Have you consciously found yourself switching channels between advertisements? The reality of the marketing, public relations and communications profession is that people essentially dislike advertising. They fast-forward through commercials in prerecorded TV dramas and shows and are willing to pay premiums to avoid them on streaming services.

Moving on to social media. Do people similarly dislike it when the “influencers” they follow on social media post sponsored content —endorsements for products they have been paid to promote?

With the advent of social media, a parallel universe of prominence and a wealth of sponsored and unsponsored content caters to another audience. These influencers exemplify a “grey area” between genuine content and advertising reality while also incorporating viewers into the realm.

At times, the content is uncompromised, relatable, and refreshing, while at others, one can see the effort of promoting a product or service with a tad of wit and thoughtfulness.

Sponsored content may adversely affect likes and following if the message does not gel well with a profile’s identity

It is common for companies to devote increasing shares of their marketing budgets to sponsoring content on YouTube, Instagram, and other digital platforms. But little is done to gauge the effectiveness of the tactic or its impact on influencers, followers, platforms, and brands.

Not a lot could be gleaned from skimming through some of the most popular Pakistani influencer profiles and their followers.

The fact of the matter is that some followers don’t like sponsored content, but there wasn’t hard proof. Nevertheless, some figures based on Instagram research support this hypothesis.

One of the most popular influencers took up a famous beverage campaign. When he posted sponsored content, he received nearly 67,000 likes on it, compared with unsponsored content by the same influencer that earned him nearly 81,000 likes — a difference of 14,000.

Another influencer who is considered one of the pioneers of the video-making industry received nearly 2,100 likes on sponsored content of a restaurant in the Middle East, while the same influencer did an unsponsored podcast with a political analyst talking about Pakistan’s dim economics and sad political affairs was liked by approximately 22,800 followers.

Yet another female influencer received nearly 350 likes on her own picture, while one of her sponsored posts about a famous beverage garnered only 23 likes. Similarly, her sponsored content promoting a real estate project earned her mere 34 likes.

The numbers do not lie. They may sound like an insignificant count, but over time it adds up: for instance, the first influencer with more than 800,000 followers who uploads nearly 100 sponsored posts a year stands to lose as many as (14,000 x 100) 140,000 likes annually, on average.

This is only one of the quantifiable metrics that are trackable and accessible to the public. But influencers track their follower counts closely, and seeing that number of likes decline can be painful because the rates they can charge sponsors are based largely on the size of their followings, likes, and views.

These counts are also a marker of status in social media, even for people who aren’t influencers or trying to monetise a personal brand.

Minimising the fallout

Influencers shouldn’t turn their backs completely on sponsored content, but they should be strategic about which partnerships they enter into: the wrong ones can erode their authenticity and cause likes, and eventually followers, to decamp.

Three factors are attributable to how much the influencers may be punished for paid promotions.

First, influencers with large followings will experience greater repercussions than less popular influencers. They are more prone to losing more followers, garnering fewer likes and comments, and receiving a greater proportion of negative comments.

Second, sponsored content is less damaging when the product aligns with the type of things the influencer usually touts in unpaid posts or supported causes generally taken up in unsponsored content. So, the closer the product is to the influencer’s area of expertise, the more convincing the advertisement is to viewers and the less apt they are to resent it.

Third, sponsored posts featuring famous brands can elicit a stronger negative reaction than those promoting less visible ones. That makes sense because followers often appreciate being introduced to products they might not otherwise hear about.

By identifying that sponsored posts can cost them followers, likes and views and being aware of aggravating factors, influencers can make smart decisions about how frequently to accept sponsorship deals, which brands to endorse, and how much to charge.

It is also important for influencers to carefully pick and choose products that gel naturally with their personality and style and that followers will want to learn about. They should be mathematically mindful too. The influencers should ask themselves whether the sponsorship payment is large enough to compensate for the reputational hit (usually priceless).

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, July 3rd, 2023