10 mistakes to avoid in Influencer Marketing

Every brand wants to do Influencer marketing today. After managing more than 2,000 influencer collaborations over the last four years - I'm sharing here top 10 mistakes that you should avoid.

#1 Scouting without the insights

The first mistake is manually scouting without having actual insights. There are many instances where people don't really check the audience demographics. For instance, they may not verify the geolocation of the influencer's audience. You might like an influencer, but you don't know where the majority of their followers are located. For example, if you're looking for influencers in Germany, you may find some that are indeed German, but their audience might actually be located somewhere else.

This happens frequently due to the nature of social media. There are cases where German influencers have a large U.S. audience, for example, so it's really important to have clear insights. When scouting, you should use tools that allow you to see these insights. Of course, these third-party tools aren't 100% accurate, but they give you a general overview. One tool I've used frequently is HypeAuditor, which offers approximate insights about the influencer’s audience.

However, if you need more precise information, it's perfectly acceptable to ask the influencer directly for their insights. This way, you get 100% accuracy when they share their actual analytics.

Furthermore, if you're booking Instagram stories specifically, you must ask the influencer about their story reach, as there are no tools available that accurately show how many people watch stories. For example, an influencer might have 200,000 followers, but booking a story doesn't mean all 200,000 followers will see it.

Checking story reach helps you calculate a good CPM, ensuring the price you're paying aligns with the exposure you're receiving.

#2 Working with agencies with no exclusive talents

The second mistake is working with many agencies without having exclusive talent from them. I've seen this create double payments, meaning double agency fees. I highly recommend influencer managers go for agencies that offer exclusive talent to avoid paying double fees.

For example, you might work with a generic German agency that has many connections, but that agency itself may collaborate with another agency exclusively representing the influencer you want. Rather than working through the general agency, it's better to find the specific influencer's direct agency to avoid paying multiple fees.

This approach takes more effort, but it's worth it because ultimately, the lower price you can secure, the better. Agency fees, especially in Germany, are significantly high right now. I've seen a Berlin-based agency charge 25%, which is substantial. For instance, if the influencer charges €15,000 for a story, 25% of that is already high. Imagine paying double agency fees, then it could become 45% or even 50%.

To find the direct agency, you need to manually search. If you have a specific influencer in mind, I recommend doing thorough research using search tools, Google, or checking if the influencer has direct contact details in their bio, which they usually do.

#3 Big commitments & no testing

The third mistake is making big commitments without testing at all. I've observed this quite often when influencer managers try to simplify their work by pre-booking influencers for several months in advance, without knowing if the influencer will deliver the desired results.

In my opinion, this is one of the biggest mistakes managers can make. It's essential to test the influencer first. Try one or two placements—such as stories, YouTube, or reels—to see if they bring good engagement and results. Only after seeing positive results should you consider long-term partnerships of three to six months.

Booking influencers for extended periods without testing is risky and, in most cases, unsuccessful. I've seen instances where managers booked, for example, ten influencers for the next six months, and the results weren't what they were looking for. Regarding the number of tests, after around two placements, you can usually determine how an influencer and their audience react.

To find one good influencer, testing around ten influencers is generally sufficient, especially when working with macro influencers. If you're working with smaller influencers, you may need to test more, as their smaller audiences mean smaller chances of reaching your target audience.

#4 Content irrelevance

The fourth mistake is content irrelevance. For example, when doing a YouTube integration, some managers don't check what the entire video is about. Your product placement will typically be one or two minutes in a 15-minute video. If the video's main topic doesn't relate to your product, the audience will likely skip your placement.

On the other hand, if your product aligns seamlessly with the video content—for example, promoting a language learning solution in a video about habits to improve your daily life—the integration feels natural and effective. Usually, YouTubers will inform you in advance about their upcoming content, allowing you to choose relevant videos.

Additionally, influencer managers sometimes don't specify clearly what the influencer should say or the call-to-action, resulting in irrelevant content. This makes the placement unsuccessful. It's especially crucial when working with YouTubers, as your placement is only a part of a longer video. On other platforms, the entire post usually revolves around the placement, making irrelevance less of an issue.

#5 Lack of AI/automations

The next mistake is not using any automations at all in your processes. You can imagine influencer marketing involves a lot of relationship-building, communication, and many manual tasks that can't be automated. However, there are numerous tasks you actually can automate, and doing so will save you a considerable amount of time, especially with administrative tasks.

For instance, you can automate stages like contracting or invoicing. You can also automate administrative tasks such as story storage, meaning you don't need to manually record the stories influencers post for you. Essentially, anything that doesn't directly bring value or require specific expertise should be automated.

There are many tools available that offer these automations, and you don't have to rely solely on Google Sheets. Plenty of platforms already have ready-to-use templates specifically designed for influencer marketing planning.

