The Pros and Cons of Influencer Marketing

14 May 2024 | Performance Marketing

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Have you ever been on social media and seen a popular account doing a brand deal? Of course you have, since by this point, influencer marketing is one of the most rapidly growing avenues for advertising. Whether that’s paid sponsorships on Youtube, product placement in a reel, or perhaps a whole video dedicated to reviewing a product, there’s no denying that influencer marketing is one of the next big things in the world of marketing. But what is it? Let’s take a look at influencer marketing together and explore some of it’s many pros and cons.

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What is Influencer Marketing?

To begin, let’s start off by covering what the term ‘influencer’ means. An influencer is, by definition, someone who is able to persuade a large number of people, particularly online followers. They have a reputation in their online communities and have a certain amount of authority. You can think of them like celebrities, but online.

With that in mind, influencer marketing is when brands collaborate with influencers in order to create a marketing campaign. Like the previous section described, there are many ways which brands can collaborate with influencers. For example, there’s product placement, ad-read sponsorships, and influencers can even become brand ambassadors.

Influencer marketing can be great for brands, but it comes with some serious risks, too. Let’s jump into them.

Pro 1: Influencers quickly reach relevant audiences

One of the biggest benefits of working with influencers is the access that a brand gets to their audience. There’s a good chance for any influencer to have a great understanding of their audience; who they are, their likes, dislikes, political views, and more. Because of this, influencers are a great choice for a brand looking to effectively reach relevant audiences.

Having such an easy way to directly target a specific demographic is highly beneficial for any company, since it can make sure their ad campaigns are actually reaching the people who will care about it. There are very few products that appeal to everyone, particularly if your brand is more niche. Therefore, by avoiding advertising to the general public, you can make the most out of your money.

For an example, imagine a health and fitness influencer on Instagram. Since they post a lot of fitness themed content, their community is most likely those who are also interested in fitness. For a company that produces fitness related products, like a water bottle or sports apparel, this influencer would be a fantastic option to reach the fitness community.

Con 1: Your brand image is now tied to that influencer

In the world of influencer marketing, no step is quite as important as the initial research phase. Nothing proves this more than the fact that a company’s brand image has the potential to be sullied if they partner with the wrong influencer.

Something to keep in mind when working with influencers is that a lot of them have not received PR training. Therefore, it is entirely possible for them to be in good graces one day, and to fall out of favour with the public on the next day.

That is a risk that a brand must take if they decide to associate with an influencer. If an influencer gets into a scandal while being associated with your brand, if the scandal is bad enough, it could ruin your own reputation by association.

This leads to the importance of taking the time to research influencers before working with them. While a brand cannot predict the future of whether an influencer will do something the public will be against, it is possible to look into the past to get a guess of whether that influencer is a good option to work with. Have they gotten into any past scandals, are there currently any allegations against them, and what is their reputation among the community they influence in? When it comes to influencers, having a high follower count does not necessarily equate to a positive reputation, so make sure to take the time to research them deeply.

That can be another con to influencer marketing; the process of researching an influencer to partner with can be quite time consuming.

Pro 2: Your brand will gain more trust.

Like we’ve previously discussed, influencers have a great grasp of their audience. However, what we didn’t cover is that one of the reasons influencers have such a good grasp of their audience is because their audience places a lot of trust in them.

True to the definition, an influencer is able to use their popularity and authority to persuade others. This counts towards ideology, trends, and in our case, purchases. If an influencer gives a statement that they enjoy something, use it regularly, and endorse the product, then it’s likely that their demographic will trust them and the product they’re advertising.

Because of this, not only is influencer marketing a gateway directly to niche communities, but it’s also a shortcut to earning their trust. Collaborating with an influencer can make your brand seem more trustworthy. Many people make the decision to purchase something from a recommendation, whether that be a personal friend or an influencer they respect. This can lead to fast results in sales, as well as a great reputation among the community you want to target.

Con 2: You might grow too fast

Growing too fast may not seem like too bad of a thing at first; I mean, growth is the goal of any advertising campaign. However, there is more to consider. When you use influencer marketing, there’s a chance that you grow beyond what your management and systems can support.

Influencer marketing can be explosive. If you partner with a big influencer, there’s a chance they may send much more customers than you predicted, or were ready for. If you can’t respond to the demand in a timely manner, doing the campaign may backfire, as not being able to keep up with orders will leave a negative mark on your company’s reputation.

To illustrate this, let’s imagine that you run a cookie company offering a limited time, seasonal flavour. To get sales up, you collaborate with a big influencer in the foodie community, who gives a glowing review of your cookies. Your company gets thousands of new orders, but since it was a seasonal offer, stocks are limited, and you quickly fall behind on the orders. If this happens, customers will become frustrated with you and you’ll gain a lot of one-time purchases rather than long term customers. What’s more, you risk the influencer refusing to work with your brand again.

Pro 3: Influencers are already equipped with skills in advertising

While there is time lost in researching the perfect influencer to work with, this can even out later on, as most influencers already have the knowledge and skills required to advertise a product.

For one, influencers are already great at marketing. They know how to get people’s attention, as well as how to appeal to their demographics. This is already a great start towards any marketer. In addition, they make a great case of ethos; just their authority makes them stand out as marketers already. Moreover, content creation is what they do daily; by the time they’re big enough to be reached out to for a brand deal, they should be experts on this already.

As long as you give your influencer an adequate approval process before posting content, you can save a lot of time with influencers that you may have lost finding them. Never overlook this step, since even though influencers are already pro marketers, there’s always a chance for them to post something that doesn’t align with your brand image.

Con 3: The budget

Influencer marketing is a great investment, but a pricey one. Influencers with a large following can charge a very large sum for an ad endorsing your company, and for small companies, this sum may not be worth it.

In order to combat this, your business can also consider looking at micro-influencers and nano-influencers, who have a smaller following due to being far more niche than a normal influencer, and thus, are cheaper. If you can find a micro-influencer or nano-influencer who fits what your business is all about, it’s a great idea to contact them!

Final Thoughts

Influencer marketing is becoming huge, and with good reason. There are so many pros that come with making a deal with an influencer, particularly for companies that have a specific niche that they want to reach. But keep in mind that influencer marketing has it’s share of cons, too. If you’re interested, be sure to carefully consider all your options.