Influencer marketing has been around for quite a while now and research has shown that online influencers have now overtaken celebrities as voices to trust by consumers when they are in the midst if their buying cycle. In fact, only trusted friends and family members hold more sway than the influencers.
Recent research done by Tomoson reveals why influencers need to be on your marketing radar and why they need to be there yesterday. The following is taken directly from their recent findings:
- 59% of marketers are planning to increase their influencer marketing budgets over the next 12 months, the study found. Just 21% plan to reduce this spending or keep it the same, and the rest are undecided.
- Influencer marketing was rated as the fastest-growing online customer-acquisition channel, beating organic search, paid search and email marketing. Affiliate marketing performed worst in this category, with just 5% of businesses counting it as their fastest-growing channel.
- Businesses are making $6.50 for each $1 spent on influencer marketing, with the top 13% earning $20 or more. A resounding 70% are earning $2 or more, with the rest either breaking even or failing to generate a return on investment.
- 51% of marketers believe they acquire better customers through influencer marketing, when asked to rate the average quality of customers acquired through the channel. Asked about this result, Jeff Foster, CEO of Tomoson, said: “Social media users tend to spend more money, and are more likely to spread the word to friends and family.”
- When asked about the most effective platform for influencer marketing, 37% chose blogs. Facebook was next, with 25%, making it the most popular social network. YouTube, Instagram and Twitter each got 5–6%, failing to collectively add up to the power of Facebook.
- Marketers consider sales figures to be the most important influencer marketing metric, selected by 56% of participants. Clicks and social shares are still favored by some, and earned media value was the least popular.
-Written by Kevin Sawyer
