10 min read
| May 30, 2018
As most of us already know, Influencer Marketing is far from being just a passing trend. It’s becoming a key element in many companies’ marketing strategies. For that very reason, many brands are choosing to work alongside Influencers to achieve certain objectives.
But what happens when these campaigns are executed without first carrying out any market research or without previously defining a strategy? In such cases, as with any other area of marketing, the desired results are often unattainable and campaigns can cease to be profitable. Here at Influencity, we’re going to take a look at a series of common errors that are often made when preparing, managing or finalising these types of campaigns. Because we can always learn from our mistakes.
1. Having no set objectives.
An influencer campaign should never, ever be carried out without an objective in mind. Sometimes the eagerness to launch a campaign of this character can lead to brands forgetting the most important element; what do they wish to achieve? What feedback do they want? Only once an objective has been set can brands begin to contemplate the route they wish to go down in order to achieve it.
2. Not analysing the chosen influencers
This is another common error which can lead not only to economic losses, but can also waste a lot of time. Choosing the right influencers is crucial for any campaign, and by that we mean influencers whose public match the brand’s chosen target audience. Knowing data such as the average age of the influencer’s public, or the predominant gender or cities in which they live, can be of much use when it comes to opting for a certain influencer for a collaboration.
Screenshot of Influencity’s software analysing audience data
3. Valuing the size of the community over its demographic
With Influencer Marketing, sometimes less is more. As we saw in one of our previous posts, What are microinfluencers?, sometimes it’s better to work with influencers who have more niche profiles that are focused on a certain topic, rather than working with profiles with big, generics audiences. It all depends on the brand and the campaign’s objective.
On the other hand, it’s key to analyse influencers’ post history in order to get an understanding of their tone and the type of material they post. This way, brands can figure out if an influencer is well-aligned with their brand identity or not. A successful campaign all depends on finding influencers who are most similar to the brand’s target audience.
4. Not communicating campaign essentials
This particular mistake is often made at the time of managing influencer campaigns and can lead to influencers not meeting brand expectations. In order to avoid this, a campaign brief should be elaborated prior to its launch, in which the brand’s objectives, the do’s and don’ts, timings, hashtags, mentions and required URLs are established. Influencers should stick to this brief so that their collaboration achieves the best return possible. After all, information is power.
5. Misinterpreting metrics
Both at the beginning and the end of an influencer campaign, the brand should have defined their KPIs so that it’s easier to identify the campaign’s performance. For example, if a brand only focuses on the low reach of an influencer campaign, a high level of engagement may go by unnoticed, which is a much more valuable metric for any brand.
Screenshot of Influencity’s software measuring campaign metrics
In conclusion, now that we’ve named the most common mistakes made in Influencer Marketing campaigns, try to avoid making them yourself and start seeing better results 
By: Alba Martinez