Is Influencer Marketing More Dangerous than You Thought?
4 Major Dangers of Influencer Marketing
by Lisa Mwange
In today’s digital content haven, we have seen a boom in content creators, from young influencers on Tiktok, to upcoming comedians, mommy bloggers on Instagram and everything in-between the average person can generate a large following with the click of a button.
The general public are not the only one who have noticed the influence that such a large platform can bring. Marketers and companies have also noticed and have begun using influencers to promote their products even more that usual. However, many people have started to notice that the product promotional posts have begun leaning to the side of unethical.
Deceptive Marketing
When a user comes across sponsored content, their first thought is usually that the influencer has not used the product themselves. Most of the time they are right, the posts are inauthentic, and users can always decipher the real ones from the fake. This can hinder not only the influencer’s credibility but your company’s image and lower public perception. In a study done by Bazaarvoice, results show that 62% of users believe that influencer marketing takes advantage of their impressionable audience.
This can easily be combated by using influencers who have previously expressed praise for the product in unsponsored posts. Users are less likely to be wary if their favorite influencer who is known for eating Twizzlers is suddenly sponsored by the brand, rather than a no sugar vegan.
2. Avoiding Regulations
Did you know that less than 15% of sponsored posts on social media meet FTC and CMA advertising regulations? In fact, in April 2017 the FTC released a statement stating that they had to send out over 90 letters to various influencers urging them to comply with their regulations. How are users supposed to trust anything that is promoted in an unethical way and refuses to follow the regulations set in place by the government to protect them? It is as simple as using the hashtags: #spon, #ad, or #partner yet many choose not to in hopes of accumulating higher engagement.
3. Declining engagement
It seems that there are more and more influencers popping up in the industry causing the space to be oversaturated. Especially since many of the influencers are posting similar content users are finding it hard to justify the need to follow more than a couple of individuals who post similar content.
What does this mean as a marketer? Well, if a user is following multiple accounts that are all posting sponsored content, then they are less likely to want to engage with the posts. According to a study performed by MarketingDive in 2019, sponsored posts engagement rate fell from 4% to 2.4% in Q1.
This phenomenon can be reduced by working with “micro-influencers” rather than larger more popular ones. This can be successful because smaller influencers are able to create a niche, close nit community that inspires higher engagement rates on all posts (social media today).
4. Immoral activities
This may be the biggest threat to a company’s reputation when it comes to influencer marketing.
Many people have heard the name Logan Paul, some from his infamous boxing matches against large names in the sport, but for marketers his name is a sore topic. In December of 2017, Paul decided to post a video that he filmed in Japan’s suicide forest that left marketers and brands rushing to cut ties with the former family friendly You-tuber.
Influencers are just regular people who happen to have an online following, this mean that they are just as susceptible to making mistakes. The only problem is that they have influence over a large population of people, therefore are held to a higher standard in the court of public opinion. If a brand is caught in the crossfire of a controversial influencer and their poor decisions, users are quick to question why a business would want to associate themselves with such polarizing members of society.
There are many reasons as to why marketers and businesses should think twice before deciding to use an influencers platform to promote their products. However, it all comes down to one factor that no one person can control, public perception. It changes from brand to brand, influencer to influencer, and marketing tactic to tactic. I advise you to double check who you’re working with, whether their post meets FTC guidelines, and if their posts can be perceived as authentic.