Is influencer marketing just getting started?

On its fourth-quarter media call last week, Bjørn Gulden, Puma’s CEO, noted that while most of social media’s tools and techniques weren’t available five years ago, marketing has become much more “about working with partners and making sure there’s content and stories that people are interested in.” The brand has five million followers across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter while its “muses” — led by the singer Rihana and singer and actress Selena Gomez — have 535 million followers. Added Mr. Gulden, “That means that their content, when they do something with or without Puma, is the driving force.” Also working with numerous athletes and local micro-influencers, delivering “authentic” content through the brand's ambassadors that connects socially is key. Mr. Gulden stated, “You need to create stories; to create content, and then of course it’s all about social media from a global point of view but also a local point of view.” Mr. Gulden’s comments come as a survey of marketers across various industries from Linqia found growing interest in influencer marketing with many looking to leverage influencer content to improve the performance of their paid, owned and earned media. Among the findings:

• Eighty-six percent used influencer marketing in 2017, 92 percent of whom found it effective;
• Thirty-nine percent plan to increase their influencer marketing budget in 2018;
• Eighty-one percent are currently using influencer content in other channels, with 51 percent reporting it outperforms brand-created content;
• Thirty-six percent plan to integrate influencer content with e-commerce to drive product sales.

Directly aimed at e-commerce, RevCascade, which automates the dropship process, in late January introduced Souler, which enables social media influencers to sell branded products directly to their followers through their own dedicated online storefront. The platform supports inventory management, order processing and customer service. Influencers take a 15 percent cut of any sale. Josh Wexler, RevCascade’s CEO, said in a statement, “Souler is enabling influencers to harness the power of their consumer reach to become the next major e-commerce channel while giving high end brands the opportunity dramatically grow their ecommerce revenues.”

• Puma Exceeds 4 Billion Euro Sales Mark For The First Time – Puma
• The State of Influencer Marketing 2018 – Linqia
• RevCascade Launches “Souler” an Influencer Commerce Platform Unlocking a New Sales Channel for Brands and Influencers – RevCascade
• RevCascade Rolls Out ‘Souler’ Influencer Commerce Platform – Women’s Wear Daily