The three main challenges are identifying the right influencers to work with, determining effective engagement tactics, and measuring the performance of influencer programs. It can be difficult to identify influencers as traditional media outlets have reduced staffing, influencers receive many irrelevant pitches, and engagement tactics that worked previously may not be effective again or for other topics. Demonstrating the value of influencer marketing through measurement is also a challenge as it can be difficult to prove it generates the economic value needed to secure larger budgets.

1. Describe the main challenges
when rolling out an influencer
engagement strategy.
Learning objective of Module 1, Lesson 2

2. Challenges when engaging influencers
• A survey of marketing and
communications professionals
found 3 main challenges when
rolling out an influencer
engagement strategy:
• How to identify the right
influencers.
• How to find the right
engagement tactics.
• How to measure the
performance of your programs.

3. Fewer journalists are the right influencers
• At daily newspapers, the total
newsroom workforce has
been cut by more than 40% --
from 55,000 in 2007 to 32,900
in 2015.
• The trade press has imploded
over the past 15 years and the
handful of business magazines
still being published have
skeletal editorial staffs.
Source: Poynter, American Society of News Editors annual newsroom census

4. Identifying the right influencers is hard
• Despite wanting to leverage
influencers more effectively
for their earned media and PR
campaigns, 75% of
communicators say they
struggle with identifying the
right ones.
• And 80% of influencers
complain about receiving
irrelevant pitches from brands.
Source: Cision, “Do You Know the 5 Truths of Modern Media Targeting?,” Mar. 1, 2017

5. Some engagement tactics may not work
• My agency identified 1,659
influencers who had written at
least one story or post about
ringworm in the past year, 499
about athlete’s foot, and 339
about jock itch.
• But none of these influencers
were interested in writing
about Lamisil or posting more
frequently about these topics.

6. Some engagement tactics only work once
• Ever since the ice-bucket
challenge raised $115 million
for ALS research in 2014, a
legion of imitators has sprung
up to try and cash in
themselves.
• But the failure of these newer
gimmicks demonstrates the
finicky nature of finding the
right engagement tactics.
Source: The New York Times Magazine, “The Ice-Bucket Racket,” Nov. 14, 2014

7. Measurement is key to bigger budgets
• Half of brands report small
influencer marketing budgets
in comparison to the rest of
the marketing mix, allocating
less than $100,000 annually.
• This indicates that influencer
marketing has difficulty
proving that it generates the
economic value that would
make it a strategic priority.
Source: Brian Solis, “What is Influence 2.0 and why is it important in the future of CX?,” Jan. 30, 2017

8. Measure key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Just because you can measure
just about anything, doesn’t
mean that you should.
• Start by monitoring and
reporting the results of your
activities in a way that makes
sense to your stakeholders
(the people who determine
your budgets should definitely
see your reports).
Source: Robert Rose, CMI, “The 2017 Content Marketing Framework: 5 Building Blocks for Profitable, Scalable Operations,” Oct. 27, 2016

9. Quiz: Describe the main challenges when
rolling out an influencer engagement strategy.