When Influencer Marketing Goes Wrong

We always about what is the right strategy for influencer marketing and how an influencer has to be chosen to get the maximum amount of benefits. But not every time things go as planned. Some times what we perceive is not consumed by the customers. That’s when we realize that our step to choose an influencer or the strategy to project our brand has gone wrong. This is when we need to go back to the blackboard and start from the scrap with a new strategy and new ideas. Not necessarily we need a new influencer but some situations may force us to change the influencer. Strategies can be made again with new methods of brand projection, but when influencer choosing has gone wrong that invites a great deal of trouble. This article is more about how to not fall for wrong influencers.

Keep in mind that changing influencer has merits as well as demerits. The influencer who was previously appointed has already created an impression among the customers and became a face associated with your brand. Now at this moment, the decision to change an influencer and bring in a new face will take time to reach out to the customers and make them believe that you are the same brand just a new face. All the potential customers who were within your reach will be looking for the face they were familiar to. So, this is a tricky situation and this decision has to be taken according to the situation.

We can trace many instances of when influencer marketing actually went wrong not because of the strategy but because of choosing the wrong influencer. For example, Windows chose Oprah Winfrey to be their influencer marketer while rolling out Windows 8. Oprah was chosen to reach beyond the tech-focused people and to gain loyal customers outside the bounds of people with technical knowledge. But this effort fell flat when Oprah couldn’t deliver the desired result or the outcome Microsoft had expected.

Another example is Pepsi. It has been clear long before that picture is not enough because a motive is needed behind the visuals. Pepsi went with star Kendall Jenner, she being a star could only connect to the upper-class section of the society, failing miserably to promote the brand at the micro level. Whereas Pepsi is a drink that has a target audience of micro level?

These two examples of failed campaign teach us a great lesson, only showing and not addressing will not fetch any results. Hence, what needs to be done to avoid another such article with your brand’s example is to decide your target audience and choose influencer accordingly. Not always choosing a big face in the market will fetch a huge ROI.