Influencer marketing experts share the most common misconceptions about their field.
When Stephen Titus and his co-founders launched London-based influencer marketing agency Faved in 2022, the creator economy was still proving itself. While major consumer brands had been going all in on influencers for years, much of the business world questioned the value of creator-led advertising campaigns.
“We as a platform—and as an industry—often had to go to brands and convince them of the power of influencer marketing,” he says.
But over the last few years, that changed, according to Titus. The CEO rarely has to sell the idea of partnering with creators to prospective customers anymore. “Businesses are self-evangelized on creator marketing,” he says. Ad spend data backs this up. In 2022, brands planned to spend $18.4 billion on creator economy ads in the U.S., according to a report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau. In 2026, the firm expects that figure to reach $43.9 billion.
But people still get plenty of things wrong about influencer marketing. Here’s what Titus and other agency founders say are the most common misconceptions they encounter during conversations with executives and founders.
Misconception 1: Influencer marketing doesn’t work for high-intent products
While many business owners now know how valuable influencer marketing can be, Titus reports that a number of them still think it only works for “impulse purchases” like protein powders and supplements.
“A lot of people hold themselves back because they feel that their product isn’t suited to influencer marketing,” he says.
While Titus admits that he’s biased, he adds that, based on the data Faved measures across brands in different categories, “there is no product to which influencer marketing doesn’t apply, just as much as there is no product to which paid media or Google or Facebook doesn’t apply.”
Misconception 2: You’ll get results by partnering with any popular creator
Dylan Huey, the founder and CEO of Reach, a Los Angeles-based creator economy company, argues that when brands don’t see the return on investment they hoped to, it’s not because influencer marketing doesn’t work. “It does work,” he says. “The way that you’re going about doing it, strategy-wise, doesn’t work.”
“The problem that we see,” he adds, “is that small business owner Jimmy will be like, ‘Oh my God, my wife’s friend is an influencer with 20,000 followers, and she said she’s going to promote us for free.’” But the creator in question built her following by posting videos about food, for example, while Jimmy is building a tech platform for investing.
“Just because they’re a creator doesn’t mean that their audience makes sense,” Huey says. “And sometimes, having a relationship with someone already doesn’t mean that’s the best creator that you should invest in—especially as you’re trying to grow and get more market share as a company.”
Instead, he advises business owners to stick with creators whose audiences fit their ideal customer profile. If you’re struggling, figure out which influencers your social-media savvy competitors work with, then look at who they follow on Instagram. “If that creator got a good ROI for [your competitor],” Huey says, “their friends are probably going to get the same good ROI for you as well.”
Misconception 3: Lots of brand partnership experience is a good thing
Unfortunately, there are bad actors in every industry. And according to Vin Matano, the founder of business-to-business influencer marketing agency Creatorbuzz, the creator economy is no different.
Matano says he’s wary of any creator that works with “different brands frequently” and is “a little too focused on the payment portion” because it makes him feel like they’re “in it for the wrong reason.” He adds that if he’s considering working with a creator “and they’re asking for upfront payments, and we’ve never worked with this person before,” he typically sees that as “a red flag.”
Creators who do countless brands and seem to be in it just for the money will likely come off as less genuinely interested in your company’s products. That’s a big problem, since the success of an influencer marketing campaign depends largely upon authenticity.
Feature image credit: Getty Images
