Is influencer marketing worth it?

Let’s dissect if influencers are getting the results businesses want, whether influencer marketing is causing the necessary impact, and if this type of marketing is here to stay.

In terms of data, it is evident that the influencer marketing industry is gaining massive momentum and has resulted in an incredibly exponential growth from a $1.7 billion industry in 2016 to an estimated $13.8 billion industry.

Moreover, Instagram’s Daily Active Users (DAU) is 500 million-plus daily. Among which 68% of users get on to the app to engage and view the influencers, truly highlighting the impact of influencer marketing. Therefore, it is more than a reasonable explanation for why brands are heavily interacting with influencers, sending them PR packages, and partnering with them to promote their products. Furthermore, 91% of these brands actively engaging with influencers revealed that they found it highly effective. Therefore this is a sign for businesses to jump on the influencer bandwagon as soon as possible because they deliver results. 

When analyzing the ratio of how influenced users are by influencers, through research, it is indicated that about 81% of Instagram users discover brand new items and products while scrolling. The same percentage use social media to research services and products or their alternatives through the app. This suggests that influencers play a heavy role in influencing their ultimate purchasing decisions. The more influencers or those with a higher online presence advertise or promote specific products, the more exposure the products get. Therefore the likeliness of the products getting purchased will be higher.

Regarding the rate of return for influencer marketing, it is 89% comparable or better than other marketing channels, including email marketing, events, SEO marketing, etc. 

How to get it right?

With all the evidence presented above, it is clear that influencer marketing is worth it; however, the journey to gain fruition from influencer marketing depends on whether you are planning it correctly.

Choose and leverage the right influencers.

There is an ongoing argument that the over-saturation around influencers is proven not to backfire or negatively impact the industry. Instead, due to the wide range of influencers from different categories, the degree of social media presence and overall follower count has proven more beneficial for businesses and brands to leverage it ultimately.  

There are celebrity influencers with over 1 million followers, who provide extensive reach, but their level of reach and engagement from their audiences might not be the best. However, the unexpected rise of micro influence has begun to have an increasingly powerful impact on users on social media platforms, more than ever expected.

Micro-influencers have a following between 3k to 100k, known to be more affordable. However, they provide excellent engagement due to their friendly yet extremely loyal audiences following them. Though they may be at a disadvantage with a smaller reach, they create higher-quality interactions and are impressively effective.

Overall, it is entirely up to the brands and businesses to conduct their research, to find influencers of all ranges or categories that match their brand’s vision and core values. Once that is aligned and an appropriate budget, there is no reason for influencer marketing not to play in their favor. Since it has been proven to be highly effective and one of the best marketing channels that businesses can explore and leverage, it depends on whether the companies have a well-managed game plan to implement influencer marketing correctly.

Image Source: Unsplash, Mateus Campos Felipe