisers to devote more than 40% of their annual marketing budgets to influencer partnerships — or roughly $24 billion in 2024.
But what happens when an influencer’s loyal following doesn’t make sense for your latest product, or when the public perception of a partnering influencer suddenly shifts? And how is influencer ROI measured, anyway? And what if audiences at large are burnt out on the whole “pay-per-shout-out” model of advertising?
These are the concerns leading some brands to steer clear of influencer collaborations, opting instead for alternative means of building relationships with new audiences. Read on for our list of the top disadvantages to influencer marketing, plus the best pivot options for digital marketers seeking a fresh approach.
Top Drawbacks to Influencer Marketing
Partnering with anyone whose primary interest is building their own personal brand is inherently risky. Here are some of the ways influencer marketing can backfire, either through ineffectiveness or by reflecting poorly on your brand.
Issues With Quality Control
The key to successful influencer marketing is its sense of authenticity — it’s an ad that doesn’t “feel” like an ad. However, when turning the responsibility of marketing a product over to an influencer, marketers surrender control of the messaging to influencers with their own style and personality.
This may lead to a portrayal of the brand that isn’t consistent with its desired image, and even strike audiences as painfully inauthentic (younger audiences are proving particularly adept at ignoring phony messaging). In extreme cases, such as an influencer getting caught up in a controversy via their own bad behavior, these collaborations can cause significant damage to a brand’s reputation.
Issues With Measurement
Tracking the real-world impact of influencer campaigns on sales or brand awareness can be challenging. Without an accurate gauge of an influencer’s ROI, it’s difficult to justify the cost of keeping influencers on the payroll.
Wrong Audience (or No Audience)
Not all influencer audiences align with a brand’s target market. If an influencer’s following is far removed from your company’s desired demographic, the whole effort is likely to be ineffective. Additionally, some influencers have been known to inflate follower counts with fake accounts and misleading engagement metrics.
Issues With Personality Management
At first it might seem like a resource-saving strategy, outsourcing some of marketing’s heavy lifting to full-time influencers. However, establishing and maintaining good relationships with influencers takes time and resources on its own — failure to properly maintain these collaborations risks a rapid decline in the quality of each influencers’ promotional material.
Alternatives to Influencer Marketing
In light of these drawbacks, some brands prefer marketing strategies that maintain full control over ad quality and produce more transparent (i.e., easily measurable) results:
-Content marketing in the form of blogs, native ads and videos showcasing products in action.
-Both paid and organic social media marketing, or content posted on social platforms designed to engage with followers. These often include paid ads to boost visibility among audiences the platform identifies as being likely to engage with your content.
-Email marketing via newsletters, updates, promotions, and personalized emails based on customer preferences and behavior.
-SEO, both OnPage (building up site content to rank higher in search engine results) and OffPage (improving the website’s authority score via backlinks).
-PPC campaigns via Google Ads or social media platforms.
-Referral programs designed to reward existing customers for introducing their friends to the brand.
-Official PR announcing new products, events, or company news to media outlets.
-Rewards programs awarding points, discounts, or exclusive offers to repeat customers, particularly to those who leave positive reviews and share their experiences.
Influencer marketing has the power to connect brands with audiences they might never reach otherwise. However, some brands are wary of influencer partnerships, prompting them to explore alternative strategies for connecting with new audiences. Investing in these well-established digital marketing staples can keep brands relevant with their desired audiences without devoting time and resources to influencers promising increasingly ambiguous returns.
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