A good or bad influence?

One of the most common forms of digital marketing among almost all industries at the minute is influencer marketing. The concept of influencer marketing is to pay a person [influencer] that has a large social media following to advertise and promote your product on their channels. The influencer chosen generally will have an ideal audience that the product is aiming to target. There are several positive and negative aspects to engaging in influencer marketing, as I will outline below.

In theory, influencer marketing is a great idea and can be cost effective for the advertiser. However, there can be many dangers to this marketing strategy. Choosing a non-controversial influencer, or one that has never vocalised negative opinions online, is the first step to avoiding any damage or negative connotations to the brand name.?

In addition, it is so important to trust the influencer to correctly advertise the product per the brief provided. Although content can be delated, once it has been posted online, it will never be permanently erased. One example of this is Scott Disick promoting Bootea. In his brief he was provided with assets and copy and instructions for which caption to put under each post. Carelessly, Scott copied and pasted the entire sentence reading “here you go at 4pm est, write the below: Caption: ……”. This type of mistake can create a negative image for Bootea as it highlights the fact that the content provided is scripted and was not pre read before posting.?

Although there are a number of risks to consider, there are several benefits to utilizing influencer marketing in any marketing strategy. In my opinion, these benefits outweigh the potential risks, especially in the modern advertising world where social media has such importance. Firstly, influencer marketing can be a strategic way of creating brand awareness with the desired target audience. It can be much more cost effective than celebrity endorsement, achieving similar (if not higher) engagement and reach with a more specific audience for the product.?

One notable example of effective influencer marketing is well-known health and beauty retailer Boots partnering with Tik Tok star and influencer Lauren Whelan. Lauren Whelan is known for her Tik Tok “Get Ready with me” content. Boots saw this as an amazing opportunity for their brand and partnered with her to produce a variety of sponsored beauty content. This was extremely successful for boots as Lauren Whelan is a topical influencer in Ireland at the moment and appeals to the ideal audience for beauty and makeup content. This partnership in particular was talked about amongst my own friend group, where we would all range from 20–25-year-old females. When the target audience is ever-present on social media, as was the case with Boots in this scenario, effective influencer marketing can only be seen as a positive.

It is fair to conclude that although there are a number of risks involved with utilizing influencer marketing, it is definitely an effective and successful marketing strategy for any brand to partake in. In my opinion, if executed correctly with a suitable influencer for the brand, influencer marketing can be both an interesting and beneficial way to engage with consumers and to drive brand awareness among the target audience of the product. And even when influencer marketing goes awry, as was the case with Disick and Bootea, the brand name is still gaining traction through its connection to the influencer. As I have previously stated, if the target audience are the percentage of the population who are always on their phone, I feel as though influencer marketing is the way to go.

Sarah McMahon Graduate Account Executive