When the arguments begin to fly with regard to influencers, and any value they may or may not bring to your online marketing efforts, things can often get a bit cloudy. For several years now, influencers have been making their online mark with regard to stimulating brand awareness and even conversions. But, are they worth an effort to cultivate? Do people actually listen to them? In some recently compiled data by Shopify, it seems that influencers just may be worth the effort after all. The following is taken directly from that published report:
- Around 48% of the world’s population is active on some kind of social media platform, be that Facebook, Instagram, or Twitch. But users aren’t just following their friends—54% of users also follow their favorite brands, browsing their social media platforms to make purchase decisions.
- The value of influencer marketing lies in the fact that 61% of consumers trust influencers’ recommendations—more than the 38% who trust branded (and often biased) branded social media content. If you can identify and collaborate with the influencers your target customers follow, you’ll raise brand awareness, generate website traffic, and see positive impacts on your bottom line.
- Which types of brands are contributing most to influencer marketing’s ballooning industry worth? Data shows that more than half of brands working with influencers have ecommerce stores. Not only does this demonstrate the rise of ecommerce businesses, it also suggests that ecommerce businesses are particularly well-suited to the influencer marketing model.
- Almost half (47.3%) of influencers are micro-influencers with 5,000—20,000 followers on their biggest social media platform. That’s shortly followed by mid-tier influencers (26.8%) and nano influencers (18.74%). The majority (77%) of marketers say micro influencers top their list of ideal influencers, shortly followed by macro influencers (64%). No-payment and affiliate influencers fall by the wayside, with fewer than one in five brands adding them to their ideal collaborations list.
- Data from Statista found that there are many more women influencers than there are men. Approximately 84% of all social media influencers are women compared to just 16% men. Data shows that Instagram leads the way in popularity. The visual component allows your product to be front and center, encouraging social media users to visit your website. The vast majority of marketers consider it to be the most important influencer marketing channel for their business, with 83% expressing their reliance on Instagram Stories. It beats Facebook (79%), YouTube (45%), and Twitter (35%).
- TikTok is a relatively new social media platform that exploded in popularity over the last year. The number of users grew by 85% from 35.6 million in 2019 to 65.9 million in 2020. Those users don’t just passively scroll through the one-minute videos, though. Some 39% of respondents buy products through TikTok (compared to 22% for Instagram and 9% for Facebook influencer posts).
-Written by Kevin Sawyer
