Influencer marketing has been on the rise in the last couple of years, and there are no signs of it leaving us alone any time soon, despite the pandemic and lockdowns. Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report 2021 surveyed more than 5000 agencies that work in the influencer marketing sector, and the findings are impressive.
If we look back at influencer marketing in 2021, below are some of the highlights:
- More than half of the surveyed prefer campaign-based collaborations with influencers.
- 90% of the surveyed consider influencer marketing an effective marketing method.
- Compared to the 9% in 2020, 11% of the surveyed firms now intend to provide 40% of their marketing budgets for influencer marketing.
- Familiarity takes precedence. 56% of the surveyed worked with the same influencers across different campaigns. Brands opt to work with influencers they have previously worked with.
- Product samples are still a common payment method—36% of the surveyed paid influencers with product samples.
- 59% of the surveyed worked with influencers for affiliate campaigns to promote the affiliate products.
- 240 new influencer marketing-focused platforms emerged.
- 67% of respondents measure the ROI from their influencer campaigns to assess the effectiveness of their marketing spendings.
- Smaller influencers (micro-influencers) are more popular than macro or mega-influencers.
- While smaller influencers are more popular on Instagram and YouTube, TikTok sees a broader interest in influencers with larger numbers.
- 82.5% of the respondents take their influencer marketing spendings from marketing budgets.
- 49% of the brands surveyed spend less than $10K every year on influencer marketing, but the proportions depend highly on the overall marketing budget of the firms. A firm that works with mega or celebrity influencers will spend more than the firm working with micro or nano-influencers.
- Influencer fraud is still a concern, as 67% of those surveyed still have worries about that.
COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdowns have impacted the state of influencer marketing, both positively and, in some cases, not so. But one thing is sure: influencer marketing is evolving and has a great potential to become the number one preference in campaign-based promotions.
YOU CAN ALSO READ