For over 15 years we’ve been guiding companies throughout the world on their social media strategies ranging from startups to Fortune 500s and during that time we saw the influencer space take off along with a variety of failures, and this post touches on some of the things we’ve seen in the past as well as suggestions for the future.

First and foremost, companies cannot think of working with social media influencers as a transaction where you approach them to promote your product/services then magically generate revenue based on mentions – that’s just not how the social media world works.

Have you ever had a friend that’s all about me me me but never asks how your day is going? That’s exactly how it feels as an influencer being approached by companies that can care less about you and simply want to make money using your connections. And because of that it becomes a transaction where I’ll charge you X to deliver Y (posts in Instagram, TikTok, etc.).

What does that do? It dilutes the authenticity of the mention, diminishes the returns, and leads to influencer marketing campaigns that become very costly then flop in the end. As social media consultants that go into projects and try to turn them around, this is one of the most common issues we come across on a regular basis.

The key to social media influencer marketing is doing what social media was intended for: To actually be social. Build relationships, learn/care about others then everything else will fall into place.