essay on influencer marketing

What is influencer marketing?

Sphere of influence. Once it was Mary Kay cosmetics and coiffed ladies driving pink Cadillacs. Now it’s waist trainers, hair growth gummy vitamins, and green protein powder supplements. The most glamorous and charismatic among us have always influenced how others aspire to live—including the products people buy to support their lifestyle dreams. But only recently, with the advent of social media , has influencing people become an actual job.

Influencer marketing is a collaboration between popular social-media users and brands to promote brands’ products or services. These partnerships have been going on informally since the dawn of social media. By 2009, they were sufficiently commonplace for the US Federal Trade Commission to step in and regulate them through the so-called Mommy Blogger law . (China, India, and the United Kingdom have introduced similar regulations.)

Since then, the market has grown astonishingly quickly: since 2019, it has more than doubled on the strength of platforms such as Instagram and YouTube (in Western countries) and Pinduoduo and WeChat (in China). In 2023, the influencer marketing economy was valued at $21.1 billion.

McKinsey anticipated the rise of influencer marketing in 2014 with the completion of a survey  involving 20,000 European consumers. The analysis at the time noted that most of influencer marketing’s impact came from so-called power influencers. But the survey also identified an emerging—and largely untapped—market of less active influencers with smaller followings. In recent years, we’ve seen this phenomenon play out with the rise of micro- and nano influencers.

Brands tap into influencer marketing because it works for them, consumers, and influencers alike. Social media already had a significant impact on consumer purchase decisions when McKinsey carried out its 2014 survey. In 2022, an analysis of more than 2,000 influencer marketing posts found that the strategy does yield a positive ROI for brands .

Plus, there’s no shortage of would-be influencers. In a 2019 survey of several thousand millennials and Gen Zers , 54 percent said they would become influencers if they could. Although we don’t know how long the market will be this hot, social media continues to be very popular. And brands and individuals are making the most of this gold rush while business is still booming.

Beyond shiny hair and a megawatt smile, what makes someone an influencer? And how does influencer marketing work? Read on to learn more about this rapidly growing phenomenon and where it’s headed.

Learn more about McKinsey’s Growth, Marketing & Sales Practice .

Introducing McKinsey Explainers : Direct answers to complex questions

What is an influencer.

Influencers are people with sizable social-media followings who can influence their followers’ behavior as consumers. Although anyone can be an influencer, the internet—like the world more broadly—tends to favor the rich, the famous, and the glamorous. Check out this 2021 list of the world’s top 50 social-media influencers . Recognize any names? You probably do: most of the people on the list are huge celebrities.

However, not all social-media accounts represent humans, and the same is true for influencers. Animal influencers are a thing as well . So are AI influencers . The most famous robot influencer is the permanently 19-year-old Lil Miquela , whose account (created by a start-up in Los Angeles) has a following that’s three million strong.

What does an influencer marketing deal look like?

Such a partnership often combines these two models:

• An influencer is paid a flat rate per post to feature a product or service. This is known as a brand deal. The flat rates can be three to five figures, even for an influencer without millions of followers or a global profile. Celebrities can charge six figures or more per post.
• An influencer posts about a product or service, with a link to a purchase gateway. Every time a viewer buys the product by clicking through the link or using a promo code, the influencer earns an affiliate commission.

Learn more about McKinsey’s  Growth, Marketing & Sales Practice .

How much are influencers paid?

Because each influencer has a unique audience, a unique follower list, and unique engagement metrics, each influencer marketing deal is also unique. Swimsuit model and influencer Alexa Collins, who has more than two million followers, told Insider that she charges at least $1,000 for a sponsored story on her Instagram account. Tyler Chanel—a micro sustainability influencer with more than 13,000 followers—says that she charges brands at least $100 for a sponsored story. Some social-media influencers regard $100 per 10,000 followers as an acceptable formula. But there are no hard-and-fast rules. One social-media influencer talked with Insider about pulling in about $5,000 each month just through affiliate links, which traffic web users to an advertiser’s website. Brand deals can bring big paychecks for influencers, too. Another influencer, who had 275,000 followers at the time, said that she made $700,000 in six months just from brand deals .

What’s the difference between influencer marketing and celebrity endorsements?

Brands have used celebrities to sell products since long before athletes first appeared on cereal boxes. But influencer marketing and celebrity endorsements are not quite the same thing . Celebrity endorsements typically involve a company making a huge investment in someone, but it’s hard to specify the exact return on that investment. With influencer marketing, it’s easier to figure out the ROI because companies can closely monitor likes, shares, online conversations, and so forth.

What’s a micro influencer?

Influencers come in five different sizes—nano, micro, medium, macro, and mega—depending on how many followers they have :

• Nano influencers have fewer than 10,000 followers.
• Micro influencers have from 10,000 to 50,000.
• Medium influencers have from 50,000 to 100,000.
• Macro influencers have more than 500,000.
• Mega influencers breathe rarified air: they have over one million followers.

You might assume that brands want to work only with macro influencers, but that’s not always the smartest business decision. Micro influencers might produce more relatable content than their macro counterparts, who use professional photographers, stylists, makeup artists, and all kinds of consultants to put a post together. While macro influencers may advertise a lifestyle that seems unattainable to many people, micro influencers, on the other hand, can represent accessibility to their followers.

Of course, there are obvious benefits to working with macro influencers: with their mass followings, they can help brands reach hundreds of thousands or even millions of people.

What platforms are most popular for influencer marketing?

In a 2022 survey of more than 2,000 global brands, about 80 percent reported using Instagram for influencer marketing. TikTok is gaining steam: in the same study, conducted in 2023, 56 percent of participating brands reported using that platform for influencer marketing campaigns.

Although Instagram and TikTok are the most popular platforms for influencer marketing, brands shouldn’t ignore the potential of the alternatives. Maybe your brand already has in mind a specific influencer with an impressive number of YouTube subscribers. Like more traditional forms of marketing, influencer marketing should be tailored to a brand’s specific audience.

Also, research conducted by the influencer marketing platform Upfluence shows that certain platforms might attract specific influencers, depending on how many followers the influencer has. Micro and medium influencers tend to prefer Instagram, for example, while macro and mega influencers migrate toward TikTok.

What makes a successful influencer marketing campaign?

Authenticity is the basis of any successful influencer marketing campaign. Forming relationships with influencers who are already relevant to a brand’s message is vital. Influencers might be popular for their content on sustainability, cooking, body positivity, healthy lifestyle, and so on. Does your brand fit in well with a particular influencer and that influencer’s brand? Influencer marketing should be about more than scoring posts endorsing your products; it should be about building real relationships with creators—you want them truly behind your brand.

What’s more, partnering with a diverse group of influencers can help your brand engage with larger audiences. For example, Alessandra Sales—the vice president of growth at Ipsy—told McKinsey  that her experiences working with transgender creators helped her redefining-beauty brand connect with the transgender community.

How has the pandemic changed influencer marketing?

The evidence clearly shows  that the COVID-19 pandemic has created a new normal. Although many of us are traveling again, going out more, and maybe even venturing into the office, things probably will never be quite the same . The pandemic has changed the way we view public health, food , shopping, and much besides.

More people are shopping digitally now. No surprises there: with lingering health concerns and new, lower risk tolerance levels, it’s easier and safer to buy those new shoes from your couch. In one study, conducted in May 2020 , Visa data showed that 13 million people in Latin America made their first-ever e-commerce transaction during the pandemic, when consumers wanted contactless forms of shopping. In addition, McKinsey’s ongoing global survey shows that consumers are consistently opting for digital, reduced-contact ways of receiving services or products . Influencers have an ever-larger role to play in the new shopping normal: 34 percent of survey participants said that they have shopped on Instagram because of influencer endorsements.

How will the metaverse affect influencer marketing?

The metaverse  is a relatively new, somewhat complicated concept. We characterize it as an evolution of the internet: it is the emerging 3-D digital space that allows people to have lifelike experiences online via virtual reality and other technologies. In the metaverse, people interact with peers, content, cryptocurrency, brands, and other “worlds.” The platforms you might already know include Animal Crossing , Fortnite , Minecraft , Roblox , and The Sims .

What’s the future of marketing in the metaverse? It turns out that people are willing to pay for virtual goods: direct-to-avatar sales of such items have created a $54 billion industry . Gucci, for instance, sold a digital version of its Dionysus bag for over $4,000—significantly more than the price of the real-life one. Nike has been selling virtual sneakers called Nike Cryptokicks , and Chipotle offered vouchers for real-life burritos to the first 30,000 visitors to the company’s virtual restaurant on Roblox .

Influencers are getting more and more involved with the metaverse. The rapper Snoop Dogg, for example, has released a music video created in The Sandbox metaverse, as well as a “Snoopverse” (on the same platform), where fans can access exclusive performances and content. The potential for brand–influencer collaboration in the metaverse appears as limitless as the metaverse itself.

What are the opportunities and challenges of influencer marketing?

Many brands can benefit by partnering with influencers. But influencer marketing isn’t without risk . Large, well-known companies might use influencer marketing to establish or maintain a sense of trust among consumers by adding an element of personability. But big brands can also find it harder to appear authentic in an influencer recommendation  because it was clearly paid for. An influencer touting a smaller, lesser-known brand can seem more genuine.

Smaller brands may face their own challenges in the future. As influencer marketing overwhelms the online market, it may be harder to stand out amid the noise. Katie Freiberg, former head of growth marketing at the lingerie company ThirdLove, told McKinsey :

As the market becomes more saturated, it’s much harder for brands, especially smaller brands, to differentiate themselves. Direct-to-consumer [D2C] brands have used this as a way to really build their brands and their voices. As bigger companies come into the space and start using influencers, D2C brands are going to be forced to figure out the next new thing.

Freiberg also points out that big businesses working with many influencers can have difficulty managing such networks. Even if your brand carefully chooses a creator who upholds your brand’s values, you can’t always be sure that person will act professionally online and not harm your brand’s reputation.

