56 Influencers Share Their Biggest Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

In 2017, influencer marketing saw an exponential growth of 198%. A lot of this can be attributed to its efficacy in building brand awareness and improving business sales.

A perfectly executed influencer marketing campaign looks incredible and does a whole lot of good for brands. An objective third party might even call it effortless and organic.

But let’s be frank.

There is no playbook. No rules or guidelines. No framework that you can use to design that perfect campaign.

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Influencer marketing is a tricky landscape to navigate with its ever-changing nature and emerging trends.Each day presents new challenges which leave even the best of influencers stumped about how to improve engagement.

What works for one brand may not work for another. This uncertainty leaves them more susceptible to making mistakes.

While some influencer mistakes are more common than others, it’s important to be aware of all of them. After all, only when you’re aware of any pitfalls, can you avoid them.

Typical Influencer Mistakes

Before we move on to hear from the experts, let’s take a quick peek at some common influencer mistakes.

Saying “Yes” to Everything

I’ve seen this a few times with new influencers. They tend to say yes to any brands that approach them without considering whether or not the brand aligns with their niche.

Other than that, they also tend to agree with anything the brand or agency tells them to do.

It’s important to question whether the brand and the content a brand is suggesting will fit well with your audience.

Ignoring FTC Guidelines

Another common influencer mistake I see new and experienced influencers make is ignoring the FTC guidelines.

According to the guidelines, it’s critical that brands and influencers disclose their paid partnerships to consumers to ensure they make informed decisions.

Not everyone understands which partnerships call for a #ad or #paid hashtag.

Buying Fake Follower and Engagement

The biggest influencer mistake an influencer can make is buying fake followers and engagement. Whether it’s through comment pods or using bots, either way, it’s just wrong.

I understand that it’s a numbers game, but using fake numbers only tarnishes your reputation and that of the industry.

There are many other mistakes influencers make. The important thing is learning from your mistakes and those of others.

That’s the aim of this expert roundup. So, without further ado, let’s hear from the experts about the biggest influencer mistakes they’ve made in the past, and how you can avoid them.

Please note: This roundup has been structured in ascending order, and not according to expertise.

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#1. Andrea Learned – Learned On

The biggest influencer mistake: I could definitely have owned it a bit earlier on in my career.

Whether you have 500 followers in your very specific niche sector or one million in another if people are starting to “listen” to you and are re-sharing what you have to say – that’s a responsibility.

Be proactive, not reactive. Make your own policy about how you want to engage and what you most hope to contribute to the conversations.

You DO have a unique perspective and deep wisdom that can help others – and you probably have that right now. (You don’t have to be in the C-Suite to be an influencer, either – p.s.)

#2. Andy Crestodina – Orbit Media

The biggest influencer mistake: For years, I contributed to everything possible: contributor quotes, roundups, interviews and HARO requests. Some contributions went live, some never even saw the light of day.

I never paid attention or followed up. Then I gradually learned that a lot of these could be repurposed and combined into bigger pieces of content.

So now I save all of these little-emailed conversations, quotes, and contributions. They go in a folder and once a year or so, I dig in and look for opportunities to repurpose all of those answers …and it’s a gold mine.

It’s turned into a fast way for me to create high-value, keyphrase-focused content. It still takes work to hammer 12 contributions into an article, but it’s faster than starting from scratch!

#3. Brian Carter – Brian Carter, Keynote Speaker

The biggest influencer mistake: If you’re a bootstrapping influencer who came out of nowhere – in other words, you didn’t inherit millions from daddy you can spend on a publicist- then it takes consistent hustle to create and maintain your influence. And the more consistent you are, the more your influence grows every day, just like a savings account.

It helps to love what you do, but you also need to watch out for ADHD. One of the biggest influencer mistake I’ve made is jumping from one fascinating strategy or platform or channel to another a little bit too much.

I might get all focused in on Facebook video or Instagram for a while and neglect the other platforms and channels, and they don’t grow or benefit me as much as they could.

I haven’t been as consistent as I could have been with blogging every week, tweeting all the time and continually answering HARO requests.

The lesson is, you should create a consistent doable plan (don’t bite off more than you’re going to be able to chew), and delegate any parts of it that you can, or parts you find to be drudgery so that you get consistent results.

