Why are brands throwing cash at influencers but getting crickets in return?

New Delhi: Age-old brands and their CMOs are constantly trying to understand why their approach to influencer marketing is not working. They hire macro-influencers with millions of followers, expecting millions of views for their branded content in return. However, most CMOs find themselves answering tough questions from their seniors about why the reel created by the influencer only garnered one-tenth of the views compared to their total subscribers.

The question that arises is why these age-old brands are not able to get the maximum bang for their buck despite spending big money on influencer marketing. Presenting an answer to this question, Avi Chanodia, Co-founder of CREATE, a talent management agency, said, “For a lot of traditional brands, influencer marketing is their last priority. Most CMOs treat it as just another marketing channel and do not pay much attention to it."

To add, brands impose restrictions on creators regarding what should be included in their content. As a result, creators find themselves limited in their options. Consequently, they produce average content that is not appreciated by their audience, and the content piece garners only one-tenth of the views compared to the creator’s total followers.

Adding to Chanodia’s words, Piyush Agarwal, also the Co-founder of Create, said, “Most CMOs do not understand how influencer marketing works as it’s a nascent industry, and they are not willing to incorporate feedback since it’s their last priority. The selection of creators for brand promotions is done based on the number of followers the creator has, not on the quality of their audience. It’s a data-intensive process, and brands should ask the creator for insights about their audience composition, which they rarely do. Such an approach leads to poor results.”

Suggesting a remedy to this problem, Chanodia recommended brands hire creators to plan their influencer marketing strategy as creators understand the perspective of other creators and the agency’s purview as well.

From the horse’s lips himself, Chanodia said, “The brand managers are always in such a rush that they do not consider the right metrics before involving a creator. It’s a three-party work that involves the creator, the agency, and the brand. It’s a communication problem more than anything.”

Ideally, all three of them should sit down and plan the content but most brands limit their interaction just to the agency and then wonder why their collaborations are not yielding results. New-age brand managers who talk to the creator and the agency are witnessing phenomenal growth in their sales led purely by influencer marketing. ”

Before we start criticising CMOs and brand managers for poor oversight and limited involvement in influencer marketing, we need to consider that in the modern world of communication, there are multiple marketing channels, all of which need to be optimised for the best results. Modern-day brand managers have a lot on their plates and often do not have the luxury of time to sit and work on optimising every medium of communication.

Does having a lot on the plate excuse a brand manager from making blunders when it comes to influencer marketing? Certainly not! Sharing his thoughts on this catch-22 situation, Agarwal said, “Sometimes brands approach us three or four days before a festival and ask us to help them create social media content in a very short period not understanding that creativity takes time. 

They share poorly detailed briefs and do not share data as well to help the agency understand who their audience is, keeping them in the dark. With agencies being kept in the dark, the creator's end result is also poor quality of content that engages far less users than intended.”

But can you blame the brand for not sharing data with the agency when they know that the agency they are working with today may not be the agency they will work with tomorrow? It’s a tricky situation to be in.

However, Chanodia has a solution to this problem as well. From the man himself, Chanodia said, “We understand that brands have a lack of trust when it comes to sharing first-party and third-party data so to mitigate this situation, brands can sign long-term contracts with agencies, as it will give both the brand and the agency a better understanding of how both of them work. Sharing first-party audience data will help agencies plan better, hire the right creators based on the right metrics, and foster a deeper connection leading to quality production of social media content.”

As mentioned above, brands approach agencies at the eleventh hour and have high expectations from the agency without providing the creator flexibility and audience data. Speaking his mind on the subject, Agarwal said, “What brand managers need to understand is that agencies do not have a magic wand that can create extremely engaging content in three to four days; it takes time. 

If a branded content piece has to go live a day before Diwali, then it needs to be planned at least a month before to yield quality results. Brands can only do so if they plan their entire yearly calendar, share briefs in due time, and not consider influencer marketing as another checklist in their marketing mix.”

Diving deep into the problem of branded content garnering only a tenth of the engagement received compared to non-branded content posted by the creator, Chanodia advised brands to be a part of a story told through multiple related posts instead of doing one-off collaborations with creators.

Citing an example of Ankit Baiyanpuria’s “75 Hard Challenge,” he said, “Brands need to view creators holistically rather than in isolation. A fashion creator can promote a travel company when she travels, a vlogger can promote a camera brand while shooting his videos, and a fitness influencer can promote apparel while working out instead of just a whey-protein brand. However, this needs to be done in the form of a story where the brand becomes an element in the narrative.

For instance, if you look at Ankit Baiyanpuria, not everyone was interested in his content for the fitness aspect; some people saw it as an ongoing tale that kept them hooked. Now, if a shoe brand had integrated itself into his ‘75 Hard Challenge,’ the shoe would have become an inseparable element in the story, making the audience feel that the brand is part of a genuine narrative and not just a one-off paid promotion.”

Wrapping it up, Agarwal concluded, “Give agencies the time they need, share data with them by forging long-term partnerships, and most importantly, communicate openly. Whether it’s human relationships or those between brands and agencies, the foundation of a fulfilling relationship is trust and communication. Take that leap of faith and watch the magic happen.”