Photo: @ashleyartidiello via Twenty20
The use of social media influencers is expected to take another leap in 2019, but finding a return on investment (ROI) remains a challenge.
Encouragingly, a survey of 150 marketing, communication and public relations professionals from SocialPubli.com, the micro-influencer marketing platform, finds 60 percent planning to increase their influencer marketing budgets in 2019, and 84 percent believe that it is effective.
The biggest challenge facing influencer marketing, however, remains measuring ROI, cited by 28 percent of the survey respondents. That was followed by the somewhat related difficulty of verifying the authenticity of influencers and their followers, 21 percent; and finding the most relevant influencers for campaigns, 16 percent.
Like some other advertising mediums, measuring an influencer’s value is made more challenging by a lack of a direct link to purchases. Influencer metrics change depending on the platform, although Instagram is by far the most favored.
A newer wrinkle is the rise of the micro-influencer. In the past, the more followers, the more value the influencer packed. Now, influencers with fewer, less-casual followers are seen by many brands to be better at engagement. Some marketers are touting the value of nano-influencers or those with fewer than 2,000 followers for their niche focus.
In a twist, the SocialPubli.com survey respondents placed greater importance on engagement (26 percent) than on the more traditionally used metric of reach (19 percent) when asked how they measure the success of their influencer marketing campaigns. Also cited were an increase in website traffic (13 percent) and sales and lead generation (13 percent).
SocialPubli.com said the greater emphasis on engagement showed marketers were focusing on quality over quantity. "They are looking for those influencers who can drive genuine conversations,” said Ismael El-Qudsi, CEO of SocialPubli.com, in a statement.
Another new survey of 800 marketers from social listening and analytics platform Talkwalker likewise found a bullish outlook for influencer marketing, although 40 percent indicated measuring ROI is a major challenge.
A newfound focus on authenticity over appearance and greater focus on quality was also seen. "You can't just pick a celebrity you like and hope for the best,” said Brittany McKone, VP of analytics at Weber Shandwick, in a statement.
- Report: 60% of Marketers Will Increase Their Influencer Marketing Budgets in 2019 – PRNewswire/Orlando Business Journal
- Report: Influencer Marketing Is Quickly Maturing, But There Will Be Plenty of Awkward Growing Pains in 2019 – Talkwalker/MarketWatch
- Unilever Demands Influencer Marketing Business Clean Up Its Act – The Wall Street Journal
- Progress in benchmarking influencer marketing – WARC
- Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report – Accuracast