Influence marketing is focused on influencing people rather than targeting the whole market. It identifies the individuals that influence potential buyers and orients marketing activities around these influencers. Influencer marketing is more about showing consumers your authority, credibility, and thought-leadership within your industry. It uses a combination of online marketing influencers, celebrities (who we already know and trust), word-of-mouth marketing and other user-generated content to market and promote products and services to consumers, instead of using old, cheesy traditional advertising that continually pushes unwanted products in front of consumers.
Let’s start with some statistics, this will help you with information on the impact of Influencer Marketing creates on our day to day life.
- Influencer Marketing Industry is set to grow to approximately $13.8 Billion in 2021.
- More than 240 new influencer marketing-focused agencies and influencer platforms were established in 2019.
- The majority (59%) admit to having a standalone budget for content marketing, and 75% of them now intend to dedicate a budget to influencer marketing in 2021.
- 90% of our survey respondents believe influencer marketing to be an effective form of marketing.
- The majority of brands use the same influencers across different campaigns.
- Brands still tend to give away free product samples (or give discounts on more expensive products) rather than paying cash to their influencers.
- 67% of our respondents measure the ROI from their influencer campaigns.
- The most common measure of influencer marketing success is conversions/sales.
- 83% of firms take their influencer marketing spending from their marketing budget.
- 67% of respondents use Instagram for influencer marketing, but there has been a colossal increase in TikTok influencer marketing.
- Influencer fraud is still of concern to respondents, but less so than in the past.
- 67% of respondents prefer their influencer marketing to be campaign-based rather than always-on.
- Finding influencers remains the most significant challenge for those who run campaigns in-house but is becoming less of a problem.
How does this impact business around the globe?
The current market is heavily saturated and solely introducing your product no longer does the trick. Customers have become smarter as they now have access to unlimited information and want authenticity from a brand.
Given that 71% of Canadians prefer purchasing products referred by social media, brands like Frye and Zayful are keen to get more influencers on board. Be it holiday brands like Booking.com or the popular make-up brand Sephora, everyone is trying to reach customers directly through established Canadian Instagram users. A strong influencer strategy is of immense value and most businesses realize this.
Compared to big brands, influencers tend to be more relatable and this form of word-of-mouth marketing also feels less risky to customers. Access to authentic and full information helps people narrow down their choices and interacting with influencers is an added bonus. Social media influencer marketing has a concentrated reach where customer needs are met better than any other form of marketing.
