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Sara Blakely of Spanx once said, “Don’t let what you don’t know scare you, because it can become your greatest asset. And if you do things without knowing how they have always been done, you’re guaranteed to do them differently.”
COVID-19, also referred to as coronavirus, has put influencers in a scary situation. They were planning on 2020 to be a breakout year, with 58.5% of brands stating their influencer marketing budget would increase this year. However, nearly every brand’s marketing budget has dropped by a great amount due to the pandemic that has taken many lives and put the entire world in a state of fear.
69% of brands now expect that they will decrease their overall advertising spend in 2020.
As Blakely said, influencers should not let the pandemic in itself scare them. Instead, many have and will continue to rebrand themselves as much more than simply travel or food bloggers who depend on being able to venture outside of their homes to create content that is thoughtful, engaging and adds value for others. But brands may also use coronavirus to change the way they approach influencer marketing in the future. Influencers should be aware of this and make sure that they do what they can to legally protect themselves while remaining as authentic as possible.
One suggestion in these trying times is for influencers to shift a bit from promotional posts to more authentic content. Truthfully, authentic connections should always be the goal.
“Biased product reviews were threatening to poison the well as people started to become disenchanted with self-serving influencers who had lost their objectivity,” said Michael Solomon, marketing professor and author of Social Media Marketing, to The Guardian. “Where possible, influencers need to revert to a more altruistic message and find ways to help get through the crisis with constructive suggestions. In times of instability, people look to trusted sources and those that deliver will be remembered after the crisis is over.”