Why small businesses might be better off without influencers?

Some of you are going to find this extremely controversial. After all, influencers hold a special place in our hearts. However, as after you visit this page, you might understand why dealing with influencers could spell bad news for your business. 

Influencers are all smiles when the camera is rolling

You log onto Instagram or watch a YouTube video with an influencer on it, and they’re nothing but smiles. You’d think that the influencer is the happiest person on the planet. It’s usually an act, and dealing with some of these people is a real pain.

You always have to understand there’s the real person, and then there’s the person the influencer tries to portray. The influencer acts a certain way because it makes them money. Typically, they’ve watched countless hours of videos of other influencers, and the person is just mimicking them.

Get ready to shell out free stuff left and right

So, a TikTok influencer has offered to make a video in your restaurant. That sounds great until you realize that you’ve got to give them everything for free. Yes, we’re talking about giving away anything and everything they want for free. Will the stuff be in their video? Maybe. They’ll probably eat some of the food on camera, and who knows who’ll end up eating the rest?

If you own a service such as a car detailing company, get prepared to get your elbow grease working for the low price of nothing. They’ll expect you to clean their car and make it shine that it’s in a music video. It doesn’t matter what you offer; the person is going to expect you to give it to them for free. Hopefully, you don’t sell something that’s super expensive, or you’ll end up in the poor house because of them.

Don’t be surprised if they want money too

It’s not enough that an influencer wants you to give them everything for free. Some influencers also expect you to give them money. Lots of money. The worst part of having to pay an influencer is that their worth is usually bloated. The person thinks they’re worth more as an online celebrity than they really are.

There is no way to determine how much a mention is worth from an influencer. Sure, they can see how much others charge who have the same following, but that’s not a real measure. A person could have hundreds of thousands of followers, but their clout is far less than what they perceive.

Be weary of fake followers

Some of you might not know that it’s possible to buy followers on any platform where people can follow accounts. A YouTube channel could have hundreds of thousands of followers, and they’re all fake. Yes, some people buy fake followers to trick people.

Always pay close attention to the engagement an influencer has to tell if their following is authentic. If the so-called “influencer” has a lot of followers, but their content receives very little engagement, there’s something fishy going on. Real people like and comment on content they consume, and if you’re not seeing that kind of action, you know the person is up to no good.

Influencers can be worth it, but be careful

Stick with local influencers who have a local following. There’s no use in having an influencer from the other side of the country talking about your small business to people who live nowhere near it. Make sure you do your homework and build connections with area influencers so you can use them in the future, hopefully without costing you an arm and a leg.