Influencer Marketing in Vietnam — What can go wrong?

5 min readJan 27, 2021

Is the age of the influencer over, or is there still hope for smoothies and beach bods in Vietnam?

Let’s be real. More often than not, client-influencer-relations are tricky.

Still, influencers are one of the fastest-growing tools for marketing.

By using their pre-existing followers, brands can shove their product in new faces in a tactful, targeted sort of way. Kind of.

Influencers may come at a high price, but Vietnam’s youth respond to them. There’s nothing fancier than a pair of trainers making a guest appearance in a music video.

Let’s be real, Biti’s Hunter nailed that bit of influencer marketing. But that doesn’t mean just anyone can do it.

When it comes to using influencers, people often complain about wasted money. Those of a positive persuasion will hope their sales magically shoot up.

A celebrity post can cost you a minimum of 25 million VND. For a mid-range KOL, you’re looking at 10–20 million VND. Even a ‘micro-influencer’, is looking for 3–10 million VND per post.

So, is it worth it? What could go wrong? Let’s break it down.

Think long-term

“We’ve been paying some influencers to promote our products. Sales went up for about a week, then went down again. We expected customers to keep coming back, but that didn’t happen”.

This is a specific story from a client before we started working with them, but it’s not the first time we’ve heard it.

Their entire marketing strategy was relying on influencers.

Trouble is, one impression isn’t enough for anyone to remember or reengage with a brand. On average, Josephine Normal Woman sees 5,000 ads per day. How are you making sure yours is the one she remembers?

Throwing your money at influencers won’t work for the long term. Changing your marketing strategy will.

Start by asking yourself what your overall goal is. Do you want to get sales, collect emails, or grow your social media following?

Influencer marketing is a tool, not a strategy. To make them worthwhile, they need to be incorporated into a larger marketing strategy.

Inauthentic influencers

Ever seen big names on Instagram share doppelgänger content?

We have.

You may also be surprised how often train wrecks like these happen:

The aim of the social media game is to appear real. In Vietnam, Hana’s Lexis is admired for her quirk and wit, while Trang Hý’s grabs her audience with her unique sense of humour (funny faces).

It may cost a bit more for influencers to make their own content, but reality is worth the investment.

You want the audience to believe that this person genuinely likes and uses the product. It’s all about building trust.

Don’t look at the numbers

Alright, so you’re going to have to look at the numbers to figure out what kind of influencer bracket you fall into (celebrity, KOL or micro-influencer).

Just remember to be wary of them.

In Vietnam, you can buy 125 likes for the price of a cup of boba milk tea (~$2). To prove how easy it is, MediaKix faked 2 Instagram accounts for an experiment. They got two sponsor deals for each account.

Here are a few key points to remember when choosing an influencer:

Is their image and demographic relevant?
Who else do they work with? Are they competitors?
Do they engage with brands in sponsored posts?
Can you afford them?

Depending on your marketing goals there may be many more questions to ask, but this is a good starting point.

Is it relevant?

Before picking your influencer, take a look at the comment section of their other sponsored posts.

Are the commenters talking about the brand, or something else?

Take a look at the example below. Don’t worry non-Vietnamese-speakers, we’ll help you out.

The comments bang on about how beautiful the influencer is. She’s writing a sponsored post about an educational service.

What’s the brand getting out of this?

If they’re not interested enough to engage or mention the brand, chances are, it’s not worth it.

Always consider relevancy when it comes to sponsored KOL content. Here are three examples to spark your imagination:

What’s the buyer’s journey

Short story: a post is seen on the influencer’s Instagram. They potential customer clicks through to your brand’s account. That potential buyer finds their dream product, shoots you a message and goes from potential customer to customer. Tidy.

Sadly not every journey is so simple. Not everyone lives so vicariously, and will usually spend a bit of time making a decision.

They’ll go to your website, search for reviews, or ask for their friend’s opinion before making a purchase.

The same applies to influencer marketing.

Brands can raise awareness by working with celebrities in the early stages. Then, when it gets to the decision stage, the audience can find product reviews or comparisons with brands. That’s when they find videos from your micro-influencers.

Set goals and craft suitable messages and content for each stage. Only then will you get the best out of your influencer marketing campaign.

So, is it worth the cost? Essentially the answer depends on you.

Behind any successful influencer campaign is a lot of planning and work. Invest in it. When you get your content right, your influencer campaign can’t go wrong.

Originally published at https://wecreatecontent.asia on January 27, 2021.