As always, brands must be smart about how they conduct business on the internet or in the metaverse. But despite the risks, partnering with the right influencers in these spaces can help brands grow exponentially.

Click here to learn more about McKinsey’s Growth, Marketing & Sales Practice —and check out influencer-marketing-related job opportunities if you’re interested in working at McKinsey.

Articles referenced include:

• “ When will the COVID-19 pandemic end? ,” July 28, 2022, Sarun Charumilind , Matt Craven , Jessica Lamb , Adam Sabow , Shubham Singhal , and Matt Wilson
• “ Marketing in the metaverse: An opportunity for innovation and experimentation ,” McKinsey Quarterly , May 24, 2022, Eric Hazan , Greg Kelly , Hamza Khan , Dennis Spillecke , and Lareina Yee  
• “ How US consumers are feeling, shopping, and spending—and what it means for companies ,” May 4, 2022, Kari Alldredge , Tamara Charm , Eric Falardeau , and Kelsey Robinson
• “ How European shoppers will buy groceries in the next normal ,” December 2, 2020, Gizem Günday, Stijn Kooij, Jessica Moulton , Marek Karabon, and Jorge Omeñaca
• “ Reimagining marketing in the next normal ,” July 19, 2020, Arun Arora , Peter Dahlström , Eric Hazan , Hamza Khan , and Rock Khanna
• “ Discussions in digital: Influencer marketing is ready for its close-up ,” April 15, 2020, Dianne Esber  and Jane Wong
• “ Getting a sharper picture of social media’s influence ,” McKinsey Quarterly , July 1, 2015, Jacques Bughin

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Influencer Marketing

What is influencer marketing: An influencer strategy guide for 2024

Learn about the evolving world of influencer marketing in this guide from understanding the types of influencers to crafting effective strategies.

Ready to dive right in and start looking for influencers to work with? Check out our catalog of unique, up-to-date influencer trends by category.

Find influencers

Reading time  13 minutes

Published on  June 6, 2024

Table of Contents

• Influencer marketing has evolved significantly over the past decade. It has expanded beyond celebrities to include social media influencers who foster authentic connections and influence purchase decisions and brand reputation.
• Understanding the types of influencers, from mega to nano, is crucial for brands to choose the right partners. The types of influencers you choose to partner with will determine the reach, engagement and ROI you get.
• Common influencer marketing mistakes to avoid include failing to define clear goals and expectations, prioritizing follower-count over engagement, neglecting influencer research and sharing unclear briefs.

Influencers are here to stay. According to a Q3 2023 Sprout Pulse Survey, more than 80% of marketers agree that influencers are essential to their overall social media strategy.

But the world of influencer marketing is constantly evolving.

A decade ago, the influencer marketing arena was limited only to celebrities and a few dedicated bloggers, whereas now, social media influencers are abound across all social networks. Their followings may vary in size, but these influencers pack a punch. Their tight-knit communities foster authentic connections and influence purchase behaviors, leading to higher brand engagement and ultimately, sales.

However, working with digital creators and influencers needs a well-planned and strategic approach. And this guide aims to help you navigate it. Read on for tips on how to build an effective influencer marketing strategy, what mistakes to avoid and how to find the right influencers for your brand.

Download the 2024 Influencer Marketing Benchmarks Report

What is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing is a social media marketing approach that uses endorsements and product mentions from influencers. These individuals have a dedicated social following and are viewed as experts within their niche.

Influencer marketing works because of the high trust social influencers have built with their following over time. Recommendations from these influencers serve as a form of social proof to your brand’s potential customers.

Types of influencers: By size and reach

Partnering with an influencer with millions of followers might sound like a dream come true but they may not be the best fit for your brand.

Some social media influencers have large, broad audiences spanning across several demographics. Others boast smaller but more targeted and engaged communities.

Knowing what each type of influencer can offer you in terms of reach, range, cost and engagement is key to choosing the right ones for your brand.

Let’s take a deeper look at the various types of influencers out there:

Mega or celebrity influencers

These influencers have a massive following of over 1 million and often include famous actors, musicians, athletes and other public figures. Their celebrity status allows them to captivate a diverse audience, making them ideal for large-scale brand awareness campaigns. Think: Cristiano Ronaldo .

Mega influencers can give your brand unparalleled exposure, but partnering with them can be incredibly expensive. Plus, since their audience is often broad, their engagement rates may not be as high as influencers with smaller, more niche followings.

Here are some businesses that might benefit from working with mega influencers:

• Large enterprise corporations that have the budget and resources
• Brands targeting a broad audience with varying characteristics
• Luxury or high-end brands that want to create a sense of exclusivity

Macro-influencers

With a following that typically ranges from 100,000 to 1 million, macro-influencers are established personalities within their respective niches.

These influencers have earned their reputation through consistent content creation and engagement over time, and are now thought leaders in their niche .

Macro-influencers offer a more targeted approach compared to celebrities, as their followers usually share common interests. Collaborating with macro-influencers can provide your brand with substantial reach, but it may still be relatively costly depending on your budget.

Here are some examples of brands that might work with macro-influencers:

• Startups seeking rapid exposure, growth and credibility (e.g., Canva )
• Nonprofit organizations looking to raise funds and awareness
• Hotels and airlines targeting a specific but large audience

Micro-influencers

With 10,000 to 100,000 highly engaged followers, micro-influencers are the rising stars of influencer marketing. These influencers typically have a strong presence on specific platforms, like Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.

Marketers love working with micro-influencers as they captivate a niche, passionate audience with their creative content, relatable recommendations and genuine interactions. They’re also more affordable than larger influencers.

Nano-influencers

Nano-influencers have between 1,000 to 10,000 followers. These influencers often have a strong connection with their audience, thanks to the close-knit community they’ve built and their personable content.

While they offer a smaller reach, nano-influencers can be excellent partners for businesses who want to target specific communities and demographics without breaking the bank. In fact, per the latest Influencer Marketing Hub data, 44% of brands prefer to partner with nano influencers in 2024, compared to 39% in 2023.

There are many reasons for this, namely, since nano-influencers work on a small scale, they dedicate more time and effort to individual partnerships. This means more tailored content for your brand and personal relationships within niche communities. They are perfect for businesses such as:

• Local businesses targeting specific communities, cities or regions
• Small businesses with limited budgets that want to run cost-effective campaigns
• Artisan, home-based or speciality food businesses reaching a niche audience interested in their one-of-a-kind products

Why use influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing can be an incredibly powerful marketing tool for you, and brands are already using it to their advantage, as these influencer marketing examples show.

According to The 2024 Influencer Marketing Report , almost half of all consumers (49%) make purchases at least once a month because of influencer posts; and almost all consumers (86%) make a purchase inspired by an influencer at least once a year. Not surprisingly, the influencer marketing industry is expected to grow to $24 billion in 2024 as indicated by the Influencer Marketing Hub's latest research.

Here are more reasons why you should add influencers to your marketing mix.

Increased brand awareness

Collaborating with an influencer draws a wider audience to your brand. By featuring your brand in their content, influencers introduce it to new audiences who may not have been familiar with it. Also, the trust influencers hold with their followers enhances your brand's reputation and credibility and boosts market awareness.

Precise audience targeting

Influencer marketing helps brands with precise audience targeting by connecting brands to influencers whose followers align with the brand's target demographic. This ensures their message reaches the right audience and is delivered from a perspective that resonates with the audience, making the campaign more effective.

Higher conversions

Social proof is a powerful factor in the likelihood of making a purchase after seeing an influencer campaign, because it helps sway undecided consumers in your favor. Similarly, influencers often share interactive content such as giveaways, challenges and live sessions that drive engagement and prompt actions like making purchases or signing up for deals. They also share exclusive discount codes or special offers making it easy to track conversions directly linked to their promotion.

Building trust and authenticity with your audience

Influencers build trust with their followers by sharing personal experiences and opinions that resonate with their audience, making them more relatable. They further increase their credibility by being open about brand partnerships and only promoting products they genuinely support.

Plus, their seemingly unscripted content contrasts with traditional advertisements, making it sound authentic and spontaneous, which fosters personal connection with followers. This trust is further reinforced by how they respond to comments, making their audiences feel valued and heard, thus strengthening the bond. All this combined, helps influencers drive higher conversion rates for brands.

How to create an influencer marketing strategy in 5 steps

While Instagram influencer marketing is a well-known strategy, other platforms like TikTok , YouTube and Snapchat resonate increasingly well with different demographics.

Like any marketing tactic, an influencer program takes thoughtful planning. Here are key factors to consider while developing your influencer marketing strategy.

1. Find influencers and understand their payment structure

Finding the right influencer for your brand is the first step to building a successful influencer marketing strategy. You must invest time in market research to understand your audience’s preferences and choose the right platform to engage them with an influencer collaboration.

This is especially important because each network caters to a specific audience. For example, beauty and fashion brands shine on Instagram and YouTube, while the video game industry dominates Twitch.

Here are some factors to consider when searching for influencers:

• Does the influencer already post about similar topics related to your service?
• Are they legit? Scroll through their feed and click through on posts. A poor engagement ratio to follower count and spam-like comments are signs of a fake account or fake followers.
• Have they worked with similar brands before? Depending on what type of influencer you’re looking for, a seasoned one will be able to show you a press kit that contains a portfolio of their work.

Social listening can assist you in identifying where people are discussing your industry and brand, and to find influential voices within your industry on each platform.

40 Unique Ways To Use Social Listening To Make An Impact On Your Business

Similarly, focus on the type of influencers you want, and plan for their pricing . Whether it’s celebrities with massive followings or micro-influencer s with less than 2,000 followers, do your due diligence because that will determine your budget.

