VidCon embodies influencer marketing's challenges. And what is so wonderful about it.

Campaign Magazine writer Nicola Kemp has written a really great piece about VidCon and the future for content creators working with brands, here.

In the piece, Kemp looks into how 'influencer' has become a dirty word in some circles and why traditional media, and those who work alongside it, often find it so difficult to get their heads around the emergence of this new form of media. The whole piece is worth a read. But in particular the end sums up the current state of 'influencer marketing' rather neatly:

It’s difficult to know who is winning when it comes to influencer marketing and there is no question that for some in the traditional media the cultural environment in which they find themselves may well be deeply unsettling. But as Shetty [YouTube content creator] explains, social media is merely the vessel – a bottle – and it is up to the influencers and creators to ensure that it is filled with water, not poison. "There are so many great creators out there, search them out – there are so many talented people," Shetty says. A decade on from the inaugural VidCon and creators and consumers alike are actively seeking out the good from social media creators. The onus is on marketers not to be consumed by fears of the bad – driven by one-dimensional and outdated stereotypes of influence.  

One of the important points that I believe this piece makes is that anyone can set themselves up on social media, create a blog and start posting content. And that this is a double edged sword. Certainly it means that people with dubious ethics and questionable aims are able to ruin the good name of content creators who are producing great content for all the right reasons. But as the old saying goes, you shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Done well and with the right people, content creator collaborations are a powerful and authentic way to engage with a target group that is highly likely to be increasingly resistant to traditional forms of marketing.

It is just that doing it well is hard work. I believe those that put in the effort will win in the long run. Those that don't will simply end up more and more cynical and frustrated. Which way to go is a choice that every marketer has to make now.