5 Deadly Myths About Influencer Marketing

Admit it: It would be amazing to have a famous influencer--the kind with millions of followers--promote your application. Your app needs exposure. You want a huge amount of downloads. The usual strategies everyone uses--mobile ads, social media, content marketing--aren't working as well as they used to. But influencer marketing is timeless. When it's done right, it delivers results--downloads, customers, you name it. Most app developers get influencer marketing wrong. They waste a huge amount of time and money working with influencers. Many of them come away disappointed, with little (or nothing) to show for it. Why? Their decisions were based on myths and misconceptions. Myth No. 1: Huge, famous influencers are best An influencer with 2 million followers offering to share your app? It's a dream come true for developers. A huge audience means lots of downloads right? Not so much. Let's say you approach a top-tier influencer. They want $5,000 per tweet. It's pretty unlikely that a single tweet will generate the results you're looking for. So you approach a group of small influencers. They're asking for $350 per tweet. The same budget means you get more exposure and more downloads for the same amount of money. This seems like a no brainer, but developers get caught up on follower counts. Myth No. 2: Follower counts matter more! Most of their audience are lurkers, right? Follower counts still count for something, right? Follower counts matter, but they're a distant second to engagement. Those followers could be bots, follow backs, dummy accounts or people who just aren't interested. Your influencer's relationship with their audience matters more. And how do you measure that? Engagement: The more engaged the audience, the better your results will be. Engagement doesn't guarantee a positive return on investment, but it's an important indicator if you actually want a return. "That's great and all, but ..." Myth No. 3: Influencers are only for branding and impressions anyway Wrong: The best influencers drive branding and downloads. When they perform well, you get the impressions, clicks and downloads you need. That's important because it's not an either-or proposition--you need both. The right influencer delivers both. Does that mean branding isn't important? Not at all: Branding is important because it creates shelf space inside your customer's head. That's shelf space you own. The right kind of branding makes you unique in your customer's eyes, which is exactly the kind of thing you need to boost trust. "I want downloads. Who cares about trust?" You do if you're smart. These days, customers don’t trust apps. Privacy violations, unnecessary tracking and malware have made it harder to get that install. A great influencer gives your app a bump, improving branding and increasing trust, boosting downloads in the process. "Yeah, but ..." Myth No. 4: Influencer marketing isn't scalable Developers have a hard time believing the results can be consistent. "It's not like I can do this all the time." The right mix of influencers, switching up your offers and cycling means influencers can deliver the results you need, consistently. Strategy is key. Your marketing budget goes farther with the right strategy. Your breakeven cost per install drops, making your app self-sustaining. What does that mean? As long as you're getting downloads, your marketing can continue indefinitely. "But ... but ... that doesn't sound realistic ..." Myth No. 5: Isn't the CPI with influencer marketing more expensive … … than traditional paid media? It seems like mobile and social advertising has a lower cost per install than influencer marketing. But is that the case? No: Mobile advertising costs are skyrocketing with no end in sight. What does this mean for you? Organic growth is a must-have, and most apps won't survive without it. With influencer marketing your CPI should be dirt-cheap. A cost-effective CPI should be the rule, never the exception. That happens automatically with the right strategy and structure in place. Sometimes these myths are true Sometimes influencer marketing is too expensive. It's the dirty secret app developers use to talk themselves out of influencer marketing: Worst decision ever. If these myths are true, it means you're doing something wrong. Somewhere along the line, you've messed things up. Influencer marketing is the tool you use to get your downloads, your CPIs back on track. The scary part? Thousands of developers make this mistake every day. That doesn't have to be you. Make the right moves, choose the right strategy and your app gets the attention it deserves. Follow these myths and your app dies a slow, painful death. Influencer marketing is timeless. The strategies most app developers use? They don't work like they used to. That's a problem because you need cost-effective downloads. Your app needs exposure. With influencer marketing, customer downloads are right at your fingertips. Wouldn't it be amazing to have a consistent and steady stream of installs? An army of influencers sending thousands of customers your way? It's yours. Use the right strategy, tap the right influencers and you'll have everything you need—branding, exposure, downloads, everything your app needs to grow--amazing results without the myths. Victor Ricci is a former Vine celebrity and founder of Trend Pie, an influencer marketing platform that helps app developers drive cost effective downloads. Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

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5 Deadly Myths About Influencer Marketing

Most app developers get influencer marketing wrong. They waste a huge amount of time and money working with influencers. Why? Their decisions were based on myths and misconceptions.

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