Team AdfluenceDespite all the scrutiny and controversy that surrounded Facebook and the subsequent changes that were made to the social media algorithms in 2018, most of the brands and business are still loyal to digital platforms when it comes to their marketing strategy. And as the industries are changing and social media is evolving, influencer marketing shows no sign of taking a rest in 2019. Marketers are using social media channels to drive real business value, and doing everything from building brand awareness to diverting impressions into sales.
Gone are those days when influencer marketing meant celebrities were the only ones endorsing products and services. All thanks to social media, the pool of promoters and influencers has grown exponentially. In the past few years, influencer marketing has come a long way. However, it does have its challenges. Here are the top two challenges of Influencer Marketing that you’d want to overcome in 2019.
1. Measuring ROI and other results
About 76% of brands cite that measuring the results of an influencer marketing campaign and determining their ROI are among the top challenges they face. (Source: Read this)
One of the ways of generating ROI from your influencer marketing campaign is to leverage content beyond the campaign itself. It will not only help improve the performance of other campaigns, but will also impact your marketing mix as a whole. In fact, many times, the performance of influencer-generated or user-generated content (UGC) is better than the content generated by brands.
When it comes to measuring the results on social media, the best way is to use links. You can create custom UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) for each influencer working for your brand and then track the traffic coming from that link using Google Analytics. You can keep a watch on everything – from the number of visitors to the number of purchases (if it’s an e-commerce site) and the total revenue generated through that link.
However, promoting through Instagram and analyzing the results can be a bit tricky compared to other social media platforms. This is because you can’t directly include a link on an Instagram post. The ways to get around this is by utilizing Instagram stories with the “Swipe Up” feature or publishing the link in the bio. When an influencer posts an Instagram story, they can easily include the UTM link within the story features, allowing consumers to go directly to the desired website.
For brands, the best platform to monitor results is YouTube because the influencer can house the link in the description. Having a link in the description makes it easier for potential buyers to find them and search the featured product or service.
In addition to ROI, there are several other metrics to measure the success of an influencer marketing campaign, depending on what your goal is.
Impressions: The number of times your audience viewed the post is an important statistic to judge the reach of your campaign.
Engagement: The combination of shares, likes, comments also factor in the success of your campaign.
Conversions: Be it increased number of followers on social media or boosted sales, they all are indicative of a well-planned and executed a campaign.
2. Fake Followers and False Engagement
If reports are to be believed, approximately 83 million profiles on Facebook are fake accounts. Twitter has over 20 million fake accounts and about 8% percent of Instagram accounts are bot-driven.
As long as there is money to make, people will continue to find ways to fool the system. It is vital for brands to investigate their influencers before betting money and time on them. And even though these social media platforms are keeping a tab on all the accounts, you need to be vigilant to protect yourself from getting catfished. Look for the following warning signs:
Too many followers yet low engagement: If the influencer has millions of followers but low engagement rate, they’re either buying fake followers or not creating content that resonates with their audience.
