Influencer marketing is an enormous business – and it’s showing no signs of stopping.
The market is estimated to grow to $199.6 billion by 2032, representing a whopping 28.6% CAGR over the course of a decade. In 2024 alone, marketers are projected to spend 16% more on influencer marketing budgets than last 12 months.
The cultural impact of this industry is tough to overstate – possibly that’s why multiple studies have found that greater than half of Gen Z would decide to be influencers if given the probability, and over one in 4 plans to develop into an influencer.
There’s a very good reason for these figures – when influencer marketing works, it’s a runaway success. In the context of wider marketing strategies geared toward circumventing ad fatigue, working with influencers has also emerged as a scalable strategy to truly connect with the area of interest audiences tucked away in the corners of the media landscape.
Effective partnerships extend the reach of brands, boost the authenticity of their messaging, and drive revenue. Indeed, 81% of social media marketers describe influencer marketing as a vital a part of their social media approach.
But even top-performing marketing channels have their drawbacks, and for influencer marketing, certainly one of the biggest issues historically has been brand safety. The strength of influencer marketing is that you simply’re leveraging each creator’s unique voice; the drawback is that it will probably seem inconceivable to vet every certainly one of them.
Today, there’s rising awareness about the times when influencer partnerships go south. This doesn’t just mean campaigns that fail to satisfy a brand’s goals or influencers who can’t deliver the results they promised, but when influencer marketing actively harms the brand.
Unfortunately, brand safety fears are well-founded. The fallout from a negative influencer relationship may end up in reputational damage, lack of consumer trust, and missed sales. Resolving the issue might be tricky, time-consuming, and might often cause more damage during the means of attempting to fix it.
Some firms have seen their image permanently harmed by associating with influencers who caused bad publicity. Kanye West lost sponsorships after his 2022 hate speech outbursts, but Adidas faced a much bigger backlash for hesitating before dropping him.
One of social media’s most followed figures, Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, earns tens of millions from sponsored content deals, which could start slowing down following ongoing controversies surrounding his “philanthro-tainment” content, allegations of toxic and abusive behavior over the years, and putting his name on low-quality products.
Mismatch with the audience
Working with influencers who attract negative media coverage isn’t the only peril. Brands also must discover influencers who’re great matches for his or her messaging. They will want to avoid someone whose political stance doesn’t align with that of your brand audience, or who has a distinct opinion on divisive issues like climate change or vaccines.
If your audiences don’t align, it will probably damage each of your reputations and cause significant confusion and dissatisfaction amongst consumers. The challenge is that sometimes the topic has clearly opposing sides, but other times the line is vague. For example, if an influencer who lives in a state where marijuana is legal posts about their personal use, are they a protected match on your brand?
The vegan, cruelty-free brand MCoBeauty ran up against this when the influencer they worked with, Emma Claiir, admitted last spring to animal cruelty when she was a baby. Although many individuals laughed together with her and dismissed it as unimportant, the brand couldn’t risk continuing to work together with her.
It could even be something as minor as a clash of styles, like a chic, formal brand working with someone who uses a whole lot of crass language. Or an influencer promoting something they don’t really imagine in, like when people jeered Gigi Hadid for promoting McDonald’s or Cristiano Ronaldo represented Facial Fitness Pao. These mismatches dilute your brand identity, weaken your messaging, and make it harder to determine a consistent brand presence.
Regulatory non-compliance
In most regions, influencers need to disclose business relationships and label sponsored content. Failure to accomplish that may end up in fines, lawsuits, and sanctions, and damage your popularity for honesty, which may drag down customer trust.
Today the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires influencers who’re paid promoters to offer “clear and conspicuous” disclosure, and the UK has had similar regulations in place since 2008.
In some industries like finance and health, marketing claims are highly regulated. The FDA formally warned Kim Kardashian after she promoted Diclegis anti-morning sickness pills without revealing the risks of the medication. Only people who find themselves above legal drinking age are permitted to advertise alcohol, and so they still must accomplish that with great care. Even influencers marketing power tools must avoid violating safety best practices of their content.
“Beyond regulatory issues, working with influencers who fail to reveal their relationships puts brand equity in danger,” notes Emily Hund, creator of The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media, and a research affiliate at the University of Pennsylvania. “Plenty of brands have earned a popularity for being all marketing and no substance when it became clear that they prioritized a fast sale over integrity of the product or the message.”
The risks of working with influencers who engage in dishonest practices creates one other set of challenges for brands. Creators who run exaggerated claims, rigged contests, or are overly promotional is usually a liability, as Tower Jewellers discovered when their influencer Terrie McEvoy rigged a giveaway in order that her friends won.
Dishonest promotions may even occur with none malicious intent. If you’re employed with an influencer who doesn’t really understand your product or industry, they might make unrealistic claims by mistake. The same can occur with inexperienced collaborators who find yourself pushing a product an excessive amount of, leading to overexposure that makes consumers get bored with it, the influencer, and your brand.
Any lack of transparency might be damaging on your brand. When model Katie Price promoted Snickers bars, people were confused and disbelieving. It resulted in bad press for Snickers, which just about got fined by the UK promoting watchdog for running a campaign without being open about it.
Addressing the challenges related to vetting creators
The negative fallout from selecting the unsuitable influencer might be immense, nevertheless it’s also hard to predict. Influencers could cause trouble on your brand through their personal behavior, like scandal, drunkenness, or violence – or through the content they post or repost.
What’s more, issues of safety could result from something that happens now or will occur next week, and even when an event from their distant past catches up with them, making this all a minefield.
Dealing effectively with influencer brand safety requires an enormous time investment. Do you actually have the time to analyze all their past content for misalignment, mistakes, or dishonesty? And are you able to make certain that you’ve checked the whole lot? You might miss something significant that’s lurking on one other channel, like a podcast appearance that you simply missed since you only checked Instagram and X.
The only solution is to make use of technology. Advanced analytics can scan every corner of the web, analyze all the content, and vet influencers thoroughly, comprehensively, and with none gaps in a way that humans just can’t. Today, AI enables every kind of selling efficiencies, and tools have emerged that automate such a time-consuming evaluation at scale. These tools may also be used to discover emerging trends and influencer communities, like the rise of AI influencers, which might be an amazing strategy to stay ahead of the curve.
Brand safety has develop into a serious concern
In our conversations with brand marketers and the agencies that represent them, my team at Popular Pays has been hearing lots about brand safety concerns. While it’s all the time been a vital issue, the speed of social media and other digital-first channels has began to prompt a change in how people tackle the brand safety challenge.
The stakes are high – a successful collaboration can drive awareness, reach, and revenue, but one which’s mismatched, non-compliant, or non-transparent may cause lasting financial and reputational loss. Marketers who enter the arena with their eyes open and the right toolbox will stand a greater probability of success.
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