The Influencers: A Tragedy

Digital influencer engagement has experienced recurring waves of interest over the years. It started years ago with blogging. Then attention turned to Twitter. Now YouTube and Instagram have made digital influence hot again. After all, real co-creation with influencers can bring big benefits, often among audiences otherwise hard to reach.

But influencer engagement only works when it’s authentic. When influencers are paid to endorse a product and express an opinion, the audience is usually tolerant for a while. But when an influencer veers toward shill too often, credibility loss and audience erosion are sure to follow.

Over time, this threatens to disrupt the opportunity for everyone as audiences question the credibility not just of individual influencers, but of the whole medium.

And we have seen countless examples of this in recent months. In one case, scrutiny turned to an influencer who was caught staging a “surprise” wedding proposal.

With attention and buzz comes a lot of nonsense and too many bad actors. The industrialization of influencer engagement—through agents and budgets that are too big in comparison to the potential for impact—only makes the problem worse.

Going forward, influencer engagement will continue to grow and evolve, as it should. Instagram and YouTube will likely define this era of communications in the way that television defined the last one. Brilliant creative minds are inventing new ways to tell stories and have conversations that audiences love.

To succeed, brands and businesses today must embrace new methods and new forms of creativity. Start with this premise: If it’s not a little uncomfortable, it’s probably too conventional.

And then practice some simple rules:

1. Compensate, don’t over-pay. Influencers deserve to be compensated for their time and trouble, the same as any partner. But avoid the ridiculous. Too much cash distorts the value for everyone.

2. Follow the rules and ensure transparency. Most countries now have requirements that influencers include “ad” tags. Do this.

3. Protect authenticity at all costs. If you can’t come up with a concept that’s authentic for both business and influencer, don’t go forward.

4. Remember: Co-create, don’t instruct. Be ready to hand over creative control to the influencer. You picked them because you loved what they were doing and, more importantly, so does their audience. Trust them to create something that will work.

Don’t contribute to turning the influencer engagement opportunity into a tragedy of the commons.

Marshall Manson is a Partner in Brunswick’s London office. He leads the firm’s digital offer in the UK, Europe and other key markets.

Illustration: Tomasz Walenta