Compensation varies based on platform, influencer types and types of influencer collaborations, so think about the expected ROI of your social influencer marketing campaign. How will you measure the impact of influencer posts on your overall marketing goals? For instance, compare how you would budget for a video production firm creating an ad versus an influencer creating a video. Resources like this Instagram influencer rate map can help you estimate influencer costs based on audience size and industry.

2. Set a budget and management strategy

The next step is to create an influencer marketing budget.

Use an influencer marketing budgeting template to manage your expenses and strategically allocate resources to high-value partnerships. Be sure to account for the time needed to plan, execute and review your influencer program because, unlike automated ad strategies, influencers often juggle multiple partnerships, requiring a more hands-on approach from you.

If your budget allows, consider establishing an ambassador program to diversify and enrich your content. Similar to Fujifilm , which uses ambassadors for new product launches and to highlight new product features.

Whether you engage an influencer marketing agency or not, investing in an all-in-one influencer marketing software is a good idea, helping you sift through suitable influencers, manage pricing negotiations and review and approve content.

3. Decide on campaign goals and messaging

To ensure your influencer strategy succeeds, focus on your campaign's goals and needs. Determine whether you want to reach a new demographic, introduce a new product or highlight your brand values through influencers. Also, explore influencer trends to see what’s resonating in your industry.

Your message is as crucial as your goal. And since influencers target specific audiences, refining your campaign messaging is important for effective content.

Influencer content is typically more conversational and personal, which helps differentiate it from brand-driven or sales-oriented posts. But while it’s important to preserve an influencer’s creativity and uniqueness, ensure their content aligns with your brand values.

4. Establish influencer outreach: How to contact influencers

Your outreach will depend on the type of influencer you’ve chosen. For example, celebrities and macro influencers often work through agencies, so you might have to connect with an agency to reach them. Some may also list their contact information for business inquiries in their bio and have a website that denotes brand partnerships.

For example, Summer Rayne Oakes has a multi-channel presence, which is a perk for her brand partners.

For micro-influencers, you could reach out directly in a private message via their social platform.

5. Review and refine your strategy

It’s important to refine and review your strategy so you’ll be more successful with each campaign going forward. Having predetermined milestones where you’ll measure progress can prove very helpful in this.

While these tips serve as a guide to help you craft a well-planned strategy, it's crucial to be aware of common mistakes to avoid in influencer marketing. We’ll dive into those, next.

Influencer marketing mistakes to avoid

Influencer marketing can be highly rewarding — if done right. Sidestep these potential pitfalls to ensure smooth influencer collaborations and successful campaign outcomes.

Failing to define clear goals and KPIs

First things first, know why you’re doing this in the first place. Partnering with an influencer is a big deal — you need to be clear about the purpose and goals of your campaign.

Here are a few ways setting goals in advance can help you:

• Choose the right influencers: Defining goals helps you identify the specific characteristics and qualities you need in an influencer to achieve those outcomes. For example, if your goal is to increase brand awareness, you can find influencers who have a strong presence and reach within your niche.
• Define and measure success: What does success mean to you? Is it the number of impressions, post engagement or the amount of traffic coming to your website? Define which KPIs and metrics to track both during and after the campaign to assess how well your influencer campaign is performing.
• Keep everyone on track: Setting clear goals ensures that both the brand and the influencer are working towards a common purpose. This facilitates effective communication and constructive feedback, saving everyone’s valuable time.
• Hold influencers accountable: Establishing clear expectations and performance benchmarks makes influencers feel responsible. They know the results they need to provide and will focus on creating content that aligns with those goals.

Prioritizing follower count over engagement

A large following doesn't always mean high engagement. It’s entirely possible an influencer has millions of passive followers but very low engagement.

Instead, partner with influencers with an engaged and loyal audience. A handful of people who trust the influencer are more valuable to your brand than thousands of indifferent followers unlikely to convert.

Look at the influencer’s engagement metrics, comments and interactions, as well as past results for other brands to gauge their level of influence and likeability.

Neglecting to research the influencer

Choosing the wrong influencers, including fake influencers , can cost your business valuable time and money. But this hasn’t deterred marketers, with 60% of marketers intending to increase their influencer marketing budget over 2024, the Influencer Marketing Hub states.

An easy fix is to properly research the influencer of your choice, before signing a partnership. Vet influencers and evaluate their influencer media kit to ensure they share your vision and complement your brand’s personality.

Here are some key areas to look into when researching influencers for your brand:

• Audience demographics: Study the influencer's followers to ensure your campaign reaches the right audience. Analyze factors like age, gender, location and interests (e.g., Millennials who identify as women) to determine if they are likely to become your customers.
• Interactions, voice and content: Look at the influencer’s engagement rate, the tone of voice they use and the type of content they create. For example, if your brand has a playful, casual image, partnering with an influencer known for their formal, business-oriented content might not be the best fit.
• Authenticity and influence: Forced partnerships can appear insincere and hurt both your campaign and brand image. Collaborate with influencers who genuinely love your brand and products. Their followers trust them for a reason and you don't want your brand to get in the way of their (and your) credibility.
• Experience with branded content: Has the influencer worked with other brands in the past? Have they ever worked with your competitors? Carefully scrutinize their content to spot any red flags and gauge the value they can provide.

Writing poorly constructed briefs

Crafting well-structured briefs is key to maximizing your influencer marketing campaigns. A good social media campaign brief equips influencers with the details and resources they need to represent your brand effectively, without being overly restrictive.

Here’s a quick rundown on what to include in your brief:

• What is the main goal of your campaign? What are you hoping to achieve?
• What is your company’s background? What is your brand and what product/s are you selling?
• What are your product’s key benefits, features and differentiators?
• Who is your target audience? Include an audience persona if you have one.
• What does your budget look like for this campaign?
• Do you have a timeline in mind?
• Do you want the influencer to use your brand assets? Provide them with your logo, colors and fonts if necessary.

Don’t forget to inform influencers of any words or ideas to avoid in their content. For example, if you’re an eco-friendly brand, let the influencer know that sustainability is a core value and they should avoid using plastic and other such products in their content.

Restricting the influencer's creative freedom

While comprehensive briefs are important, there’s such a thing as too much information.

Avoid going overboard with your guidelines. You don’t need to dictate the influencer’s exact words or actions. Doing so can stifle the influencer's creative freedom, resulting in content that looks scripted and inauthentic.

Some brands also make the mistake of micro-managing every aspect of the content creation process. For example, you don’t need to vet multiple drafts just before they go live.

Remember, influencers are the experts in creating content their audience loves and trusts. Your brand just needs to support them with resources they need to create great content for effective influencer marketing.

Not setting expectations upfront

Establishing clear expectations beforehand enables a smooth, productive collaboration. The result? A successful campaign aligned with your goals.

Make sure you agree on the following items in advance:

• Timeline and deliverables: Clearly outline the campaign timeline, including start and end dates, as well as any deadlines for content submission and publication. Also, specify the required deliverables, such as the number of posts, stories or videos the influencer needs to create.
• Payment and terms: Agree on the payment structure, whether it's a one-time fee, ongoing retainer or performance-based compensation. Discuss the payment schedule and any additional terms, such as bonuses for exceptional performance or penalties for missed deadlines.

Focusing on the wrong metrics

Influencer marketing can offer more benefits to your business than merely boosting sales. Fixating only on conversions and revenue data can mislead brands into thinking their campaigns are not working.

Here are some other metrics to consider when measuring the impact of your campaigns:

• Engagement metrics: Evaluate likes, comments, and shares to understand content resonance and audience interaction.
• Brand awareness metrics: Measure views, clicks and website traffic to gauge campaign reach and audience interest.
• Follower growth: Track new followers to determine influencer impact on brand visibility and audience expansion.
• Inbound leads: Track the number of inquiries and messages your brand gets to analyze the campaign’s impact on inbound lead generation.

How to track influencer marketing campaigns

There are a few ways of measuring the success of your campaign.

If you want to keep a pulse on the content your influencers are creating and interacting with, you can create a specific branded hashtag, like #SproutPartner. The Sprout Social Smart Inbox makes it easy to see what’s being talked about with specific hashtags, or to watch for mentions of specific keywords .

Use Sprout’s reporting feature to tag and track campaign-related posts. You can also compare how each post is performing and view metrics such as post engagements, clicks and impressions.

Similarly, if you’re aiming for more sales, giving out affiliate codes or tracking links will help you measure the revenue generated from influencers.

Create a successful influencer marketing strategy for your brand

It’s clear—influencers are the new wave in marketing. However, the influencer marketing world is constantly evolving, and in five years may be drastically different from today.

While working with influencers has unique considerations, setting up a campaign is the same as most marketing campaigns: research, set a budget, determine goals, find your influencers, and review and revise. Once you’ve got a hold of the rhythm, creating different influencer marketing campaigns to meet your brand’s various needs will become second nature.

If you need more resources for your team on running influencer campaigns, check out our ultimate guide for running successful social media campaigns .

Influencer Marketing FAQs

The three R’s in influencer marketing strategy are relevance, reach and resonance.

• Reach alludes to the number of followers the influencer has and the people they can potentially reach with their content.
• Relevance is how well the influencer’s content aligns with your brand voice, target audience and marketing goals.
• Resonance is the level of meaningful interactions and connections the influencer’s content creates with their followers, which translates to greater audience loyalty.

An influencer marketing strategy needs meticulous planning. Here are five things you need to keep in mind to ace it.

• Find influencers and understand their payment structure
• Set a budget and management strategy
• Decide on campaign goals and messaging
• Establish influencer outreach process
• Review and refine your strategy

Social media influencers collaborate with brands to promote products or services to their followers through sponsored posts, product reviews and endorsements. In doing so, they help shape consumer opinions and purchasing decisions.

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The power of influencers: how does influencer marketing shape consumers’ purchase intentions.

