Influencer Marketing: 4 Don’ts That You Should Not Ignore

In our previous blog, we have covered what influencer marketing is, how it is viewed in the Mauritian market, and provided some valuable tips in our podcasts. Influencer marketing is considered as a subset of Digital Marketing and thus falls into the Digital Part of our Buzz Spot Concept.  What about the don’ts of influencer marketing? As many businesses are getting more and more aware of influencer marketing, they are keen to try this form of marketing for their business. If you are a start-up opting for influencer marketing for your brand, you should know that there are some don’ts that you should avoid doing. In this blog, we are going to cover 4 Don’ts of influencer marketing. 

1. Don’t exclude micro influencers

What is the difference between macro and micro-influencers? Macro influencer is a social media influencer who has between 100,000 and 1 million followers, unlike micro-influencer who has between 1000 and 100,000 followers. If you think that choosing a macro influencer is the right move, you are getting it all wrong! Macro influencer is not always the right option. Some businesses tend to think that since macro-influencers are famous and have over 1 million fan followers, it means they are the better option for their business. Just because a micro influencer has fewer followers does not mean they cannot do a good campaign. Remember, what is most important in an influencer marketing campaign is authenticity, relevancy, and high engagement. When we say engagement, believe it or not, micro influencers have a higher engagement rate which is 7.6% while for macro influencers it is only 5.3% according to a report from Fourstarzz Media. Here are some more reasons why you should not exclude micro influencers:

• A niche audience: Micro influencers have a more niched and focused audience which helps in generating engagement and helps when creating relevant content.
• Better availability: Micro influencers have a more flexible calendar when it comes to taking projects from brands since they are in a learning & understanding phase when it comes to getting their followers. 
• More affordable: Micro influencers are not expensive unlike macro influencers since they have a smaller fan following. 
• Fan Connection: Since the fan following of the micro influencers is small, they are perceived as normal people which makes it easy for their followers to relate to them. 

2. Don’t consider an influencer as a brand ambassador

Brand ambassadors promote a brand by telling people about a product whereas an influencer shows the experience they had with your product to their audience. An influencer is considered more as someone who has a short term relationship with a brand compared to an ambassador. In other words, an influencer is here to promote your brand once or twice only, while ambassadors promote your brand repeatedly. Not to forget, the fact that an influencer considers creating content as their main job, they expect some type of compensation from your brand when promoting your products compared to a brand ambassador.

3. Don’t fall for the fake fans and fake engagement

Did you know that fans and likes can be bought online? Yes, shocking as it may seem, it is something that has happened and is still happening. Some social media fraud uses Instagram bots or other social media bots to get comments, likes, shares, and extra followers. Thus, it is very important to spot fake followers when searching for an influencer for your business. There are various ways to spot fake followers. One way is to check if the person presenting themself as an influencer has automated comments like ‘Cool, Amazing Content, Nice, and more repeatedly in various posts. Like this, there are many other ways to spot fake followers. Make sure to do your research well before contacting any influencers to know whether they are trustworthy and reliable ones for your brand. We also suggest that you look into some previous campaigns or brands these influencers have worked with to measure their credibility.

4. Don’t Discard Social Media Platforms Other than Instagram

Yes, we know that the most important and appropriate platform for influencer marketing is Instagram and even 79% of marketers confirm the same. One thing that you should keep in mind is that not all social media platforms share the same audience. If Instagram has a younger audience, then another platform to consider for influencer marketing is Facebook. This social media platform is still preferred by the older generation or millennials we would say. Influencers can be found on various social media marketing platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, blogs, and more. You should know which platform suits you best to reach your targeted audience. You definitely need to consider more than one platform when opting for influence marketing. For e.g if you’re targeting a younger audience, Instagram and TikTok would be perfect for your business. Not only will it have a greater reach, but it will help better in conversion as well. 

Like this, there are many other don’ts to consider when opting for influencer marketing. We don’t want to list them all in this blog otherwise you might get bored reading each of them! Influencer marketing doesn’t have to be a headache, far from that. It is actually a strategy that you need to work on while taking into account many small yet significant factors. If you wish to know more, feel free to contact us, and together we’ll find your buzz spot. Finding the right influencer in Mauritius seems like a real brain teaser for you? Good news, we’ve already compiled a list of top influencers for you. If you have not downloaded it yet, you can download it here. Make good use of it and thank us later! Follow us on Facebook here for more valuable content updates.