Adblock use is soaring. Consumer trust in advertisers is crashing. The new dilemma for marketers: How do you get your message across to people who don’t want to hear it? Cue the rise in social influencer marketing.
Does this type of marketing work? You’ll hear a lot of debate from brand marketers. Take a look at some of the most up-to-date influencer marketing statistics, and form your own opinion.
The Audience for Social Influencer Marketing
The Stats: Teens are tuning in to social influencers in a big way. They consider YouTube stars up to 17 times as engaging as mainstream stars, and 70 percent of teens trust influencers more than they trust opinions from more traditional celebrities.
The Takeaway: Add another stat to the mix: 73 percent of Millennials feel responsible to help friends make purchasing decisions. Now you can see the ripple effect start to grow. Teens find influencers more authentic than traditional advertising, so they pay attention. If you’re trying to reach that market, better start looking for some influencers.
[ctt template=”4″ link=”y31mJ” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]Today’s teens place more trust in social influencers than traditional celebrities. [/ctt]
The Products of the Influencer World
The Stats: It’s all about the look. Beauty and fashion brands are deeply into influencer marketing, with 86 percent of the popular YouTube beauty videos coming from influencers rather than fashion brands.
The Takeaway: Beauty and fashion brands have been paying attention to the rise of the influencers. As a result, 57 percent of them now incorporate social influencers into their marketing strategies.
What Platforms Host Social Influencers?
The Stats: YouTube isn’t the only place where influence is sizzling. Marketers point to Facebook and Instagram (which Facebook owns) as crucial in the influence world, and the 32 percent of the influencers themselves call out Facebook as the place to be. In addition, Twitter users are more than five times as likely to purchase when they see influencers there.
The Takeaway: If you want to use social influencer marketing, choose your platforms wisely. And whatever you choose, don’t neglect Facebook. In addition, plenty of influencers have well-trafficked blogs, so take a peek into the blogosphere when you’re looking for the right influencers for your brand.
Related: How Facebook is Changing the Marketing Game with Influencers
The Cost of Influencer Marketing
The Stats: U.S. marketers have been increasing the portion of their marketing budgets allotted to social media, up to almost 12 percent from an initial 3.5 percent in 2009. In 2016, the average cost of an influencer marketing program ranged from $25,000 to $50,000, with those numbers expected to double in 2017.
The Takeaway: The barrier to entry in social influencer marketing is very low, so now is the time to start experimenting with it, if you haven’t already. If you’re still skeptical, keep reading.
[ctt template=”4″ link=”7U1E0″ via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]Every dollar spent on influencer marketing generates $6.50 in return.[/ctt]
The Bottom Line: The ROI of Social Influencer Marketing
The Stats: Here’s some encouraging influencer marketing statistics: Studies show that influencer marketing content delivers a return on investment that’s 11 times higher than that of traditional digital marketing. Every dollar spent on influencer marketing generates $6.50 in return.
The Takeaway: One final statistic: 94 percent of brands using social influencer marketing find it effective. Given the low cost, there’s not much reason to avoid it and plenty of reasons to give it a try.
Social influencer marketing is here to stay, and it’s becoming increasingly mandatory in certain consumer goods categories. Dip your toe in this market (easy to do, given its relatively low cost), and see what kind of ROI you might get.