You can find affordable virtual assistants on websites like Upwork or Fiverr. Create an influencer growth plan and execute it consistently every week.

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#4. Brian Hart – Flackable

The biggest influencer mistake: One of the most common and noticeable influencer mistake newbies make is losing site of what got them there in the first place.

In my case, it was my witty, edgy and honest tone that helped me stand out from others in my industry and prompted my online following to snowball.

Initially, I responded to this surge in influence by softening my tone and playing it safe, reluctant to take risks that could turn off a portion of my following, however small it might be.

What I found was that by trying to please everyone, I was no longer inspiring or motivating anyone.

Since coming to that realization, I have shifted my tone back to where it had been, embracing my true personality, passion and humor.

#5. Cameron Conaway – Solace

The biggest influencer mistake: My biggest influencer mistake resulted from a brief period of saying yes to whatever came my way.

I ended up taking on what for me was an exciting experience but not one that resonated with my audience.

The lesson: It’s essential for those considered influencers to have a deep understanding of the micro-audiences within their overall audience, and to make decisions accordingly.

#6. Chad Pollitt – InPowered

The biggest influencer mistake is at the beginning of this year I embarked on three high-commitment influencer projects involving ebooks and grossly underestimated the amount of time they would take to execute. The end result – grossly underpaid. It wasn’t the client’s fault, it was mine.

Whatever time you think it’s going to take to execute a high-commitment influencer campaign make sure to add another 20% to 60% (the range is broad because some people are better at estimating project timelines than others) to the estimate. That’s your cushion. One of the projects I worked on actually took me twice as long as originally estimated. Build in a cushion you’re comfortable with.

#7. Charlene Li – Altimeter

The biggest influencer mistake I’ve made is not pushing hard enough.

There have been a few times when I’ve succumbed to the pressure to post something, anything to just be present.

That’s not enough — every time I share or post, I need to push myself to be as relevant as possible.

If my palms aren’t sweating at least a little, I know that I’m just dialing it in.

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#8. Chelsea Krost – Chelsea Krost

The biggest influencer mistake: One of the biggest influencer mistakes I have made was letting the Agency or the Brand in the past in simple terms, “run the show.”

By that I mean, wait for the brand to suggest creative, activation platform, budget, etc.

What I have learned over the past 10 years working in this space is that this landscape is foreign to most people and they need to be advised on what YOUR capabilities, creative concepts, and dominate channels are.

In many cases, it is easier for an influencer to ask for a creative budget and share with the client what creative and scope of work they can do within that budget.

This helps streamline the conversation and eliminate endless email chains. As the influencer, we know what are audience interests and engagement behavior is like.

We need to run the show and educate the brand on the most authentic way to connect with our community! Try this tips to avoid influencer mistakes as an influencer.

#9. Chirag Kulkarni – Medly Pharmacy

The biggest influencer mistake I made as an influencer is not collaborating sooner with other influencers to collectively grow our businesses.

Not only do you get to form a deeper relationship with someone, but you can also leverage each others networks to grow faster.

 

#10. Chris Abraham – Gerris Corp

The biggest influencer mistake I’ve ever made as an influencer is not knowing my market value accurately without allowing either ego or insecurity to come into play.

When you’re being reduced to being an influencer, you’re professionally productized for your ability to meet business KPIs. It’s more akin to a cattle call or auditions.

If you dot all the I’s, you’ll be successful. But if you don’t know your value proposition, both positive or negative, then you’ll have less of a chance of being successful.

Don’t be either a primadonna or a shrinking violet. It’s only business, only showbiz.

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#11. Dan Knowlton – KPS Digital Marketing

The biggest influencer mistake is thinking that being named as an ‘Influencer’ has any other benefit other than helping get your foot in the door is a biggest influencer mistake you made as an Influencer.

I’ve been ranked as an Influencer various times, sometimes data was used, sometimes no data-backed method was used at all.

The only real benefit I’ve seen is it’s helped me get my foot in the door with potential clients, collaboration opportunities, speaking opportunities etc.

Once my foot was in the door, being named as an Influencer means nothing. I have to deliver on whatever is expected of me.

Because of this, my #1 tip is to focus on getting good at your craft, not becoming an influencer.

Originally published at Shanebarker.com.