Why Brands Are Reevaluating Influencers

Writers and other creatives can benefit significantly from brand partnerships. But brands have tended to work only with social media influencers with big follower counts. It’s a catch-22, because you can’t grow without the brands and you can’t get the brands if you haven’t grown.

Or at least…that’s how it was. A new study shows that, because smaller influencers conflated their follower counts with bots, brands are savvier about the partnerships they’re agreeing to. They’re looking at the genuine value of the connections you have and the quality of the content, not just the number of people on your account. Learn more in the video below.

[Transcript summary]

Hi, all. Wanda Thibodeaux of takingdictation.com here, and I wanted to share a research study that I just came across, and it had to do with brand and influencer partnerships.

Now, normally, in these partnerships, the brands look for influencers who have a really big follower count. Why? Because they know that if you have a big following, they’re probably going to get a really good reach for whatever they’re trying to sell or market. So, the influencers, or the smaller influencers, figured this out, that you have to have a big follower account. So, they started using bots to boost their follower account to make it look better than it really was.

But then the brands clued into this. And so, now what’s happening — this is the good thing — the brands are figuring out what the influencers are doing, and they are reevaluating what they look at in these brand partnerships. So, they’re not looking just at your follower count anymore. Hallelujah! They’re looking at the actual value of the connections, like the quality of that okay, which, if you follow me at all, you know that, in my opinion, that’s the way it should be in the beginning, to start with.

You should be able to, as a small creator, have good content, and have that content speak for itself about whether you get that partnership or not. Aand that quality of content, working together with that brand, should build your following. That’s my opinion.

But the fact that these brands are now realizing that it’s not necessarily just the follower count that matters, that’s really hopeful to me. Because what it means is that you can get started with these partnerships earlier than if you had to wait to build up this following on your own or through a bot. But you don’t have to wait as much anymore, potentially. So, this is a good thing. It means that you might be able to get started a lot faster, a lot easier.

So, take a look at what brands are doing in your area. See if they’re reevaluating. Maybe approach them and say, “Hey,” and take a second look at your content. Look and see what their protocols and requirements are, because they might have changed. Take care. Everybody. Bye.