Influencer marketing is fast becoming an ‘easy’ and ‘go-to’ way for companies to build brand loyalty, boost reach and connect with their target audiences. However, many marketers have begun to question whether influencer activity delivers valuable ROI. Our Leeds agency shares its opinion on the matter…
After reading an interesting article on Marketing Week which discussed the realm of influencers and what they actually deliver for companies, it got us thinking…what is the true value of influencer marketing? Sure, we hear about the rise of influencers all of the time and marketing through trusted bloggers, vloggers and Instagram stars has become a key strategy for many beauty, fashion and food companies, but does getting products or services featured really drive those all-important sales and deliver ROI?
On the one hand, many marketers would argue that partnerships with vloggers, bloggers and social stars with a large following are built to increase reach, awareness and customer loyalty and sales come off the back of this. Though we can’t deny that building brand awareness and loyalty is important, in order for a marketing campaign to be successful it needs to deliver sustainable ROI and over ⅓ of marketers struggle to calculate the benefit of influencer activity.
Influencer partnerships really don’t come cheap, according to ‘Mediakik’, brands have spent more than £776 million on Instagram stars alone in the past year. For YouTubers with a significant following, marketers would be willing to pay more than £67,000 per video and would pay more still for big names like Zoella, PewDiePie and Joe Wicks. When investing such vast amount of money, it’s no surprise that marketers want to know the number of conversions – many marketers also stated they would be willing to spend more on influencer marketing if it was shown to have a direct impact on sales.
So yes, influencers are expensive and you might not be able to see a direct link to conversions, but as mentioned earlier we can’t ignore the benefits. With such a large and often impressionable audience, influencers give a HUGE amount of brand awareness to companies and help towards brand loyalty. Bloggers, YouTubers and social media stars have spent years building loyal relationships with followers, many of which have full trust in their platform – which is great news for brands looking to boost visibility and build loyalty.
Like any digital marketing tactic, there are pros and cons to using influencer marketing in your wider strategy, if you want to build brand awareness and loyalty and have the budget it’s definitely the way to go. However, if your company is fully focused on making sales and conversions it might be best to spend your money elsewhere.