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Chen, Y.; Qin, Z.; Yan, Y.; Huang, Y. The Power of Influencers: How Does Influencer Marketing Shape Consumers’ Purchase Intentions? Sustainability 2024 , 16 , 5471. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16135471

Chen Y, Qin Z, Yan Y, Huang Y. The Power of Influencers: How Does Influencer Marketing Shape Consumers’ Purchase Intentions? Sustainability . 2024; 16(13):5471. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16135471

Chen, Yiming, Zhaoyue Qin, Yue Yan, and Yi Huang. 2024. "The Power of Influencers: How Does Influencer Marketing Shape Consumers’ Purchase Intentions?" Sustainability 16, no. 13: 5471. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16135471

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Social media influencer marketing: foundations, trends, and ways forward

• Open access
• Published: 25 June 2023

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• Yatish Joshi 1 ,
• Weng Marc Lim   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7196-1923 2 , 3 , 6 ,
• Khyati Jagani 4 &
• Satish Kumar 4 , 5  

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The increasing use and effectiveness of social media influencers in marketing have intrigued both academic scholars and industry professionals. To shed light on the foundations and trends of this contemporary phenomenon, this study undertakes a systematic literature review using a bibliometric-content analysis to map the extant literature where consumer behavior, social media, and influencer marketing are intertwined. Using 214 articles published in journals indexed by the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC), Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS), and Web of Science (WOS) from 2008 to 2021, this study unpacks the articles, journals, methods, theories, themes, and constructs (antecedents, moderators, mediators, and consequences) in extant research on social media influencer marketing. Noteworthily, the review highlighted that the major research streams in social media influencer marketing research involve parasocial interactions and relationships, sponsorship, authenticity, and engagement and influence. The review also revealed the prominent role of audience-, brand-, comparative-, content-, influencer-, social-, and technology-related factors in influencing how consumers react to social media influencer marketing. The insights derived from this one-stop, state-of-the-art review can help social media influencers and marketing scholars and professionals to recognize key characteristics and trends of social media influencer marketing, and thus, drive new research and social media marketing practices where social media influencers are employed and leveraged upon for marketing activities.

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1 Introduction

Social media influencers are increasingly popular and affecting consumers’ attitudes, perceptions, preferences, choices, and decisions. Social media influencers are regular everyday people who have created an online presence from the grassroots level through their social media channel or page and, in the process, have created an extensive network of followers (Bastrygina and Lim [ 10 ]. In that sense, social media influencers are different than traditional celebrities or public figures, who rely on their existing careers (e.g., actors, singers, politicians) to become popular and exert influence [ 88 ].

Influencers first appeared in the early 2000s, and have since progressed from a home-based hobby to a lucrative full-time career. Influencer marketing has become so attractive that with the growing industry, there is an ever-growing set of social media users that aim to become an influencer. Influencers are now capitalizing on their popularity and visibility to further their career in mainstream media such as the film and television industry [ 1 ]. The segmentation of influencers is on the number of followers they have, whereby influencers can be classified as micro-, meso- and macro-influencers [ 44 ]. According to Lou and Yan [ 88 ], posts by influencers have two essential purposes from a marketing perspective: the first purpose is to increase the purchase intention of their followers, and the second purpose is to enhance their followers’ attractiveness and product knowledge. Influencers often curate posts with information and testimonials about the features of the product that they are promoting, which results in increased information value and product knowledge. In the process, they leverage and relay their attractiveness and aesthetic value through the use of sex appeal and posing [ 104 ].

Social media influencers have been defined by many scholars in numerous ways. Freberg et al. [ 44 ] characterized social media influencers as a new type of independent third-party endorser who shapes audience attitudes through blogs, tweets, and the use of other social media. Abidin [ 1 ] construed social media influencers as a form of microcelebrities who document their everyday lives from the trivial and mundane to the exciting snippets of the exclusive opportunities in their line of work, thereby shaping public opinion through the conscientious calibration of persona on social media. De Veirman et al. [ 28 ] defined social media influencers as people who built a large network of followers and are regarded as trusted tastemakers in one or several niches. Ge and Gretzel [ 45 ] denoted social media influencers as individuals who are in a consumer’s social graph and has a direct impact on the behavior of that consumer. More recently, Dhanesh and Duthler [ 30 ] described social media influencers as people who, through personal branding, build and maintain relationships with their followers on social media, and have the ability to inform, entertain, and influence their followers’ thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors. When these definitions are taken collectively and espoused through a marketing lens, social media influencers are essentially people who develop and maintain a personal brand and a following on social media through posts that intertwin their personality and lifestyle with the products (e.g., goods, services, ideas, places, people) that they promote, which can influence the way their followers behave (e.g., attitudes, perceptions, preferences, choices, decisions), positively (e.g., purchase) or negatively (e.g., do not purchase) .

Social media influencers, as digital opinion leaders, participate in self-presentation on social media. They form an identity by creating an online image using a rich multimodal narrative of their everyday personal lives and using it to attract a large number of followers [ 59 ]. Most critical to their success is the influencer-follower relationship [ 1 ], which future follower behavior (e.g., interaction, purchase intention) is dependent upon [ 13 ], [ 37 ], [ 126 ]. Indeed, social media influencers are often perceived to be credible, personal, and easily relatable given their organic rise to fame [ 28 ], [ 31 ], [ 104 ].

In collaborations between brands and social media influencers, the role of a social media influencer is to act as a brand ambassador by designing sponsored content for the brand to convey and enhance its brand image and brand name [ 104 ], and to drive brand engagement and brand loyalty [ 72 ]. Such content is often curated by social media influencers, as independent third-party endorsers, by sharing their experiences and lives in relation to the brand through pictures, texts, stories, hashtags, and check-ins, among others [ 28 ]. Indeed, social media influencers are highly sought after by brands because they have established credibility with their followers as a result of their expertise, which allow them to exert influence on the decision-making of their followers [ 60 ]. Moreover, influencer marketing through social media can provide opportunities to influencers and their followers to contribute to the co-creation of the brand’s image on social media [ 88 ].

With the growing importance of influencer marketing and the popularity of social media influencers, various brands have started promoting their products with the help of social media influencers in an attempt to influence consumers to behave in desired ways (e.g., forming positive brand attitudes and encourage product brand purchases) [ 104 ]. However, consumer behavior is highly complex [ 81 ], and increasing inconsistency has been noted in the effectiveness of this medium [ 124 ]. Thus, it is essential to understand the factors (i.e., antecedents) underpinning consumer decision making (i.e., consequences or decisions) toward brands promoted by social media influencers, including the factors (i.e., mediators and moderators) responsible for the inconsistency in consumer responses. In this regard, attempts to consolidate extant knowledge in the field is arguably relevant to address the extant gap and needs of marketing scholars and professionals interested in social media influencer marketing.

In recognition of the growing influence of social media influencers and influencer marketing in consumer decision making, this study aims to provide a one-stop, state-of-the-art overview of the articles, journals, methods, theories, themes, and constructs (antecedents, moderators, mediators, and consequences) relating to social media influencer marketing using a systematic review of articles in the area from 2008 to 2021. Though a recent review on social media influencers was conducted by Vrontis et al. [ 124 ], the present review remains warranted because the existing review only considered a small sample of 68 articles published in journals indexed in the Chartered Association of Business Schools Academic Journal Guide, and thus, cannot holistically encapsulate the state of the field. Indeed, the insights and the integrative framework resulting from their review was relatively lean, which can be attributed to the sample limitations that the authors had imposed for their review. The same can be said about another recent review by Bastrygina and Lim [ 10 ], which considered only 45 articles in Scopus that narrowly focused only on the consumer engagement aspect of social media influencers. To overcome these limitations , the present review will consider a more inclusive search and inclusion criteria while upholding to the highest standards of academic quality by relying on a broader range of indexing sources. The motivation of the present review is also in line with the call by Lim et al. [ 86 ] and Paul et al. [ 98 ] for new reviews that address the shortcoming of existing reviews in order to redirect research in the area onto a clearer and more refined path for progress. In addition, the present review adopts a bibliometric-content analysis to consolidate current findings, uncover emerging trends and extant gaps, and curate a future agenda for social media influencer marketing. Noteworthily, the rigorous multi-method review technique (i.e., the combination of a bibliometric analysis and a content analysis) adopted for the present review is in line with the recommendation of Lim et al. [ 86 ] to facilitate a deeper dive into the literature, and thus, enabling the curation of a richer depiction of the nomological network characterizing the field [ 94 ], in this case, the field of social media influencer marketing. In doing so, this study contributes to answering the following research questions (RQs):

RQ1. What is the publication trend of social media influencer marketing research, and which are the key articles?

RQ2. Where is research on social media influencer marketing published?

RQ3. How has social media influencer marketing research been conducted?

RQ4. What are the theories that can be used to inform social media influencer marketing research?

RQ5. What are the major themes of social media influencer marketing research?

RQ6. What are the constructs (i.e., antecedents, mediators, moderators, and consequences) employed in social media influencer marketing research?

RQ7. Where should social media influencer marketing be heading towards in the future?

The rest of the paper is structured as follows. The next section provides an account of the methodology used in the research, followed by the findings and conclusions of the study in subsequent sections.

2 Methodology

This study conducts a multi-method systematic literature review on social media influencer marketing using a bibliometric-content analysis in line with the recommendation of Lim et al. [ 86 ] and recent systematic literature reviews (e.g., Kumar et al. [ 64 ]. The assembling, arranging, and assessing techniques stipulated in the Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews ( SPAR-4-SLR ) protocol by Paul et al. [ 98 ] to carry out a systematic literature review are also adopted and explained in the next sections.