I would recommend Airtable as a tool to automate tasks. It's similar to Google Sheets in its basic idea, but it provides many more possibilities for automation, which can be highly beneficial in terms of time management. With Airtable, you can structure the data in the way that fits your needs and build automations on top of that database and interface.

#6 Investing only in organic

The next mistake occurs when managers focus only on organic placements. It's crucial to understand the power of paid ads, especially with influencer-generated content. Various tools allow you to boost influencer content, providing better exposure.

In most companies, influencer marketing teams tend to be separate from paid social teams. However, if it's possible to bridge these two teams, you can leverage existing organic influencer content and transform it into paid ads.

This approach often becomes a success story because paid ads offer better control. You can manage spending, target specific audiences, and have greater predictability. With organic posting, you have far less control over the content's outcome—it's more hit-or-miss. Paid ads bring back predictability and security.

#7 No creative freedom

From here, we can move onto another mistake closely related to this topic. I've observed many influencer managers being overly strict with the content they want influencers to produce. When content becomes extremely scripted, it loses authenticity. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. You choose to work with influencers because you trust their creativity. If you don't grant them creative freedom, it undermines the very essence of influencer marketing.

It's incredibly important to trust influencers and allow them creative freedom. Of course, you can provide guidelines, do's and don'ts, but you shouldn't give them a rigid, scripted text. It's beneficial for both parties when there's mutual trust and creative freedom, naturally resulting in authentic content and an engaged audience. So, influencer marketing isn't just about leveraging a creator’s audience, but also their creativity.

#8 No relationship building - one time placements

This actually ties into another mistake many influencer managers make: not building genuine relationships with creators. I think it's one of the most crucial things you need to do as an influencer manager—develop trust and establish relationships with influencers. There must be mutual understanding about the goals and objectives you're working towards. Otherwise, it's just a transactional service, and these are real people who are genuinely excited to participate in your projects.

Without a strong relationship, content quality suffers due to misunderstandings or a lack of motivation, and the audience can sense something is off. Moreover, when you build strong relationships with influencers, it often results in lower prices. I've experienced this firsthand—when you build a deeper connection and friendship with influencers, some of them won't increase their prices for years, even though their audience and engagement continue to grow.

Usually, influencers increase their prices by around 10-20% every six months. But having this strong connection can keep their prices stable. Initially, influencers tend to price higher because they're used to brands coming in, using their service once or twice, and then disappearing. That's why they set higher prices initially. But if you demonstrate you're interested in a long-term relationship, they'll collaborate better with you.

Having a long-term partnership and a good relationship gives influencers security, knowing they'll have consistent income for the foreseeable future, so they're less likely to significantly raise their prices, which is fantastic. 

#9 Unclear KPIs

Earlier, I mentioned the importance of mutual understanding regarding goals. This connects to the next mistake: not properly tracking the success of your campaigns and not choosing the right KPIs. I've seen this happen frequently— influencer managers fail to track the crucial KPIs required to measure a campaign's success. Instead, they focus on irrelevant metrics.

For example, if it's a lower-funnel campaign aimed at generating sales, they might focus only on clicks, which isn't the most relevant metric. While clicks matter in a holistic approach, if your campaign's main goal is conversions, you need to measure sales directly.

Otherwise, you might repeatedly book the same creator because their content generates many clicks, even though it doesn't result in revenue. It's crucial to clearly define the right KPIs for each campaign.

#10 Neglecting nano/niche influencers

The last mistake I'd like to highlight is neglecting nano-influencers. I know many companies only engage nano-influencers on an affiliate basis, but I strongly believe they can be incredibly valuable, especially if you're combining influencer marketing with paid social.

If your goal is authentic user-generated content (UGC) for paid ads, nano-influencers can be extremely beneficial. They may not have massive audiences, but they often have great content creation skills and charge significantly lower prices. Acquiring buyout rights to their content is typically affordable, authentic, and engaging. You can partner with nano-influencers by having them post reels on their Instagram, leveraging their own following, and then securing boosting rights to use these videos as paid ads. This strategy helps you achieve better exposure, reach broader audiences, and stay within budget. It's a hidden gem in influencer marketing, and sadly, not enough companies utilize this approach.

Too many companies mistakenly focus only on large influencers, resulting in high prices and the risk of reaching audiences that aren't niche or relevant enough. Additionally, many companies rely on external agencies or expensive in-house production for UGC content, which takes longer and costs more. Instead, you can directly scout nano-influencers yourself, negotiate one-on-one, and obtain excellent content affordably.

Avoiding these common missteps can drastically improve your influencer marketing performance. From data-driven scouting and clear KPIs to embracing automation and building genuine relationships, every detail matters.

Check out my article for more advanced tips on optimizing your influencer collaborations.