Influencer marketing continues to throw up challenges for marketers (research)

Influencer marketing continues to gather momentum as brands simultaneously try to (a) combat consumer apathy towards paid-for advertising, and (b) take advantage of the rise and rise of content-driven micro-influencers in the marketplace.

While there are definite nuances within the influencer arena – I wrote about this recently (Influencer marketing versus influencer relations – which one is best for your business?) – on the whole marketers are quickly moving from dabbling in the space to taking it a lot more seriously.

Of course, with myriad opportunities come challenges, as a recent Nasdaq Corporate Solutions/PR News Pro survey of PR professionals and brand communicators found (see infographic below).

Not one major hurdle stands out

In a classic case of ‘death by a thousand cuts’, the challenges faced by marketers are many and varied; in other words, marketers are not confronted by one major hurdle but a number of smaller ones, which I find interesting. I’d say this is due to the fact influencer marketing is a very nuanced discipline in which one size definitely does not fit all.

The challenges marketers say they face are:

• 21% of respondents of the Nasdaq survey believed getting the attention of influencers was the number one issue;
• for 19% however, the main challenge was measuring the success of an influencer campaign;
• 18% said identifying the influencers relevant to their business was a key dilemma, while for 17% of respondents, it was creating content that influencers would find compelling;
• 15% had issues maintaining a relationship with influencers that lasted beyond a one campaign.

So, lots of challenges but none that seem insurmountable enough to dominate the thoughts of marketers and PR people carrying out influencer programs.

The other statistics that caught my eye were around the types of influencers that respondents engaged with most.

It was a ‘mixed grill’ of responses that included industry professionals (61%), industry personalities (57%), bloggers (55%), customers (55%) and analysts (23%). Poor ol’ celebrities came in last at 15%.