Why is Everyone Messing up Influencer Marketing? | by Fruit | ILLUMINATION | Sep, 2023

They’re taking it too literally

I started consulting a DTC women’s hair-loss brand last month.

Influencer marketing was perfect for their product. Yet, when I brought it up, they dismissed it out of hand.

We’ve already tried it; the ROI was terrible.

That made no sense to me.

So, I pressed them to share the influencers they had worked with. They had worked with 5 micro-influencers in the beauty niche.

Makes sense. Beauty product = beauty influencer.

Not in this case.

Unfortunately, they had contracted 5 very attractive influencers. So, even though they were in the beauty niche, more than 50% of their audience was men.

Surprise, surprise… attractive women = male audience.

Moreover, their most engaged followers were simps. So, all the engagement metrics collected at the superficial level were trash. To top it off, they promoted a brand every 3–4 days.

Why would anyone take their recommendations seriously when they’ve promoted 5 different products for hair loss in the last month?

Brands hire influencers they deem an ‘authority’ figure in their niche. They don’t assess if they’ve eroded their credibility over time and made their recommendations worthless.

I suggested they not take their niche too literally. The influencer is not as important as the ‘influenced.’

Their audience matters a lot more than them. So, brands should look for audience niches rather than influencer niches.

I found that 90% of their sales were women between 25 and 45.

Bingo.

All I had to do was find highly credible creators in any niche with that audience. I contracted a few DIY interior design influencers to promote their hair loss brand as a test.

It worked.

Them being interior design influencers and not beauty influencers wasn’t a hindrance. It was an advantage as they had never promoted any hair-loss brands.

So, their audience (our target audience) was more receptive to that promotion.

The influencers weren’t authority figures in the beauty niche; it didn’t matter because they had the right audience and credibility.

This strategy doesn’t work with high-value products because, in that case, you are actively seeking an authority figure. I wouldn’t buy a car because a fitness influencer I follow recommended it.

But I might buy a particular brand of coffee he promotes. He doesn’t have to be a culinary influencer to influence my low-ticket food purchases.

So, next time you’re thinking of hiring influencers, think broadly. Don’t limit yourself to a particular niche.

Look out for audience niches and use this unexplored influencer marketing tactic.

Fruit