Influencer marketing is on the rise. 90% of all marketers find ROI from influencer marketing comparable to, or better than, other marketing channels and consequently nearly two-thirds of marketers are planning to increase their spending on influencer marketing this year, compared to only 39% in 2018, according to a 2019 marketer survey by MediaKix. 

Instagram ranks as number one for the most important and impactful channel and has consequently become recognised as the social media powerhouse. Despite the hype around TikTok, Insta influencers can make around £10,000 to £20,000 per week per million followers from sponsors and advertising, compared to approximately £1,000 to £2,000 a week for TikTok.

Unsurprisingly, the influencer market is huge and diverse and one of the biggest challenges for businesses who want to get involved in this area can be identifying who to work with and setting up clear terms, timelines and tracking. Despite the attractive statistics on offer, sponsored content can easily fail to deliver if it’s not thoughtfully planned and executed, with an on-brand voice and audience alignment.

This also works the other way round, in terms of brands being approached for free merchandise by influencers. Professional chef and baker, Reshmi Bennett, recently vented her frustration on Instagram about being increasingly asked for free celebration cakes by influencers in the wake of lockdown.  It is likely that most of these people had given little thought as to whether they were aligned to her products or approached with a proper pitch, in terms of what they would offer her in return.

Consequently, it’s not all about followers in terms of influence. The State of Influencer Marketing 2020: Benchmark Report, produced by Influencer Marketing Hub, analysed 100,000+ influencer profiles across leading influencer marketing platforms, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter to see if there were variations in the engagement rate depending on an influencer’s number of followers.

They in fact concluded quite definitively that influencers with a high number of followers have lower engagement than those with fewer followers. This was particularly evident on Instagram, where they reported that nano-influencers with fewer than 1,000 followers have seven times the engagement rate than mega-influencers, with greater than 100,000 followers.

It’s far from straightforward therefore and for companies considering influencer marketing at any type of scale, you are best advised to look at a fully managed campaign with an influencer marketing specialist. They will do all the heavy lifting in terms of identifying and vetting a network of quality influencers, administrating the execution of the campaign, content licensing and post-campaign analysis.

We work with a selected partner who is one of the leading providers in this marketplace, ensuring your influencer marketing budget will deliver the optimum returns and post-campaign, you will be able to re-use all the creative assets within your paid, owned or earned social activity. Get in touch to find out more by emailing mediaintelligencebureau@gmail.com or fill in the contact form at the bottom of the page.