Influencer marketing has become one of the most important tools in brand strategy . Companies across various industries are increasingly turning to social media personalities to promote their products and services.
Authors
- Zeynep Arsel
Concordia University Chair in Consumption, Markets, and Society, Concordia University and Professor, Management, University of Bath, Concordia University
- Maria-Carolina Zanette
Associate Professor of Marketing, Neoma Business School
However, despite its widespread use and significant impact, influencer marketing is surrounded by uncertainties, ambiguities and controversies, both for practitioners and the general public.
Questions often arise: How do brands determine the effectiveness of an influencer campaign? How do influencers ensure that the brand partnership does not affect their relationship with their audience? Who controls the creative process during an influencer campaign?
In our recent research article in the Journal of Marketing , we discussed these ambiguities, focusing on two core areas relevant to both influencers and brands: How to determine the value of sponsored content and how to co-produce it.
Our study drew insights from a wide range of sources, including interviews with both influencers and influencer intermediaries, podcasts, media articles and third-party platform reviews. We conducted 21 primary interviews and transcribed 37 secondary interviews from podcasts. This sample included influencers specialized in the fields of fashion, food, cosmetics, travel, lifestyle, health and sexuality.
Insights from research
One major challenge we observed is that brands often struggle with determining the value of sponsored content. Brands also struggle with how to measure the return on investment from influencer campaigns .
Similarly, many influencers we interviewed said they often faced difficulties determining their fees and charging for their work.
Another common issue involved payment terms . For brands, upfront payments can be risky if an influencer doesn't follow the terms of the partnership.
On the other hand, payment models based on conversions can be disadvantageous to influencers. Sales outcomes depend on multiple factors beyond an influencer's endorsement, making such arrangements an unfair measure of an influencer's contributions.
Brands and influencers also need to agree on the terms of a partnership and decide who is responsible for each element of a campaign. For instance:
- Should influencers be responsible for generating awareness , such as showcasing new product launches?
- Should influencers become more involved in campaigns by closely working with the brand to co-create content?
- Or should influencers act as affiliates by offering a discount code for their audiences?
These questions highlight the need for clear expectations and mutual understanding in forming effective influencer partnerships.
Creativity vs. control
To navigate the uncertainties of influencer marketing, both brands and influencers engage in what scholars call knowledge work - the process of creating and applying knowledge.
This dynamic also includes third-party companies that act as mediators, build metrics, match brands with influencers and quantify results through expert judgment or algorithms .
Our research found that all this knowledge work causes significant changes in the marketplace and shifts the relationship between both brands and influencers.
For example, when brands impose restrictions on influencers - such as asking them to overtly promote a product instead of naturally embedding it into their content - it can restrict influencers' creativity.
This can not only affect the authenticity of an influencer's message , but also alienate them from their audiences. Influencers often cultivate parasocial relationships with their followers through engaging and relatable content; when authenticity is compromised, these relationships can erode.
The influencers we interviewed felt that excessive control of their work limited their ability to apply their expertise and ultimately made their work less meaningful.
Because influencer compensation relies on metrics, a consensus in the industry was that this incentivized influencers to purchase fake followers or manipulate engagement metrics to appear more successful.
In response, some brands have turned to third-party services to surveil influencers . This practice risks undermining the trust that is necessary for effective partnerships and the benefits that emerge from developing long-term relationships, such as a greater synergy between brands and influencers.
Recommendations for influencers and brands
Efforts to reduce ambiguities surrounding sponsored content have been transforming the influencer industry. These efforts have introduced new ways of measuring value like proprietary metrics, new entities like influencer agencies , new job categories like directors of influencer marketing , and new platforms - 62 of which were reviewed in our study - to address these challenges.
However, our findings suggest these changes don't always benefit industry participants. Instead, they can amplify imbalances between brands and creators , resulting in an environment marked by distrust, surveillance, over-reliance on incomplete metrics and even manipulation of those metrics.
To mitigate these challenges, we propose the following recommendations for influencers:
- Influencers should consider outsourcing business tasks or learning managerial skills to have better control over their brand partnerships.
- Influencers should consider engaging in collective action to advocate for and protect their interests, address power imbalances and create fairer industry practices.
For brands, we propose the following recommendations:
- Brands should recognize that influencers fulfil multiple roles and juggle multiple partnerships and audiences. Pressuring influencers to change their voice can harm their authenticity and erode their connections with followers and other collaborators.
- Putting too much emphasis on short-term metrics or exerting excessive control over sponsored content can hurt the quality of content produced and the quality and long-term sustainability of relationships with influencers.
These recommendations can help establish fairer, more sustainable practices in the influencer industry and extend into other emerging industries, such as the metaverse , NFTs and generative artificial intelligence.
These sectors face similar challenges because their products and services are not yet fully understood by their creators or consumers. Like influencer marketing, they require ongoing knowledge creation and application to function effectively.
Zeynep Arsel receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Maria-Carolina Zanette received funding from Neoma Business School Future of Work Area of Excellence.
