When you hear the term influencer, what comes to mind? Well, it depends on who you ask! For marketers, influencers are not just marketing tools, but rather social relationship assets that brands can collaborate with to achieve their marketing objectives. For some brands, however, the term influencer has a negative connotation that may cause them to avoid trying influencer marketing altogether. If you’re on the fence about working with influencers, keep reading as we debunk ten common myths that will make you reconsider.

Myth #1 Influencer marketing will disappear sooner rather than later.

If you haven’t considered an influencer strategy, you’re already late to the game. Many brands have reaped the benefits of working with influencers in the past couple of years, and as a result, 63% of marketers intend to increase their influencer marketing budget this year. Check out our blog post for a list of 2021 trends that shows just how much influencer marketing has evolved and will continue to in the future.  

Myth #2 Influencers are difficult to work with.

There is no guarantee that working with every influencer will be a perfect, blissful experience. However, many influencers are excited to work with brands, treating brand deals as professional work opportunities and even full-time careers. If you don’t want to deal with constant back-and-forth communication with unreliable influencers, platforms like RockitBoost are a great alternative. Our platform serves as the middleman between brands and influencers, eliminating the dread of dealing with difficult influencers, contracts, and negotiating.

Myth #3 Influencers can't sell.

Unlike traditional media, influencers typically create their own content in their brand voice and style. Influencers are not meant to be “salespeople”, but rather brand ambassadors that strive to promote products and services in the most authentic way possible to their followers. Instead of asking influencers to post a script that may come off as a sales pitch, Priyanka Dayal (content marketing manager at Centaur Media PLC) explains that “brands have to let go and allow influencers control of the narrative to preserve the authenticity of what is being communicated.”  

Myth #4 Influencers only promote makeup and clothes.

You can collaborate with influencers for every type of niche you can imagine. The most popular niches are fashion, beauty, travel, lifestyle, health, fitness, gaming, business, tech, and parenting. If your brand does not fit any of these categories, don’t worry! You can still find an influencer that is interested in your niche or product. An article by Carro lists the top 10 niche influencers you might have never heard of, including influencers interested in cleaning, dogs, retail, and planners.  

Myth #5 Influencers only care about money.

Although getting paid is a nice perk, most influencers don’t just seek money and fame. According to a study, 57.5% of influencers claim that they have engaged with brands to make an impact or effect change, showing that influencers care about being a part of something greater than themselves. Creative freedom is also crucial for influencers. A Crowdtap survey shows that 77% of influencers value creative freedom as the most important factor for them to work with a brand. As you can see, influencers are not greedy money-mongers, but eager content creators that want to produce cool content for impactful brands.

Myth #6 I can’t afford to work with influencers.

Kylie Jenner has reportedly charged $1.2 million for an Instagram post. Many brands would never spend this much on one post, and thankfully, it’s not necessary. Micro-influencers perform the bulk of successful influencer marketing (at least 90% of it) and they are much less expensive to collaborate with. If influencer marketing still seems to be out of your budget, there are platforms that allow you to only pay for results. With RockitBoost, you only pay influencers for the sales or traffic they bring to your site. They have all sizes of followers on the platform as well, from nano- to mega-influencers.

Myth #7 I don’t use Instagram for my business, so I can’t work with influencers.

Instagram is the most important social media channel for influencer marketing, with 5.9% of Instagram influencers claiming that it is the most effective platform to engage their target audience. Although Instagram is the preferred platform choice, there are several platforms (depending on your target audience) where influencers can post content. These channels include YouTube, Facebook, personal blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitch, Snapchat, and Clubhouse.  

Myth #8 Influencers are too young for my brand.

Now is the time to eliminate your perception of what a “typical” influencer looks like. A Statista analysis shows that 54% of influencers who created sponsored posts on Instagram were actually between the ages of 25 and 34. If your target audience falls in this age range, you’re in luck! However, for any type of product in the market today, you will likely find an influencer that is interested in collaborating, no matter the age. From kidfluencers to granfluencers, influencers from every niche, background, size, and age are capable and willing to work with a brand if it’s a product they likely enjoy.  

Myth #9 Influencers have fake followers.

Fake followers are still a challenge that marketers and brands face with influencers. Some influencers continue to cheat their way into increasing their followers, and others pride themselves on their organic growth and are aware of the negative effects of using bots. There are several ways that brands can find out if an influencer is being honest. For example, they can check the influencer’s engagement and the quality of their followers (likes, comments, and follower accounts). There are both free and paid online services that do this as well, such as socialauditor.io.  

Myth #10 You can’t get results with working with influencers.

If you still need more proof, consider this: for every $1 you spend on influencer marketing, you can expect an average return of $18. In other words, it’s worth the investment, and several brands have witnessed these results first-hand. Maybelline is one beauty brand that successfully drove brand awareness for their new Falsies Push Up Drama mascara with an influencer campaign. They collaborated with beauty influencers to create content that garnered 73,700 total views, 35.7 million total impressions, and the brand’s total media value increased by 1.3 times.

Don’t let these common misconceptions cause you to miss out on a great opportunity with influencer marketing.  Are there any myths we may have missed? Message us on Facebook to let us know!  

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