Influencer Marketing is Already Old News

Influencer marketing is all the rage right now, and that’s exactly why it’s going to start heading downhill as early as 2020.

The record shows that any form of advertising with return on investment (ROI) hitting “too good to be true” levels will even out with the rest of the playing field over time. Influencers are already realizing the popularity of the service they’re offering, so the price your brand must pay for it will likely be going up soon.

Surprisingly, that’s not even the biggest issue. The biggest issue is that influencer marketing is becoming more and more saturated, and consumer’s trust in influencers will rapidly deteriorate as a result. Some data suggest that only 4% of people trust influencers today, and if that number crumbles to an even smaller one? The influencer bubble will pop.

Why the Bubble’s Bursting

When Facebook ads burst onto the scene, they offered almost impossibly high returns on investment. The average cost-per-click was just $0.35 as recently as 2016. Now, just three years later, it’s $1.86.

What happened? Did Facebook raise its prices? Not exactly. Since ads are sold in an auction-style bidding system, what actually happened is that demand increased to the point of total saturation. Since Facebook serves up a limited amount of ads per user on the site at a given time, the prices were forcibly increased due to demand.

But that’s not all – while cost per click prices have gone up as much as 5x, the revenue Facebook has earned from ads increased by merely 2x.

What’s behind the rest of the increase? User behavior. We’re becoming blind to ads because we see so many of them. That affects influencer marketing because today, many people fail to realize that the “honest endorsement” they’re getting from their favorite interview is just another paid ad.

The more they see, the less they trust them, and the more they shove these “endorsements” into the category of “advertising” the less they’ll work.

Curated ≠ Authentic

Most Instagram influencers built their fame on the backs of carefully curated feeds. These days, the curated feed is falling out of favor. As it turns out, a beautifully curated image of someone’s life isn’t appearing as authentic as it once did.

This won’t spell the death of influencers. In fact, many are adapting quickly to the more “authentic” version of Instagram feeds that their audiences now crave. The question is, where will ads fit in this new landscape?

So, is Influencer Marketing Dead or Dying?

Not even close. It’s going to continue on being the hot topic for the foreseeable future. It’s going to continue offering a reasonable (yet decreasing, in my opinion) ROI for some time as well.

I would never steer a brand away from engaging in influencer marketing. The goal should be to have a varied approach to advertising that involves multiple channels and strategies. Getting caught on one sinking ship or relying on impossibly high ROIs has crashed many businesses before, and yours shouldn’t be next!