2.1 Assembling

Assembling relates to the identification (i.e., review domain, research questions, source type, and source quality) and acquisition (i.e., search mechanism and material acquisition, search period, search keywords) of articles for review. In terms of identification , the review domain relates to social media influencer marketing, but within the subject areas of business management, social sciences, hospitality, tourism, and economics due to their immediate relevance to the review domain, and thus, articles in other subject areas such as computer science, engineering, medical, and mathematics, which are peripheral to the review domain, were not considered. Next, the research questions underpinning the review pertain to the articles, journals, methods, theories, themes, and constructs in the field and were presented in the introduction section. Only journals were considered as part of source type as they are the main sources of academic literature that have been rigorously peer reviewed Nord & Nord, [ 96 ]. The source quality was inclusive yet high quality, whereby articles published in journals indexed in the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC), Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS), and Web of Science (WOS) were included. In terms of acquisition , the search mechanism and material acquisition relied on the WOS database, which is connected to myriad publishers such as Emerald, Sage, Springer, Taylor and Francis, and Wiley. The search period starts from 2008 and ends in 2021. The year 2008 was selected as the starting year because it was the year that the concept of influencer was first introduced by Kiss and Bichler [ 63 ], and thus, a review staring from 2008 can provide a more accurate and relevant account of the extant literature on influencer marketing, particularly from the lenses of consumers and social media influencers. The end year 2021 was selected because it is the most recent full year at the time of search—a practice in line with Lim et al. [ 83 ]. The search keywords—i.e., “consumer behavio*” (truncation technique), “social media,” “influencer,” and “marketing”—were curated through brainstorming and endorsed by disciplinary experts in marketing and methodological experts in review studies. In total, 320 articles were returned from the search, but 17 articles were removed as they were related to engineering, mathematics, and medicine, which resulted in only 303 articles that were retrieved for the arranging stage.

2.2 Arranging

Arranging relates to the organization (i.e., organizing codes) and purification (i.e., exclusion and inclusion criteria) of articles returned from the search. In terms of organization , the content of articles was coded based on the key focus of each research question: journal title, method, theory, and construct (antecedent, mediator, moderator, consequence). The bibliometric details of the articles were also retrieved and organized accordingly in this stage. In terms of purification , 89 articles were eliminated as they were not published in journals indexed by ABDC and CABS, with the rest of the 214 articles included for review.

2.3 Assessing

Assessing relates to the evaluation (i.e., analysis method, agenda proposal method) and reporting (i.e., reporting conventions, limitations, and sources of support) of articles under review. In terms of evaluation , a bibliometric analysis and a content analysis were conducted.

For the bibliometric analysis, the Bibliometrix package in R studio software [ 4 ] was used to conduct (1) a performance analysis to reveal the publication trend as well as the key articles and journals (RQ1 and RQ2), and (2) a science mapping to uncover the major themes in the field (RQ5) in line with the bibliometric guidelines by Donthu et al. [ 32 ]. With regards to science mapping, a triangulation technique was adopted in line with the recommendation of Lim et al. [ 86 ] using:

co-citation using PageRank , wherein the major themes are revealed through the clustering of articles that are most cited by highly-cited articles,

bibliographic coupling , wherein the major themes are revealed through the clustering of articles that cite similar references, and

keyword co-occurrence , wherein the major themes are revealed through the clustering of author specified keywords that commonly appear together [ 32 ], [ 64 ].

For the content analysis, the within-study and between-study literature analysis method by Ngai [ 95 ] was adopted (RQ3, RQ4, and RQ6). The within-study literature analysis evaluates the entire content of the article (e.g., theoretical foundation, methodology, constructs), whereas the between-study literature analysis consolidates, compares, and contrasts information between two or more articles. The future research agenda proposal method is predicated on the expert evaluation of a trend analysis by the authors (RQ7). In terms of reporting , the conventions for the outcomes reported include figures, tables, and words, whereas the limitations and sources of support are acknowledged at the end.

The findings of the review are organized based on the research questions (RQs) of the study: articles, journals, methods, theories, themes, and constructs.

3.1 Articles

The first research question (RQ1) deals with the publication trend and key articles of social media influencer marketing research.

Figure  1 indicates that research on social media influencer marketing began to flourish 10 years (i.e., 2018 onwards) after the concept of was introduced in 2008 [ 63 ]. This implies that interest in social media influencer marketing is fairly recent (i.e., within the last five years at the time of analysis), wherein its stratospheric growth appears to have coincided with that of highly interactive and visual content-focused social media such as Instagram (e.g., Instagram Stories feature launched in December 2017) [ 17 ] and TikTok (e.g., international launch in September 2017) [ 129 ]. The growth of triple-digit publications observed in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic is especially noteworthy as it signals the importance of social media influencer marketing in the new normal and reaffirms past observations of an acceleration in technology adoption [ 77 ], [ 79 ].

Publication trend of social media influencer marketing research

Table 1 presents the top articles on social media influencer marketing. The most cited article is De Veirman et al.’s [ 28 ] (464 citations), which focused on social media influencer marketing using Instagram and revealed the impact of the number of followers and product divergence on brand attitudes among the followers of social media influencers. The burgeoning interest on Instagram as seen through this most cited article despite its recency corroborates the earlier observation on the stratospheric growth in research interest on highly interactive and visual content-focused social media. The top-cited articles in recent years demonstrate increasing research interest in comparative studies (e.g., celebrity versus social media influencer endorsements, [ 104 ],Instagram versus YouTube; [ 108 ], as well as review studies (e.g., Hudders et al., [ 48 ], [ 124 ], albeit the latter being limited (e.g., small review corpus, niche review focus) and thus reaffirming the necessity and value of the present review.

3.2 Journals

The second research question (RQ2) deals with the outlets that publish social media influencer marketing research and the source type chosen according to the recommendation of Paul et al. [ 98 ] is journals on the basis of academic quality and rigor. In total, the 214 articles in the review corpus were published in 87 journal titles indexed in ABDC, CABS, and WOS. Out of the 87 journal titles, 80 (37.38%) articles are published by the top 10 journals with the most articles on social media influencer marketing, with Journal of Business Research , International Journal of Advertising , and Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services emerging as the top three journals in terms of numbers of articles published in the area (Table 2 ).

3.3 Methods

The third research question (RQ3) focuses on the methods that can inform social media influencer marketing research and were identified and coded manually using the within-study technique and consolidated to portray the outcome of a between-study literature analysis suggested by Ngai [ 95 ]. In total, seven categories of methods were employed in 214 articles on social media influencer marketing research (Table 3 ). As a category, quantitative methods in the form of surveys were most prevalent ( n  = 64), followed by qualitative methods ( n  = 52), with individual interviews being the most popular method ( n  = 19). Experimental ( n  = 38) and machine learning ( n  = 33) methods were noteworthy too. Non-empirical methods ( n  = 19) such as conceptual ( n  = 9) and review ( n  = 10) methods were less prominent. Similarly, mix methods ( n  = 8) were the least popular. As a whole, the review indicates that extant research on social media influencer marketing were mostly empirical in nature albeit in silos (i.e., single rather than mixed methods).

3.4 Theories

The fourth research question (RQ4) pertains to the theories that can inform social media influencer marketing research and were identified, coded, and reported using the same Ngai [ 95 ] informed within- and between-study literature analysis as reported for the methods in the preceding section. In total, 46 different theories employed in 94 (43.93%) articles on social media influencer marketing research were revealed (Table 4 ). Persuasion knowledge theory emerged as the most popular theory with eight articles, whereas social learning theory, social comparison theory, social cognitive theory, social exchange theory, social identity theory, social influence theory, source credibility theory, reactance theory, theory of para-social interaction, theory of planned behavior, and uses and gratifications theory were among the other popular theories ( n  ≥ 3). The broad range of theories indicate that social media influencer marketing is an area of research with multi-faceted aspects worthy of exploration and investigation. The sociological theories manifested in the most ways—namely Bourdieu’s theory, Graph theory, network theory, observational learning theory, optimal distinctiveness theory, social cognitive theory, social comparison theory, social exchange theory, social identity theory, social influence theory, social learning theory, structural hole theory, system justification theory, and theory of para-social interaction—whereas media theories were not far behind—namely advertising literacy theory, media dependency theory, megaphone effect theory, source credibility theory, transfer theory, two-step flow theory, uses and gratifications theory, and visual framing theory. The manifestation of theories that infused “media” and “sociology” together , such as social media influencer value model and social-mediated crisis communication theory, were observed as well. Psychological theories , such as associative learning theory, attachment theory, attribution theory, consistency theory, construal level theory, dissonance theory, dual process theory, elaboration likelihood model, halo effect theory, reactance theory, similarity-attraction model, theory of planned behavior, and theory of reasoned action, and marketing theories , such as Doppelganger effect theory, human brand theory, relationship management theory, and source effect theory, were also noteworthy. Management theories , such as charismatic and transformational leadership theory and resource dependency theory, were also observed. Interestingly, only one economic (i.e., cost-signaling theory) and one technology (i.e., technology acceptance model) theory were observed, which may indicate that the economic and technology aspects are underexplored as compared to the media, psychological, management, marketing, and social aspects of social media influencer marketing.

The fifth research question (RQ5) involves the mapping of extant research on social media influencer marketing. To do so, three science mapping techniques that rely on different sources of bibliographic data were relied upon—namely (1) a co-citation analysis using PageRank to identify clusters of articles that are most cited by highly-cited articles, (2) a bibliographic coupling to locate clusters of articles that share common references, and (3) a keyword co-occurrence analysis to uncover clusters of author specified keywords that commonly co-appear [ 32 ], [ 65 ].

3.5.1 Foundational themes (or foundational knowledge)

The foundational themes and the top articles for each foundational theme in social media influencer marketing research are depicted in Table 5 . In essence, foundational themes exemplify the perspectives that a field’s research relies upon, and thus, these themes may encompass articles inside and outside that field [ 32 ]. In the case of social media influencer marketing, four foundational themes were revealed by the co-citation analysis using PageRank. Noteworthily, the PageRank scores indicate article prestige, wherein a higher score indicates that the article is cited more by highly-cited articles in the field, whereas the betweenness and closeness centrality scores reflect the article’s relevance across and within themes, wherein a higher score indicates greater relevance across and within themes, respectively [ 32 ].

