Mistakes Influencers Make

Going back to this time that you worked with the clothing company and the fit was pretty good. What did the brand really understand about that?

I think the brand really understood my content. They understood my geographical content, even. They also understood that I have a strong UK focus to what I’m doing. I do have a travel blog, but it’s called A Lady in London; a lot of the content is UK based. As I said, I was spending a lot of time in Northumberland at the time, so that was a nice fit, as well. I think they understood that whole picture of that idea and that that would be a nice fit with what they were trying to do.

What do you think are some of the mistakes that influencers make in trying to build an audience?

I think the first mistake that a lot of influencers make is just thinking that they need a huge audience. They mistake numbers and quantity for quality. That is partly driven by the fact that a lot of brands have minimums – you have to have 10,000 followers on Instagram, or we won’t work with you – which I also think is a mistake. The quality versus quantity question is one.

I think another mistake that influencers make is thinking that they need to be all things to all people and trying to just go for a global audience of everyone, from every age and demographic. They don’t really realize, actually, you can’t be all things to all people and you’re going to be a lot more effective if you choose a specific demographic to target and really go for those people.

Then because of that, a lot of influencers make the mistake of thinking they need to be on every platform. I have to be on YouTube; I have to be on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram. Then they burn themselves out and spread themselves too thinly. Whereas what they should be doing is saying, here’s the demographic I’m trying to reach; these are the two or three platforms where they spend time and I’m really going to invest in those. The others, maybe I’ll have a small presence, or maybe I won’t be on them at all, but I’m really going to focus on these.