We can say that YouTube Influencer Marketing is one of the best ways to increase the reach of a brand. But, if and only if we do it the right way.

In 2016, up to 75% of marketers are now investing in influencer marketing, 60% of brands will increase the amount they spend on influencer marketing. However, recent research shows that YouTube has the best ROI of any other social media platform, knowing that YouTube is the second largest search engine and has a monthly user base of over 1 billion users. Impressive, right? It’s no wonder YouTube endorsements are one of the highest-ranked customer acquisition tools today.

YouTube Marketing could offer you great rewards. However, the path to success from uncharted territory can be bumpy. Here are the top marketing mistakes often found and strategies to avoid them:

Goals without strategy. This is one of the common mistakes marketers make when launching influencer campaigns on YouTube. They only focus on their goals and objectives. Some marketers focus on achieving a goal of a certain number of views and interactions, specifically likes, comments, and video actions that they take across multiple channels.

A YouTube Influencer campaign with positive ROI requires a well-analyzed strategy. Aside from the numerical goals of the campaign, a marketer should consider defining KPIs or key metrics that indicate whether the performance of a campaign can achieve the stated goals. In this case, this will allow to make better decisions and strategies not only to meet the final objectives, but to reach the higher goal than expected.

Discovery. This is a crucial stage that will define the success of the campaign. At this stage, marketers often fall into a very common trap, which is choosing a talent based on the number of channel subscribers and latest video views.

YouTube hosts a much larger amount of data about video viewing. The rise of Big Data analytics could provide online tools to help marketers dig deep to find the highest quality talent for their brand. There are several key data-driven aspects to analyze when choosing a talent. These are:

  • Relevance. It is determined by keywords and audience overlap. Which also identifies whether a channel’s audiences will be genuinely interested in your service or product.

  • Attain. The average number of views per video. It is calculated as the average number of views during a given period of time.

  • Commitment. It is usually calculated using total views and interactions. It measures how actively the audience interacts with the content of the channel.

  • Touching. It is calculated based on how content is shared on the channel and if viewers become subscribers. It also indicated whether a channel stimulates action and audience growth.

  • Consistency. It is measured by averaging various video-to-video channel performance metrics. Analyze how often the channel offers meaningful content.

If a marketer doesn’t analyze any of these crucial parameters, the campaign can lead to a misdirected audience, low conversion rates, and washed out budgets.

Popularity. Any industry has its most popular YouTube celebrities with millions of subscribers. It seems like the quickest and easiest solution for a brand, but remember, they only represent 1 to 5% of all influencers.

Hundreds of new channels are created and published every day, and marketers play it safe, activating the largest channels to ensure the best results, while continuing to ignore the smallest channels. This can lead to disappointment, there are more opportunities for smaller channels. This strategy provides only mediocre results. Why?

  • Lack of true admiration. A lot happens for the most popular influencer. They cover a variety of topics, experimenting with different video ideas – in fact, they often treat brand partnerships like just another business, don’t they? They also spend a great deal of time marketing. The bottom line is: those brands don’t get any special interest or genuine enthusiasm for their product or service. Smaller and niche channels are sincerely interested in the particular topic and products, which could lead to higher quality endorsements.

  • Lack of targeting. For example, when a channel has a large dispersed audience, it is difficult to predict what portion of subscribers would actually be interested in the particular brand and / or topic. This can result in subscribers being able to watch videos that are irrelevant to their interests, which could harm both the influencer and the brand. However, small and medium-sized dedicated channels attract a homogeneous audience of highly engaged followers.

Marketers must explore small and medium niche channels, which can become the most loyal and dedicated brand ambassadors opening doors to a highly targeted and engaged audience. More or less amount of marketing dollars, brands can reach a greater variety of audiences and produce multiple pieces of content.

Losing control. Marketers still fall into the trap of treating an influencer as an actor and editorial content as video ads. The Brands underestimates how enthusiastic its users are, how fragile its trusts are, and how shortsighted it is to feign authenticity.

Case studies show that the more authentic the content, the better the users react. This leads to greater reach, better engagement, and ultimately stronger campaign results.

Agency. As the number of YouTube influencers increases, agencies are also increasing to help brands with campaigns. Marketers can fully outsource the efforts and simply reap the rewards. But there are many hidden pitfalls in this strategy.

  • Limited access. The agency only has access to talent in its network, those channels may not always be the most suitable for the needs of the brand. Marketers should not fail to assess the value of the channel and should not limit their reach to a single ideal partner.

  • Connection. Lack of connection is what marketers often underestimate, especially the level of personal connection that is required for a brand and an influencer. Influencers seek strong relationships and connections with a brand in order to truly understand its values ​​and speak on its behalf.

  • Niche understanding. Most agencies cater to brands within multiple industries and don’t fully understand the subtle differences of particular spaces. The brand manager must step in and ensure that both the talent and the video content options are taken into consideration industry-specific aspects.

When working with agencies, managers must carefully assess emerging costs versus delivered value, the differences between the overhead associated with launching the campaign internally and agency fees, key competencies, and resources that the team missing and if they are provided. by the partner. Managers must find answers to these variables before hiring an agency.

Lack of transparency and standardization in pricing models. This is one of the biggest challenges for marketers in YouTube influencer marketing. Marketers end up getting excessively high quotes and overspending. Without realizing the margin of negotiation in the market.

  • Payment models. Different channels and agencies work on different payment models such as pay per view, pay per action and / or pay per activation. Most agencies or talents work solely on the pay-per-activation model and often don’t tie their fees to guaranteed campaign results.

  • Market. YouTube influencer marketing is still in its infancy, with a lack of benchmarks, the market has not determined average rates. Influencers and agencies currently charge between $ 0.02 and $ 0.20 per view, so there is plenty of room for negotiation.

  • Secret transactions. Agencies rarely share their pricing structures, leading to partners offering different rates for the same talent or campaign. Marketers must shop around across the space and aggressively negotiate for the best deal, this will ensure a positive ROI campaign.