The first foundational theme depicts the foundations and models for social media influencer marketing . The articles in this foundational theme signify the key characteristics of concepts associated to social media influencer marketing, such as the concept of engagement [ 49 ], “Instafamous” [ 55 ], influencer marketing [ 88 ], and social media influencers [ 44 ], including the difference between traditional celebrities and contemporary social media influencers [ 104 ].

The second foundational theme denotes the influence and impact perspectives for social media influencer marketing . The articles in this foundational theme represent a collection of insights in relation to influence and impact. For example, the most prestigious article under this theme examines the impact of the number of followers of Instagram influencers and the divergence of the products promoted by these influencers on the brand attitudes of their followers [ 28 ]. Other examples of influence and impact outcomes include attitudes and behavioral intentions [ 37 ], engagement [ 120 ], perceptions Lee & Watkins, [ 67 ], and purchase decisions [ 31 ].

The third foundational theme highlights the importance of endorsement and resonance perspectives for social media influencer marketing . The articles in this theme, which are widely cited by highly cited articles on social media influencer marketing, emphasize the importance of endorsement and resonance literature in grounding the reasons for and outcome of social media influencer marketing. This can be seen by the prominence of celebrity endorsement (e.g., [ 34 ], Mccracken, [ 93 ], Silvera & Austad, [ 107 ]) and congruence (e.g., Till & Busler, [ 116 ]; [[ 128 ]] literature that make up the most prestigious articles under this theme.

The fourth foundational theme relates to the profiling and measurement perspectives for social media influencer marketing research . This theme signifies and reaffirms the value of personal characteristics (e.g., personalities, profiles; [ 31 ], Ferchaud et al., [ 40 ]), measurement scales (e.g., expertise trustworthiness and attractiveness; Ohanian, [ 97 ]), and evaluation methods (e.g., structural models; Fornell & Larcker, [ 43 ]) in guiding and informing social media influencer marketing research, and thus, they form a considerable part of the knowledge relied upon by research in the field.

3.5.2 Major themes (or major research streams)

The major themes build upon the foundational themes to curate new knowledge and understanding on social media influencer marketing [ 32 ]. To uncover the major themes, a keyword co-occurrence analysis was initially conducted to gain a sense of the nomological network for the major themes [ 94 ], followed by a bibliographic coupling to gain an in-depth understanding of the content under each major theme in the field [ 32 ].

The keyword co-occurrence analysis indicates that four major themes characterize the knowledge curated by extant research focusing specifically on social media influencer marketing (Fig.  2 and Table 6 ), which is triangulated by the six major themes revealed through bibliographic coupling, in which four bibliographic coupling clusters corresponds to two keyword clusters (Table 7 ). The key peculiarities of these themes are presented as follows.

Nomological network of research streams in social media influencer marketing research

Parasocial interactions and relationships in social media influencer marketing . This major theme is most prominent (eight keywords) and relatively recent (2020.1429–2020.7499). This theme highlights the importance of the “credibility” ( n  = 6), “persuasion knowledge” ( n  = 7), and “source credibility” ( n  = 7) of social media influencers as essential “persuasion” ( n  = 5) factors that influence the “parasocial interactions” ( n  = 8) and “parasocial relationships” ( n  = 12) in social media influencer marketing. Most research in this area is conducted in the context of “Instagram” ( n  = 27), wherein “purchase intention” ( n  = 13) is a common outcome expected and examined. Noteworthily, extant research concentrating on influencing parasocial interactions have highlighted the importance of self-influencer congruence (Shan et al., [ 105 ]; [ 128 ] and the value of message value [ 88 ] and credibility [ 108 ], including the moderating role of audience comments [ 102 ], in fostering consumer trust and purchase intention toward branded content [ 88 ], [ 102 ], Shan et al., [ 105 ], [ 108 ], [ 128 ], whereas those focusing on developing and managing parasocial relationships emphasized the importance of being entrepreneurial (Fink et al., [ 41 ]) and personal branding (Ki et al., [ 61 ]) in the pursuit of becoming famous and garnering brand equity and loyalty among followers [ 18 ], [ 55 ], [ 57 ].

Sponsorship in social media influencer marketing . This major theme is fairly prominent (six keywords) and recent (2019.8–2021). This theme highlights the importance of “sponsorship disclosure” ( n  = 6) in “celebrity endorsement” ( n  = 5) and among “social media influencers” ( n  = 60) engaged for “native advertising” ( n  = 7) in “influencer marketing” ( n  = 63), with “YouTube” ( n  = 9) featuring prominently in this space. Noteworthily, extant research on this theme is divided into two notable streams, wherein the first stream sheds light on the commercialization and value of social media influencer marketing (Britt et al., [ 16 ]; Harrigan et al., [ 47 ]; Hudders et al., [ 48 ]; [ 124 ],), which highlights the importance of the second stream pertaining to the impact of disclosure (i.e., macro, micro—e.g., declaring sponsorship to establish and reaffirm the credibility of social media influencers and the brands they represent) on the behavioral responses of social media followers [ 13 ], [ 30 ], [ 58 ], [ 104 ], [ 110 ].

Authenticity of marketing and public relations in social media influencer marketing . This major theme is fairly prominent (five keywords) but with a longer history (2017.4286–2021) than the other major themes. This theme highlights the continuing importance of “authenticity” ( n  = 7) in the “marketing” ( n  = 5) and “public relations” ( n  = 7) endeavors of “influencers” ( n  = 29) on “social media” ( n  = 56). Thus, it is no surprise that extant research in this theme have focused on traditional marketing concepts such as advertorial campaigns [ 1 ], personal branding [ 59 ], rhetoric [ 45 ], strategic communication [ 33 ], and self-presentation [ 6 ].

Engagement and influence in social media influencer marketing . This major theme is fairly prominent (five keywords) and recent (2019.4–2020.6). This theme encapsulates “social media marketing” ( n  = 16) research that concentrates on the “social influence” ( n  = 5) of “opinion leadership” ( n  = 5) and the equivalent outcome of “brand engagement” ( n  = 5), with “Twitter” ( n  = 7) featuring prominently in this space. Noteworthily, the prominent studies under this theme concentrate on the power of social networks of social media influencers, including examining the influence of the number of followers [ 28 ], measuring the influence of customer networks [ 63 ] and social media influencers [ 5 ], and the value of opinion leaders [ 87 ] and sponsored campaigns [ 49 ] across these networks.

Taken collectively, these themes, which were triangulated across two bibliographic sources of data (i.e., keywords and references) and analytical techniques (i.e., keyword co-occurrence analysis and bibliographic coupling), suggests that social media influencer marketing has tremendous commercial value, which justify the sponsorship that brands are willing to provide to social media influencers in return for marketing and public relation campaigns for their brands and products. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the power of social media influencers resides in their authenticity, which is a crucial reason as to why social media influencers are followed and relied upon by their followers. The management of parasocial interactions and relationships are also highly important as they are essential to foster desired engagement among followers and influence their behaviors in ways desired by social media influencers and the brands that they represent. The next section provides a deeper dive into the mechanisms (constructs) that transpire in social media influencer marketing.

3.6 Constructs

The sixth research question (RQ6) involves the unpacking of constructs that relevantly explain consumer behavior toward social media influencer marketing, which were revealed through the same within- and between-study literature analysis as reported in the methods and theories sections previously [ 95 ]. The constructs (Fig.  3 ) were arranged according to testable categories in the form of antecedents (Table 8 ), mediators (Table 9 ), moderators (Table 10 ), and consequences (Table 11 ), with each category having sub-categories that encapsulate relevant constructs that fall under the theme of that sub-category. The thematic naming of sub-categories are mostly self-explanatory (i.e., audience-, brand-, content-, influencer-, social-, and technology-related), with only one sub-category being uncommon yet sensible due to the unique nature of the context under study—that is, the comparative-related sub-category, which captures the essence of constructs where comparison exist between two or more sub-categories (e.g., influencer-follower relationship is a construct that accounts for the comparison transcending the audience- and influencer-related sub-categories, whereas product-endorser fit is a construct that reflects the comparison between the brand- and influencer-related sub-categories).

Consumer behavior toward social media influencer marketing

In terms of antecedents , four sub-categories emerged, namely comparative-, content-, influencer-, and social-related antecedents (Table 8 ). The comparative-related antecedents (six counts) comprise of influencer-follower relationship (two counts) and perceived similarity (four counts). The content-related antecedents (36 counts) consist of authenticity (four counts), disclosure (14 counts), informativeness (nine counts), message construal (one count), perceived quality (two counts), perceived quantity (two counts), perceived originality (one count), and post credibility (three counts). The influencer-related antecedents (34 counts) consist of engagement and interaction (two counts), influencer attractiveness (10 counts), influencer credibility (six counts), influencer expertise (nine counts), influencer likeability (one count), perceived trustworthiness (five counts), and perceived uniqueness (one count). The social-related antecedent (four count) contains parasocial relationship (four count) only. In total, 18 antecedents emerged across four sub-categories. Content-related antecedents appear to be the most researched (36 counts), followed by influencer-related antecedents (34 counts), with few studies examining comparative- (six counts) and social- (four count) related antecedents. Disclosure (14 counts) is the antecedent that has been studied the most, followed by influencer attractiveness with 10 counts. As a whole, there is good breadth and depth for antecedents as a category, but is mixed for its sub-categories.

