2020 is predicted to be a huge year for influencer marketing, with 60% of marketers planning to increase their influencer budgets. Still, that doesn't mean there aren't lingering problems and concerns from brand marketers. Understandably, marketers want to justify their increased spend, yet often haven't been able to find an approach that delivers the metrics they need. There are also those with in-house teams that don't have the right resources for strategically taking on certain issues.

At Carusele, we not only focus all of our efforts on influencer marketing, but pride ourselves on delivering real-business results to our clients. It's because of this that we're breaking down 6 of the most common influencer marketing concerns and how we're able to provide solutions for our clients.

6 Influencer Marketing Problems and Solutions

#1. Determining ROI of Influencer Marketing

It's not surprising that measuring the ROI of an influencer program still proves to be a brand marketers top challenge. We hear this issue expressed over and over and that's why we developed multiple algorithms and campaign models to cohesively measure influencer campaigns. The key is to ensure the campaign is properly designed from the beginning to capture the right data, has benchmarks set, and assumptions accepted in advance.

Also, there's no one-size-fits-all solution. Depending on if you're trying to generate e-commerce sales, retail sales, or lead gen, the approach and tactics you implement will need to be different. We've outlined those tactics here if you want to dive deeper into the right measurement solution for your brand.

#2. Social Network Algorithm Changes

It seems as though the algorithms are changing every other month, and the decline of organic reach continues to be an issue. Because of this, those who work with an influencer marketing model that relies 100% on organic reach typically fail to perform. Not to mention that these programs lack sophisticated targeting that ensures the right audience is seeing an influencers content.

Because of this, we piece in a layer of paid media into all of our influencer marketing programs. There are numerous ways you can amplify your content, but at Carusele, we gain access to our influencers ads manager accounts and run media directly from their channels. This strategy not only ensures that the right audience is reached, but allows the content to be seen by those other who match our target, not just the influencer's organic following.

#3. Time Investment of Running an Influencer Program

Good influencer marketing programs take time - and LOTS of it. Setting a strategy, vetting influencers, developing individual contracts, monitoring and approving content, all the way down to sending out tax documents at the end of the year... it's a very long and tedious process. If you don't have a fully staffed internal team to execute, then you're likely running inefficient programs. And even if you do have an in-house team, their lack of data and general industry knowledge still makes influencer marketing costly and difficult.

Partnering with an experienced agency may also seem like a heavy investment, but if you have the right partner it should save you money in the long run. At Carusele, we 100% focus on influencer marketing, and have been doing so for over five years (before over 1,000 newer agencies jumped on the bandwagon). Our experience with the 200+ programs we've run for consumer brands and retailers give us insider knowledge that helps us find the perfect influencers, implement custom strategies, and ultimately produce real business results for clients... that includes measuring sales lift.

#4. Understanding Influencer Rates

Determining what to pay an influencer for their hard work is no easy task. Not only do their fees increase as the popularity of the industry grows, but there are some influencers out there asking for outlandish compensation rates that will never prove a return. What's worse, some brands are actually paying these inflated rates largely because they don't have the context on fair market rates.

When it comes to properly paying an influencer, you need to start by taking into consideration what you're actually paying them for. We evaluate each influencers reach, engagement, content quality, credibility, and persona to develop a custom rate for each campaign. If you'd like to understand this more, check out our equation for calculating an influencer's fee.

#5. Understanding an Influencer's Audience Makeup

Identifying the right influencers to partner with for your upcoming campaign can be a daunting task, and what's even more difficult for many brands is understanding the audience makeup of each influencer. Tools can certainly help you out in this area, but they can be pricey and suck up a lot of your time. 

We use advanced tools and 8-step vetting process to hand-select all of our influencers for each of our programs. In doing so, we provide each of our clients information on an influencer's audience authenticity, engagement, and growth, along with ensuring the demographic and psychographic makeup of each audience aligns with the target.

In addition to understanding an influencers audience, there are many other factors that we vet to ensure an ideal partnership. Which leads us to our next point...

#6. Fake Followers and Engagements on Influencer Accounts

The anti-fake follower movement struck hard in 2018, but it still remains a concern to brand marketers. And we're not just talking fake followers, but false engagements as well. Again, there are numerous tools out there that claim they can easily identify the influencers you should avoid, but the importance of hand checking your influencers is not a step you can skip. Here are several quick tips that can help you red flag an influencer while you scour through their accounts. Tools are helpful, but they are made much better when used by experienced staff.

If you're still worried about handling these influencer marketing issues, contact us using the form below and we'll take on the challenge!