Don't underestimate the influence of influencers

Anyone who works in influencer marketing will have heard the below sorts of arguments before;

“Influencer marketing is the wild west of the ad industry”

“I can’t measure influencer so I only include it as an add on”

Most of us spend more time on social media platforms than on more traditional media channels.

It’s frustrating, but many marketers still have a preconceived idea of influencer marketing based on their perception from five years ago, not from how it operates now. And, despite the fact that data shows most of us spend more time on social media platforms than on more traditional media channels, the average media budget doesn’t seem to reflect this, with ad spending on television predicted to outstrip influencer by nearly ten to one in 2024.

Above: Data shows most of us spend more time on social media platforms than on more traditional media channels.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the importance of every channel in the media plan; television sets are still present in most homes, display advertising can offer powerful and relevant reach, brand-paid social continues to deliver strong performance for brand objectives... I could go on!

But influencer should be afforded the same level of respect (and appropriate budget) as these other channels, and I believe that 2024 is the year where brands will start to agree as well. And, if they don’t, they’re missing out on a huge opportunity to create a strong, holistic media mix.

Creators connect emotionally with their audience, being part of the community they speak to.

Right now, many media planners and brands still see influencer marketing as intangible, PR-adjacent activity. Here’s why that’s wrong.

Influencer is performance driven and measurable

There is no shortage of data to demonstrate the full-funnel impact of influencer. Creators connect emotionally with their audience, being part of the community they speak to. But this emotional resonance isn’t intangible, mystical or magical, it’s reflected in the numbers.

Having worked across thousands of creator campaigns, there is enough data on individual creators, brand outcomes, ‘types’ of creator, audiences and more to leverage creator content at every stage of a campaign. There are data-led solution that stores the data of every creator, every campaign, every cost per and every result. It’s the backbone of the work we at The Goat Agency do.

Above: The Goat Agency worked with TikToker Max Balegde on a campaign for Odeon.

Take, for instance, some recent, award-winning work we did with ODEON, which wanted to expand its social presence across TikTok. What started off as an ambition to gain market share became a full, revenue-driving approach with data at the heart of it. We identified, nurtured and grew core and opportunity audiences, optimising and responding along the way to performance analytics and sentiment to plug gaps and improve metrics.

Influencer and social commerce is coming into its own as a fully-fledged sales channel.

As with any channel, influencer should start with the wider goals of the campaign and the planning should be anchored in helping achieve these aims. So, rather than an add-on, influencer becomes always-on.

Influencer can impact your bottom line

Influencer marketing now has an even bigger impact on direct sales thanks to recent advancements in social commerce capabilities. These advancements make it easy for viewers to make a seamless purchase, even as they watch a creator, whether it’s TikTok shop, Pinterest, Instagram shopping, live streams... We’re seeing more and more purchases driven directly from social and creator content.

Creators have long boasted affiliate links, but influencer and social commerce is coming into its own as a fully-fledged sales channel, and we are only just scratching the surface of what’s possible. A solid, social-based commerce plan with, for example, co-branded shopping spaces, can make influencer campaigns the point of sale, too. Get ahead of this now - we’ve still not got anywhere near the point of maturity, so be an early adopter, reap the rewards and expand your point of contact with consumers.