In terms of mediators , seven sub-categories were revealed, namely audience-, brand-, comparative-, content-, influencer-, social-, and technology-related mediators (Table 9 ). The audience-related mediators (13 counts) comprise of attachment (one count), attitude (five counts), interest (one count), psychological ownership (one count), and trust (five counts). The brand-related mediators (eight counts) consist of brand recognition (five counts), product attractiveness (one count), and sponsorship transparency (two counts). The comparative-related mediator (four counts) contains self-influencer connection (four counts) only. The content-related mediators (seven counts) encapsulate disclosure (two counts), message appeal (one count), message credibility (one count), message process involvement (one count), and source credibility (two counts). The influencer-related mediators (15 counts) encompass engagement and interaction (two counts), expertise (two counts), influencer credibility (five counts), opinion knowledge leadership (five counts), and perceived popularity (one count). The social-related mediators (three counts) include electronic word of mouth (one count) and parasocial interaction (two counts). The technology-related mediators (two counts) incorporate perceived ease of use (one count) and perceived usefulness (one count). In total, 22 mediators were revealed across seven sub-categories. Influencer- and audience-related mediators appear to be the most researched with 15 and 13 counts respectively, followed by brand- (eight counts) and content- (seven counts) related mediators. Attitude, brand recognition, influencer credibility, opinion leadership knowledge, and trust are the mediators studied the most with five counts each. Overall, there is reasonable breadth and depth for mediators as a category, but is mixed for its sub-categories.

In terms of moderators , six sub-categories were unpacked, namely audience-, brand-, comparative-, content-, influencer-, and social-related moderators (Table 10 ). The audience-related moderators (10 counts) comprise of advertisement literacy (one count), audience engagement (two counts), domains of interest (one count), envy identification (one count), interaction propensity (one count), purchase intention (one count), self-discrepancy (two counts), and social identification with social commerce (one count). The brand-related moderator (one count) consists of brand attitude (one count) only. The comparative-related moderators (three counts) contain perceived closeness (one count), perceived fit (one count), and product-endorser fit (one count). The content-related moderators (nine counts) encapsulate audience comments (one count), disclosure (one count), download volume (one count), message process involvement (one count), message valence (one count), number of hashtags (one count), online ratings (one count), structural assurance (one count), and visionary insights (one count). The influencer-related moderators (four counts) encompass influencer socio-economic status (one count), number of followers (one count), perceived self-serving motive (one count), and type of influencer (one count). The social-related moderators (two counts) include parasocial relationship (one count) and parental mediation (one count). In total, 27 moderators were unpacked across six sub-categories. Audience-related moderators (10 counts) appear to be the most researched, followed by content-related moderators (nine counts). All moderators had only one count except audience engagement and self-discrepancy, which have two counts, and thus indicating its breadth but not depth.

In terms of consequences , three sub-categories were unveiled, namely brand-, influencer-, and social-related consequences (Table 11 ). The brand-related consequences (73 counts) comprise of brand attitude (17 counts), brand awareness (one count), brand involvement (two counts), brand purchase or patronage (46 counts), brand recall (two counts), and brand trust (five counts). The influencer-related consequences (19 counts) consist of engagement and interaction (11 counts), following influencer (five counts), and influence (three counts). The social-related consequences (12 counts) contain recommendation and referral propensity (nine counts) and social sharing (three counts). In total, 11 consequences were unveiled across three sub-categories. Brand-related consequences (73 counts) appear to be the most researched, followed by influencer- (19 counts) and social- (12 counts) related consequences. Brand purchase or patronage (46 counts) represent the most studied consequence, followed by brand attitude (17 counts) and engagement and interaction (11 counts). Taken collectively, the consequences unveiled indicate its depth but not breadth.

4 Trend analysis and future research directions

Agendas for future research are a hallmark of systematic literature reviews [ 84 ]. While there are many approaches to develop future research agendas, the present study adopts an approach that the authors found to be most objective and pragmatic—that is, a trend analysis from thematic and topical perspectives. The suggestions for future research based on the analysis from these perspectives are presented in the next sections.

4.1 Thematic perspective

The thematic perspective comprises a trend analysis of bibliographic clusters representing the major themes of social media influencer marketing research. The choice of focusing on bibliographic clusters as opposed to keyword clusters was a deliberate decision taken in light of the finer-grained research streams in the former (six clusters) over the latter (four clusters), as well as the availability of the alternative perspective (i.e., the topical perspective) that will use keywords to shed light on the topical trend in the field.

The productivity of the six major themes (research streams) in social media influencer marketing research has generally improved in recent years, particularly in 2021, with the exception of research on parasocial relationships in social media influencer marketing (Cluster 6), which experience a slight decline (i.e., seven in 2020 to six in 2021). Though closely-related research on parasocial interactions has proliferated (Cluster 5), the difference between the two research streams and their relatively lower number of studies as compared to other research streams suggest that new research in both streams is very much required. Similarly, the research stream on disclosures (Cluster 4) is highly important, yet it remains relatively low as compared to its more popular counterpart, that is, the research stream on commercialization and value of social media influencer marketing (Cluster 3), both of which are important research streams to the larger umbrella research stream on sponsorship revealed by the keyword co-occurrence analysis. While the research streams on authenticity (Cluster 2) and engagement and influence (Cluster 1) in social media influencer marketing are highly popular, further research remains necessary in light of the evolving changes in the social media landscape. Notwithstanding the productivity of the research streams, several promising avenues avail for advancing knowledge across all research streams.

In terms of engagement and influence in social media influencer marketing (Cluster 1), the emergence of augmented, virtual, and mixed realities, including the metaverse, signals the need for new research that unpacks the opportunities for engagement in these new social avenues along with the effectiveness of these avenues as compared to existing avenues for social media influencer marketing. In addition, the nature of engagement will benefit from finer-grained examination to account for the differences between its varied cognitive, affective, and behavioral manifestations [ 80 ], [ 85 ], which remains underexplored in social media influencer marketing.

In terms of authenticity in social media influencer marketing (Cluster 2), the key markers of authenticity and the strategies to communicate and strengthen a sense of authenticity are potential avenues to enrich understanding of this area. Noteworthily, future research on authenticity will need to go beyond traditional measures (e.g., scales; Ohanian, [ 97 ]) and engage in purposeful exploration to uncover the attributes and actions that if available and taken will enhance followers’ perceptions of the authenticity of social media influencers. In this regard, future qualitative and experimental research in this research stream is encouraged, wherein the former will lead to the discovery of new authenticity markers that the latter can test for cause and effect. Such research should lead to meaningful extensions on the understanding of authenticity that goes beyond treating the concept as a singular construct in the field.

In terms of commercialization and value of social media influencer marketing (Cluster 3), the potential of non-economic returns of social media influencer marketing could be explored in future research. With the advent of corporate social responsibility and environmental social governance (Lim et al., [ 83 ], it is imperative that the expectations and evaluations of returns goes beyond those that are economic in nature (e.g., sales) [ 78 ]. The advocacy and support of socio-environmental causes (e.g., hashtags of actions and statements) could be explored, which can be subsequently useful to develop sustainability ratings beneficial for illustrating the impact of both social media influencers and the brands that they represent.

In terms of disclosure in social media influencer marketing (Cluster 4), future research could explore the different ways in which explicit and implicit disclosures could be curated and signaled by social media influencers to their followers. Such research should be potentially useful as not all social media platforms provide options of explicit labels (e.g., sponsor ad) to social media users, especially when such social media posts are not paid to extend its reach and thus relies on social media users themselves to self-disclose. Moreover, the effectiveness of these forms of disclosure, including their combination, have not been adequately studied and thus should be worthwhile exploring. The negative connotation that may be attached to such disclosures should also be addressed in ways that make such disclosures an asset rather than a liability.

In terms of parasocial interactions in social media influencer marketing (Cluster 5), the multitude ways in which parasocial interactions could be curated represent a potentially fruitful avenue for future exploration. At present, the general focus has been on the influence of social media influencer credibility and the congruence of such interactions to follower expectations and perceptions [ 108 ]. In this regard, future research is encouraged to explore the different ways in which parasocial interactions could be curated, and in the midst of doing so, theorizing the entry points and sustaining factors that make such interactions parasocial between social media influencers and their followers. Given the complex nature of parasocial interactions, future research in this space could benefit from employing neuroscientific tools (e.g., eye tracker, wearable biosensors, [ 73 ], [ 74 ] to gain nuanced insights into biological responses that can be used to supplement self-reported responses in order to better ascertain the parasocial nature of interactions among social media influencers and their followers.

In terms of parasocial relationships in social media influencer marketing (Cluster 6), deeper insights on what makes parasocial relationships gratifying and lasting should be developed in future research. Such research should provide a better understanding on the constitution of parasocial relationships and how social media influencers can foster and maintain them over time. Nevertheless, errors or mistakes are bound to happen (e.g., slip of inappropriate word, unintentional non-disclosure of sponsorship). Thus, the repair and recovery of negatively-affected parasocial relationships among social media influencers and their followers could also be given scholarly attention in future research.

Taken collectively, these suggestions for future research should enrich research across all research streams in social media influencer marketing. The next section builds on the insights from this section and takes a closer look on topical trends in the field (Fig. 4 ).

Productivity trend of major themes in social media influencer marketing research. Note: Cluster 1 = Engagement and influence in social media influencer marketing. Cluster 2 = Authenticity in social media influencer marketing. Cluster 3 = Commercialization and value of social media influencer marketing. Cluster 4 = Disclosure in social media influencer marketing. Cluster 5 = Parasocial interactions in social media influencer marketing. Cluster 6 = Parasocial relationships in social media influencer marketing

4.2 Topical perspective

The productivity of topical research in social media influencer marketing has evolved over the years (Fig.  5 ). Noteworthily, the extant literature on social media influencer marketing has been largely predicated on “communication management”, “centrality”, and “viral marketing” up to 2018. Newer research has nonetheless made a stronger and more explicit connection to “influencer marketing” and “social media”, with “Instagram” emerging as the most prominent social media in the field. The transmission of “eWOM” or “electronic word-of-mouth” and how this translates into “parasocial interaction” or “immersion” between “social media influencers” and “followers” has taken center stage alongside “online marketing” and “social media marketing” considerations such as “advertising”, “brands”, “brand awareness”, and “purchase intention” from a “neoliberalism” perspective.

