Celebrity Influencers: Worth The Expense Or A Waste?

An overemphasis on celebrity influencers and a hyperfocus on the large audiences they tend to bring has led many a marketer down a path that lacks depth and longevity.

Social marketers are reconsidering the importance of influencers, with recent reports demonstrating open apprehension over how much money is forked over with no clear ROI.

There’s no doubt that influencer marketing has been a powerful addition to the marketer’s arsenal, but these reports indicate that many marketers seized on the concept without putting much attention behind their strategies. An overemphasis on celebrity influencers and a hyperfocus on the large audiences they tend to bring has led many a marketer down a path that lacks depth and longevity.

Despite the public criticism, marketers should not abandon influencer marketing altogether. Instead, they must be more strategic in how they leverage the tactic. Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a celebrity or a single person with a massive following could result in massive reach and scale, but there’s a high chance that the message won’t resonate with everyone who sees it. This is an old-school marketing strategy crammed into a cutting-edge channel, and it runs the risk of getting lost in the noise if the brand message fails to hit consumers emotionally.

The real benefit lies in the long tail of niche influencers and small, tight communities that in aggregate resemble and operate like one big influencer. These communities give marketers the potential for resonance, authenticity, and a longer-term, cumulative play.

Yes, celebrities have high follower counts, retweets, and likes, but that is weak data. It says nothing about who those followers are or why they’re retweeting or liking the posts. If brands are actually going to invest hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in influencer marketing programs, they need to understand the audiences behind the influencers and find quantifiable data that backs up their decisions.

Brands should start by looking at the precise audiences segments they are trying to reach and then identify potential influencers within those key audience segments. Precision is the key term here. Too many brands still chase broad demographics, ignoring the wealth of data flowing out of the social ecosystem. Influencer marketing isn’t a broad tactic. It’s a precise tool that should be based on specifics.

An audience analysis is likely to identify users who have smaller followings but maintain a great deal of influence within their areas of expertise. Again, celebrities will almost always offer more reach, but the truth is that much of that reach will result in waste. There’s no way that every single follower is the desired audience for the endorsing brand.

An audience-centric approach gives brands the confidence that their influencers are strategically aligned with the segments that they want to reach, the ones that are likely to convert or make a purchase. Rather than invest all of their budgets in the top tier, marketers can spread their money out among many influencers that respond to core audience segments. Ideally, this should help the brand identify high-value influencers who can deliver greater ROI for the overall campaign.

As an example, let’s consider an athletic apparel company. While we’re used to seeing brands like Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour pay huge sums to top athletes, smaller brands can find their niches and work closely with users who have dedicated followers. By identifying an up-and-coming athlete or even an amateur—someone with between 10,000 and 20,000 followers—the brand can make the experience feel much more authentic. Consumers know that Steph Curry is paid millions to endorse Under Armour. But they may see a weightlifter with a modest Instagram following wearing an upstart apparel brand and not necessarily realize that athlete is being paid. The brand experience simply feels more authentic to the consumer who sees it.

This is the beauty of the long tail. There are social media users who matter to your audience, and many of them are regular people or amateurs who have amassed a steady following. The future of influencer marketing is not in chasing celebrities, but in identifying micro-niches that align with a brand’s audience. When marketers adopt a more strategic fashion that includes careful analysis of who they pick, how they pick, and how they measure the campaign, they’ll stop complaining about wasting money on influencer marketing.