For the non-Australians reading this, it’s the equivalent of being a burger and a fries short of a Happy Meal. And it accurately describes most businesses using influencer marketing.
I was speaking with a business owner last week who told me that his clothing company had been asked to spend upwards of $7,000 a pop on niche Instagram influencers who couldn’t even demonstrate real data to prove their value. In a nutshell, that’s why I never work with Influencers at Creatomic.
If you had a marketing team who wouldn’t show you their stats, their analytics or even a single data point to show you that they’d been getting results, would you trust them? Absolutely not! But many people do when it comes to Influencers. It’s as though they’re magical pixie beings that get a free pass.
When I’ve worked with Influencers, I have found that there are only 3 ways to make it worth your while:
- Get their numbers before you work with them, verify that they are and they do and the accomplish what they claim, and look for their references.
- Set strict payment terms based on results and performance.
- Have a clear goal that they need to reach.
Influencers are just a channel that you can use with a wider marketing strategy. They’re not a silver bullet. They’re nothing special. And they are only as good as they can prove they are. If they can’t show you the numbers, if they can’t get you real performance, walk away. It’s just not worth it.
(Author’s note: Going to a Bunnings’ hardware store and having a sausage in a slice of white bread from a fundraising stall is one of the great Australian traditions.)
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.