Why Influencer Marketing Works So Well (even though we know we’re being marketed to)

by Sorilbran Stone | Owns a bust of Bea Arthur (comedic timing and all)

We are bombarded every single day with branded messages. Ads abound. There’s a popular stat floating around that the average person sees up to 10,000 ads a day . Well, if we’re seeing more than 5,000 ads a day, and the average person’s only getting six hours of sleep a night, that means during our 18 waking hours, we see 277 ads every hour on the hour, which is about one ad every 4.5 seconds.

?

For every day in 2019, about 13,560 pieces of influencer-created sponsored content went up on Instagram, according to Statista . Between 2019 and 2022, the influencer market more than doubled in size, going from $6.5B to $15B in value.

?

Today, nine in ten marketers say they are running or planning to run an influencer marketing strategy campaign in the near future. Influencers seem to have a finger on the pulse of social communities.

?

So, how do we get ANYTHING done?!!?

Two ways: Adblockers and ad blindness.

Tens of millions of people have taken deliberate steps to make sure they’re not exposed to ads by using ad blockers that are so sophisticated that they even help you skip pre-roll YouTube ads altogether. Something like 44 percent of adults who use the Internet globally also use an ad blocker.

?

So here’s the question: If people hate ads so much, why does influencer marketing even work on smart consumers? Further,? why do brands continue to implement social media influencer marketing strategies?

?

Short answer: It’s the presentation. Influencer marketing doesn’t disrupt a user’s experience like a TV ad interrupts an episode of The Bachelor. And believe it or not, one of the (many) reasons people go to social media in the first place is to learn about new trends, products, brands, and movements.

Courtesy of: The Shelf

How Influencer Marketing Works

Influencer marketing integrates pretty seamlessly with your overall digital marketing strategy because it lets brands show up at different touchpoints along the path to purchase. The most effective and best influencer marketing strategies work across multiple platforms.

For every channel you add to your digital marketing strategy, you can improve your ROI and effectiveness by up to 35 percent, according to Analytics Partners. And studies have shown that conversions increase by at least 10 percent for brands that use influencer-generated content in the online purchase path.

Take a look at the channels identified in the graphic above. All of those channels – the subway ads, the Pinterest board, the newsletter – are access points for different types of influencers to extol the virtues of your brand, creating a kind of echo chamber all across the web.

?In the previous section, we included the stat (in the pink chart) that 81 percent of millennial women say social media is the best way to reach them, making social media marketing strategies the key to success. That’s a stat to which most digital marketers would easily subscribe. Well, here are a few more of the answers given by millennial women from that same poll:

• 36 percent say websites they trust are a good way to reach them
• 35 percent say online articles?
• 35 percent say email?
• 17 percent say online video?

?

And a few stats about Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumers:

• Over half of Gen Z have purchased a product that their favorite online celebrity has recommended (YPulse)
• More than half (55%) of children aged 6 to 16 say they want to buy a product if their favorite YouTube or Instagram star is using or wearing it (Wunderman Thompson
• More than half of children polled (57%) said seeing adverts for products on Instagram makes them want to buy them (Wunderman Thompson)
• 40% of millennial parents say requests from their Gen Alpha kids influence them to buy (YPulse )
• The purchasing decisions of millennial parents are also heavily influenced by social media content: 28% are influenced by online reviews and recommendations, 22% are influenced by social media ads, 19% are influenced by social media posts, and 18% are influenced by online celebrities. (YPulse)
• 37% of millennial parents have purchased something for their children after seeing it on social media. (YPulse)

Social Media is the Straightest Path from Brand to Consumer

Most of the people in the world (like, on the planet) use at least one social media channel. According to Rakuten Marketing , 61% of consumers interact with an influencer at least once a day.??

And while 75% of consumers don’t trust the messages found in ads, 82% of all social media users have either purchased or considered purchasing something after interacting with influencer content.

So, one smart strategy for marketers is to infuse their traditional ads with influencer-generated content.

Influencer marketing is not designed to work alone - use it as part of your overarching digital marketing strategy. But leverage the benefits you get by partnering with influential, engaging content creators who can create the kind of content that will make your TV ads more memorable , boost audience sentiment, and endear your brand to buyers.??