Influencer Marketing’s Pros & Cons in Branded Content

Sharing is caring!

Influencer marketing is a form of word-of-mouth marketing that involves partnering with social media influencers to promote products, services, or brands.

Influencers are individuals who have built a large following on social media platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. They typically have more than 100,000 followers on their social media channels and reach millions of people through their posts.

Brands can work with these influencers either by paying them to promote their products or by providing them with complementary products in exchange for the promotion (freebies). In this article, we will look at what is influencer marketing, what trends it follows, and some pros and cons associated with it:

What is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing is a form of marketing in which brands work with social media influencers to promote their products and services. An influencer is someone who has a large following on social media, like a blogger or Instagram star.

They can be paid by brands for posting about the brand’s product or service, or they may use it for free since they find the product interesting and want to share it with their followers.

Influencer marketing trends

With big brands and small businesses alike looking to influencer marketing as a way to build brand awareness, drive sales and increase customer loyalty, it’s safe to say that influencer marketing is here to stay.

As the trend grows in popularity, there are bound to be some growing pains along the way. Here are 3 trends you’ll want to be aware of as you plan for 2023:

More brands are making use of influencers

According to a survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of influencer platform provider TapInfluence, 85 percent of marketers have used or plan on using paid social media campaigns in their marketing strategies this year. It makes sense—social media stars can reach millions more people than traditional advertising ever could.

Influencers are becoming more accessible

With new platforms popping up all over the place (like Instagram Stories) that allow anyone with an internet connection to access these influential stars’ lives (and careers), it’s easier than ever before for anyone who wants one (or several) pieces from their wardrobe or home decor collection!

If your brand has any sort of cool factor at all—and if not, what kind?—you should probably look into getting involved now.

Brands are working better with influencers

As mentioned above, there was once a time when working with an influencer meant having no real control over how they used your product or service within their posts/videos because “they’re just doing whatever they want!”

Those days are far behind us now due to advances in technology.

The benefits of working with influencers – the pros

Influencers can help drive brand awareness by using their huge followings to promote or review your product or service. They also have the ability to create more authentic content for brands, which is important in today’s day and age when authenticity is key.

Finally, working with influencers means that you have someone who knows their audience well at the ready; they understand what they like and what they don’t like, so they can easily engage with them – something that would be a lot more difficult if you tried doing it yourself!

The cons of influencer marketing

The cons of influencer marketing include:

Not all influencers are good. Influencers can be bad fits for the brand and their followers might not be the right fit for your audience.

Some influencers have a bad reputation, or they may be too expensive to work with. If you choose an influencer who has been in trouble in the past or doesn’t align with your brand values, it could reflect poorly on you as well.

Many brands don’t understand what kind of content will get the most engagement from their target audience, which means that they end up paying more money than necessary because they’re not sure what type of content works best for them business-wise or if there’s another relevant niche within this niche (e.g., “millennial travel vs luxury travel”).

Conclusion

It’s clear that influencer marketing is here to stay. And we don’t see it going away any time soon. As technology advances, more people will be able to use the internet and social media as a platform for their own brands—and the power of their personalities will make them even more valuable as influencers. That being said, there are still some things you should know before jumping into this type of campaign with both feet: how it works (and when not to use it), what types of influencers exist today (and how they differ from one another), what makes a good brand ambassador and more!