Additionally, trusting influencers with brand reputation was the greatest concern for 14% of UK and US digital marketing respondents, according to an August 2018 survey from Influencer Intelligence and Econsultancy.
These figures aren’t overwhelmingly large—marketers are more focused on issues like content visibility and flagging fake followers. But companies investing their money in influencers should be aware of the potentially problematic turns they can take.
Just three days after Westbrook posted a YouTube video calling out her 19-year-old mentee, Charles' subscriber count on the platform fell by nearly 3 million, per CNN. However, when Westbrook posted a more compassionate follow-up video, Charles' began regaining subscribers. (His base is currently climbing to nearly 15 million.)
Westbrook has garnered an estimated 4.5 million followers amid the ordeal. These are certainly tumultuous times in the beauty blogger world!
But this feud goes to show just how much influencers' impact fluctuates. For brands that have hired an influencer tied to a public feud, what does an event like this do to brand image and safety?
“The influencer space is still the Wild West in many respects, and that definitely brings with it some risks for brands,” said eMarketer principal analyst Andrew Lipsman. “The personality traits that make influencers good at capturing attention are sometimes the same traits that court conflict and controversy. Brands need to enter into these partnerships with eyes wide open—and maybe do some vetting upfront to manage the risk.”
As marketers put more money into influencers, keeping brand safety in mind is a best practice. According to a February 2019 survey from influencer tech company Activate, nearly one in five respondents said they planned to up their influencer marketing budgets by 25% to 49% this year, and some have plans to more than triple their budgets.