By John Awe
In recent years, influencer marketing has become a valuable tool in the arsenal of communication professionals. There is scarcely any communications brief these days that does not call for leveraging the immense power of influencer marketing.
The tool particularly finds resonance with Public Relations practitioners because it is the modern iteration of the earliest and most potent form of publicity: Word-of-Mouth (WoM). People trust recommendations from family, friends, neighbours, church members, colleagues or just about any other individual over what they are told via paid advertising. When that individual is someone adored by thousands of people, the power he wields over their emotions and decisions is enormous indeed. When such figures endorse a brand, their followers are more likely to discuss it with their friends, family, and social networks, even if they do not immediately adopt the brand. This amplifies the brand’s reach beyond the influencer’s immediate audience, leading to a ripple effect of organic exposure and potential customer acquisition.
There is also the place of trust and authenticity in message believability. Influencer marketing embeds these two key elements. Influencers have cultivated a loyal following by consistently delivering authentic content that resonates with their audience. Over time, influencers create an environment of trust, through consistent posting of relevant and relatable content. Many get to the point they have a cult following and stark adulation, such that their followers begin to perceive them as credible sources of information. When such an influencer promotes a brand, their audience is more likely to trust the recommendation, resulting in higher conversion rates and customer loyalty.
Influencer marketing has also made it possible for communications professionals to better target their audiences. Influencers specialize in specific niches or industries, attracting followers who share a common interest. By partnering with influencers relevant to their target market, brands can ensure their message reaches the right audience. This targeted approach not only increases the likelihood of engagement but also enhances the effectiveness of the marketing campaign, as it reaches individuals who are more likely to be interested in the brand’s offerings.
What’s more, influencers are skilled content creators who understand their audience’s preferences and create content that resonates with them. By collaborating with influencers, brands gain access to their creativity and expertise, resulting in high-quality and engaging content. Influencers are adept at crafting stories around a brand, seamlessly integrating products or services into their content in an authentic and organic way. This approach captivates the audience’s attention and creates a positive association with the brand, leading to increased brand recall and customer interest.
However, in spite of this plethora of strong reasons to make it work, influencer marketing does not always produce the desired results. Put differently, brands sometimes do not get commensurate returns on the investment they put into influencer marketing. The reasons for this are varied and are almost always related to how the solution is applied.
For influencer marketing to work, adequate consideration must be given to every stage of the process, from the selection of the influencers to the definition of what they are required to do, up to crafting the Memorandum of Understanding to govern the relationship between the brand and the influencers.
The selection process is by far the most critical part of the process. If there is no cultural or ethical fit between the brand and the influencer, there is not likely to be a favourable outcome. Professionalism should also be a major criterion in the selection of influencers to work with. This is particularly true of Nigeria where the industry is still largely unstructured and there are no strong institutions to mediate and govern interactions between corporates and the influencing partners.
Nigeria is bristling with influential figures who are doing exceedingly well in their fields and can hold their own in any part of the world. However, the elephant in the room is that many of them do not understand the obligations of their role as influencers. Regardless of what they are doing that draws fans to them, they need to take influencing as a business and not just an expression of their lifestyles. In the business world, strict rules apply, and they must be followed strictly if set goals must be achieved.
About six years ago, a major brand signed up over a dozen influencers to make a nationwide comedy tour a success. They were paid tens of millions of naira to do only three things: show up at the concerts, take pictures with a handful of their fans who also happened to be the brand’s customers, and lastly, post these pictures on their social media handles. These requirements were not random. There was a strategy behind them and each of them was projected to lead to a specific desired outcome. The obligations were spelt out in the contracts the influencers signed before they were paid substantial parts of their fees.
However, at the point of execution, a problem emerged. More than half of the influencers believed they had met their contractual obligations by simply dressing up and showing up at the shows. They had to be chased to take pictures with their own fans and pressured extensively before posting their pictures on their own social media handles! One consistently came up with excuses not to take pictures with his fans while one blatantly said he would only take pictures with fans when he felt like it. This sort of lack of professionalism imperils the realization of set objectives for influencer engagement.
In the cited example, the tour was a resounding success, only because its success was not resting solely on the unprofessional influencers. Its success was driven by the other influencers who professionally fulfilled every term of their contracts. This would easily be why big brands use a large combination of influencers in their marketing activities to hedge the risk of failure. In the mix will be those who are passionate about their work, just as there might be a handful who are not particularly excited about delivering on every term of their engagement.
However, not all brands have the marketing war chests to engage a battery of influencers for their marketing programmes. This makes it imperative to pay careful attention to the selection process to pick partners who share the core values of the brand and have a track record of professionalism.
But beyond lack of professionalism, there are other factors that can make influencer marketing a waste of investment. One of such factors is the lack of authenticity between the influencer and the brand or product they are promoting. If there is no alignment in the personas of the brand and the influencer, the messages may not come out as genuine. If the audience perceives the influencer as insincere or believes they are only promoting a product for monetary gain, it can erode trust and undermine the campaign’s effectiveness.
Again, to avoid failure, efforts must be made to target appropriately. Large followership should not be the only reason for choosing a partner to work with. There is a need to conduct an audience analysis to be sure they are the people for whom the campaign is designed. Thankfully there are tools now that help to calibrate influencers’ followership along the lines of age, gender, interest and location, among other factors. Effective influencer marketing relies on choosing the right influencers who have a genuine connection with the target audience. If a brand fails to identify influencers who align with its target market, the message may not resonate with the intended audience, resulting in low engagement and poor campaign performance.
In conclusion, influencer marketing remains a powerful tool that can help a brand realize its set objectives. However, it can very well fail if poorly executed. While this may not be true of every other marketing tool, for influencer marketing, the devil is truly in the details.
John Awe is a strategic communications consultant.
