Social media influencers have a great deal of persuasion and a wide scope. They have a large, devout following who trusts their opinions on products. However, this is not always a perfect relationship for brands. This month, we look at the pros and cons of using social media influencers for your brand:

Pros

1. Large audience.

2. More validity than a normal advertisement. Fans of influencers will trust their advocation for a product or service.

3. Easy and unique way to disseminate the brand’s message. Reposting or retweeting by the followers will make a great word of mouth campaign.

Cons
1. ROI not always obtainable. 100,000 likes does not translate into large scale purchases. It is a harder relationship to quantify the worth.

2. Not only are these social media sensation’s influene hard to quanitfy, they cost a decent amount. Most make these endorsements their career, so their backing comes at a price.

3. Your brand is subjected to their lifestyle and decisions. Make sure you research the person to make sure their ideals align with your company’s. Just because the influencer likes coffee and you are a coffee company, it does not mean this is a match made in heaven. Your company will be reflected in the media star’s personal decisions, and they share all of them (it’s how they got famous, remember?).

South by Southwest is filled with innovation, industry leaders and talent. If you are in the digital marketing world, here are your don’t miss events for this year’s festival March 11th-20th.

1. One of this year’s keynote speakers is Kevin Plank, founder and CEO of Under Armour. He will be discussing how Under Armour, one of the premiere fitness gear companies, plans to revolutionize global health and technology. This is a company that has not stopped and is fueled by a “get it done” attitude, making this a not miss event.

2. Frank Cooper is the Chief Marketing Office and Chief Creative Officer at BuzzFeed, the source of all your funny, viral stories and a perpetual time waster. He will be discussing their global cross-platform network. Considering the way BuzzFeed revolutionized news stories, this should be a great learning event.

3. Pete Cashmore, Founder and CEO of Mashable, an online news source focusing on technology, social media, business and lifestyle, centers his talk on the future in both media and technology. For all Mashable readers and media gurus, this talk is worth attending.

4. Anthony Bourdain is nationally recognized as the CNN host of Parts Unknown and his exotic eats. He is also an investor and editory at Roads & Kingdoms, an online news source covering food, politics, travel and culture. His talk centers around his latter experience as he discusses building digital media “with a soul.”

5. Kerry Washington is known for her acting on Scandal, but her talk discusses the power of social media for both her career and fostering positivity.

2015 had many brand successes as brands tried new things, continuing to drive innovative content and garner a greater following. However, some of these innovations were social media fails, even if the intentions were good. Here are our top social media fails of 2015:

1. Starbucks #RaceTogether

2. Bud Light #UpForWhatever

3. Tinder’s tantrum