In the last few years, influencer marketing has become the centerpiece of many communications strategies and a favorite topic of discussion among industry leaders. Communications professionals seek to understand the impact and measure the effects of an influencer marketing campaign and, in doing so, have seen something special occurring alongside their other more traditional efforts.
A story in the press tries diligently to present its information in an unbiased and balanced way. An influencer, conversely, is empowered to share her personal opinion, and in doing so, has the power to move the market. Influencers give brand messaging leverage; for every influencer partnered with you, hundreds, even thousands, of others who already trust them are touched.
As communications professionals continue to create impactful content, that is married to the distribution power of the media, influencers supply a meaningful way to amplify their messaging.
As we continue to learn about the power and finesse of influencer marketing and the place it should have in our marketing mixes, the industry has been taking note:
Influencer marketing has proven itself to be more impactful, more trusted, and a better return on investment than many other communications tactics
- According to Nielsen, only 33 percent of consumers trust online ads, but 92% trust peer recommendations
- According to BrightLocal, 88 percent of customers trust online reviews by strangers as much as they would recommendations from a friend
- According to Kissmetrics, a word-of-mouth recommendation is the primary factor between up to 50 percent of all purchase decisions
- According to TapInfluence, influencer marketing delivers 11 times higher Return on Investment (ROI) than traditional brand marketing
- According to Kissmetrics, when a brand repurposes an influencer’s content, it performs an average of 35x better than their own content
Influencer marketing is the way of the industry’s future—changing the communications landscape and monetizing relationships
- According to Mediakix, influencer marketing is expected to become a $5 to $10 billion market within the next five years
- Influencer marketing has become so lucrative that the Federal Trade Commission has gotten involved in the management of campaigns, establishing clear rules of conduct as hadn’t yet been defined in this emerging platform. They are cracking down on violators; all transactional connections, must be publicly, clearly, and specifically disclosed
- According to AdWeek, social advertising in 2017 makes up more than 20 percent of the total digital advertising spend in the United States
- According to HubSpot, 94 percent of marketers said influencer marketing was an effective campaign strategy
- According to eMarketer, 84 percent of marketers said they would launch at least one influencer campaign in the next year
Larger followings don’t always mean larger impact. In fact, the ‘micro-influencer’ or ‘power middle’ has proven itself to be the influencer marketing sweet spot
- According to Kissmetrics, sites, profiles, and blogs with between 2.5K – 25K unique monthly visitors and according to HelloSociety 30,000 or fewer followers, have 16 times higher engagement rates than paid media and owned alternatives
- According to AdWeek, 60% higher campaign engagement rates are driven by micro-influencers and those campaigns are 6.7 times more efficient per engagement than influencers with larger followings
- According to Digiday, people with less than 1,000 followers have a “like” rate of about 8%, whereas people with 1,000 to 10,000 followers have a ‘like’ rate of about 4%. This number drops to 2.4% for those with between 10,000 and 100,000 followers, and again to 1.7% when their audience grows to 1 million or more followers
- According to Entrepreneur, the average micro-influencer charges around $250 per post, whereas the average celebrity can cost upwards of $25,000 per post