With increasing numbers of social media and digital platform users, digital marketers are always on the lookout for emerging trends to follow. Take influencer marketing, for instance: This strategy is poised to be the next big thing, as evidenced by the 65% of brands that used influencer marketing in 2015.
Brands collaborating with influencers (who have an established network of followers mostly on social media) is proven to be an effective strategy, as research revealed that influencer marketing drives higher return on investment than traditional marketing such as print ads, TV commercials, and billboards, among others.
Additionally, a 2017 study indicated that businesses that deployed influencer marketing campaigns earn $6.78 for every dollar spent on influencers, prompting 73% of brands to take this route and allocate a marketing budget for it.
These figures indicate the power of influencers on consumers’ purchasing activities, as they seem to trust influencers’ product recommendations more than the celebrities’.
When it comes to choosing the ideal influencer for their brands, marketers take into account the relevance, content quality, and personality of the influencer. They make sure that the influencer’s style and type of audience align with the brand’s voice.
Savvy marketers also seem to place more value on the level of engagement than the number of followers, with many choosing to work with micro-influencers to promote their products. These influences have only around 2,000 to 5,000 followers but deliver higher engagement rates than those with massive followings.
Furthermore, Instagram takes the top spot as the most preferred platform for influencers, with 93% of them using this social media network for marketing in 2017. Most of the influencers on Instagram use the Stories feature and hashtags to promote brands, driving higher engagement, and boosting brand reputation through product testimonials and reviews.
Check out more influencer marketing statistics in the infographic below brought to us by the folks at SmallBizGenius.