Productivity trend of major topics in social media influencer marketing research

Notwithstanding the trending topics in social media influencer marketing revealed by the trend analysis, it is clear that new research focusing on new phenomena is very much required. For example, new social media platforms such as Clubhouse and TikTok have been extremely popular platforms for social media influencers in recent years, and thus, future research should also consider exploring social platforms other than Instagram. Furthermore, the proliferation of augmented and virtual realities remains underexplored for social media influencer marketing. The rebranding of Facebook to Meta is a signal of the future rise of the metaverse . New research in this direction focusing on new-age technologies for social media influencer marketing should provide new knowledge-advancing and practice-relevant insights into contemporary trends and realities that remain underrepresented in the literature. Similarly, the diversity and evolution of social media followers also deserve further attention in light of accelerated technology adoption by societies worldwide in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the new normal [ 77 ], as well as the changing nature of generational cohorts in the society [ 79 ].

5 Conclusion

The importance of consumerism for business survival and growth albeit in a more authentic, meaningful, and sustainable way [ 76 ] along with the increasing use of digital media such as social media [ 82 ] have led to the proliferation of social media influencer marketing and its burgeoning interest among academics and professionals [ 10 ], [ 124 ]. This was evident in the present study, wherein the consumer behavior perspective of social media influencer marketing took center stage. Using the SPAR-4-SLR protocol as a guide, a bibliometric-content analysis as a multi-method review technique, and a collection of 214 articles published in 87 journals indexed in ABDC, CABS, and WOS as relevant documents for review, this study provides, to date, the most comprehensive one-stop state-of-the-art overview of social media influencer marketing. Through this review, this study provides several key takeaways for theory and practice and additional noteworthy suggestions for future research.

5.1 Theoretical contributions and implications

From a theoretical perspective, this study provides two major takeaways for academics.

First, the review indicates that most articles on social media influencer marketing published in journals indexed in ABDC, CABS, and WOS were not guided by an established theory, as only 94 (43.93%) out of the 214 articles reviewed were informed by theories (e.g., persuasion knowledge theory, social learning theory, source credibility theory, theory of planned behavior). This implies that most articles relied on prior literature only to explain their study’s theoretical foundation, which may be attributed to a lack of awareness on the possible theories that may be relevant to their study. In fact, a similar review on the topic albeit with a relatively smaller sample of articles (i.e., 68 articles only) due to protocol limitations (i.e., CABS-indexed journals only) had acknowledged the issue but unfortunately failed to deliver a collection of theories informed by prior research [ 124 ]. In this vein, this study hopes to address this issue as it has revealed 46 different theories that were employed in prior social media influencer marketing research, which can be used to ground future research in the area. Furthermore, the list of theories can be used to justify the novelty of future research where a new theory is applied. In addition, future studies can take inspiration from the manifestation of theories emerging from multiple theoretical perspectives, such as the social influencer value model and the social-mediated crisis communication theory informed by the media and sociological theoretical perspectives, to develop new theories in the field, which may be challenging but certainly possible [ 81 ]. Alternatively, future studies can consider theoretical integration by using two or more theories in a single investigation, which can reveal richer insights on the phenomenon (e.g., which theoretical perspective is more prominent or which factors from which theoretical perspective yield strong impacts and therefore warrant investment prioritization).

Second, the review shows that social media influencer marketing research does not have to be limited to a simple direct antecedent-consequence relationship or the multiply of such relationships. Instead, research in the area can benefit from testing the mediating and moderating effects of various factors to enrich the insights derived from their study. Interestingly, the review reveals that antecedents can also play the role of mediators (e.g., engagement and interaction) and moderators (e.g., parasocial relationship) and vice versa, which implies that the conditions in research design setup are fundamental to the conclusions made about the consequences of social media influencer marketing [ 75 ], which can take the form of consumer responses to the brand (e.g., brand purchase or patronage), the influencer (e.g., following influencer), and the community (e.g., recommendation, social sharing). In total, seven categories in the form of audience-, brand-, comparative-, content-, influencer-, social-, and technology-related factors that could manifest as antecedents, mediators, and moderators were revealed. Noteworthily, the comparative-related factors such as perceived closeness, perceived fit, perceived similarity, self-influencer connection, and product-endorser fit transcended across multiple categories (e.g., audience and influencer, brand and influencer), which indicate the promise of social media influencer marketing as a research context suitable for the development of new factors to describe consumer behavior of a comparative nature. Indeed, comparative-related factors is, to the best knowledge of the authors, a new categorization that has not been revealed by prior systematic literature reviews, and thus, represent a key contribution to the literature that should be noted in future research and reviews. Moreover, the mapping of constructs in Fig.  3 and their counts in Tables 8 , 9 , 10 , and 11 provide useful starting points to identify the extant gaps in prior research (e.g., brand-related factors remain underexplored as moderators, comparative-related factors remain underexplored as mediators) and to inform the direction of future research accordingly. Finally, the constructs and their associated categories revealed can also be compared and contrasted in future investigations to delineate the difference in impact between constructs of different categories, and when paired with appropriate theories, can provide stronger grounds for managerial recommendations to brands and influencers interested to leverage off the benefits of social media influencer marketing to attract and persuade desired consumer behavior.

5.2 Managerial contributions and implications

From a managerial perspective, this study provides two major takeaways for brands and influencers.

First, the review indicates that brands indirectly influence consumers through influencers—that is to say, the strategy of brands engaging in influencer marketing on social media places influencers at the forefront, with brands taking a backseat in that strategy. This was evident from the literature review, where brand-related antecedents were absent; instead, the influence of brands manifests in the form of mediators (e.g., brand recognition, product attractiveness, sponsorship transparency) and moderators (e.g., brand attitude). In that sense, it is important that brands identify and engage with influencers strategically, particularly those who are perceived to be attractive, credible, engaging and interactive, experts, a good fit for their products, likeable, opinion leaders, popular, trustworthy, unique, and without overly self-serving motives in order to encourage desired consumer behavior toward their brands (e.g., brand purchase and patronage, brand trust), as revealed by the review herein.

Second, the review reveals that social media influencers directly influence consumer behavior toward the brands they promote (e.g., brand attitude, brand awareness, brand involvement, brand recall, brand trust), the influencers themselves (e.g., follower, influence), and the social media community at large (e.g., recommendation, social sharing). In particular, the content that influencers curate on social media can affect how consumers respond to these stakeholders. The review indicates that such content should be authentic, credible, informative, original, and transparent (disclosure). The message appeal and message process involvement are also important mediators to strengthen the influencer’s ability to encourage desired consumer behavior among their followers (e.g., positive audience, brand, influencer, and social behavior), whereas audience comments, assurance, hashtags, insights, and volume of posts can moderate or nullify the potential desired impact that influencers could elicit from their followers on social media. Indeed, the importance of electronic word of mouth, parasocial interaction, and perceptions of closeness and fit have also been highlighted through the review. Importantly, when promoting to kids and youth, it is essential that influencers consider what parents would think about their posts, as parental mediation was observed to occur in the review.

5.3 Review limitations and future review directions

From a review perspective, this study acknowledges three major limitations that can inform the curation of future reviews.

First, the systematic literature review herein does not capture article performance (i.e., citations) because it was mainly interested in unpacking the articles, journals, theories, methods, and content (themes, constructs) underpinning existing research on social media influencer marketing, and it kept in mind the space limitation of the journal. Notwithstanding the comprehensive and rigorous insights revealed using the SPAR-4-SLR protocol, future reviews may wish to pursue an impact analysis, which can lead to rich insights pertaining to article performance (e.g., difference in citations [e.g., total citations, average citations per year, h -index, g -index] between papers with and without theory, using empirical and non-empirical methods, or across different methods and thematic categories).

Second, the systematic literature review herein encapsulates only a qualitative evaluation of the constructs in existing social media influencer marketing research. To build on the insights herein, future reviews may wish to pursue a meta-analytical review, where a meta-analysis involving the antecedents, mediators, moderators, and consequences revealed in Tables 8 , 9 , 10 , and 11 in this review (in the short run) or unveiled in future reviews (in the long run) is performed. Such an endeavor should also provide finer-grained insights on conflicting findings and provide a resolution to such findings in the same study.

Third, the systematic literature review herein focuses only on the consumer behavior perspective of social media influencer marketing, which is mainly due to the maturity of research from this perspective [ 98 ], as seen through the number of articles available for review (i.e., 214 articles) under a rigorous protocol (i.e., the SPAR-4-SLR protocol). Moving forward, future reviews may wish to pursue a systematic review of social media influencer marketing from the business and industrial perspective, wherein the impact of influencer marketing on social media for business and industrial brands in general and across different industries are reviewed and reported.

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Joshi, Y., Lim, W.M., Jagani, K. et al. Social media influencer marketing: foundations, trends, and ways forward. Electron Commer Res (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-023-09719-z

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Influencer Marketing Strategy Checklist & Template

Updated: September 15, 2022

Published: August 25, 2022

If you’re a marketer looking to reach new audiences, partnering with influencers can be a great way to do that.

Influencer marketing is an incredibly effective strategy. Nearly 3.96 million of the world’s population is using social media, and researchers say that number might reach 4.41 million by 2025.

As a result, influencer marketing has naturally become one of the most popular marketing methods. As target markets become younger and more digitally connected, influencers can help organizations connect with consumers where they are - online.

What is Influencer Marketing Strategy?

Influencer marketing is a strategy where businesses rely on an influential leader to recommend their product to their target audience. These leaders usually have a large social following or captivate a market segment.

If you're a visual learner, don't worry — this video can help you figure out how to use influencer marketing to build your business this year and beyond. 

By building influencer relationships, brands can leverage an influencer’s reach to achieve their marketing goals.

But if you're considering hiring an influencer for your brand, where do you even begin? It can be tricky to narrow down your goals, what type of influencer you want, and what goals you hope to meet with an influencer strategy.

To help you narrow your search and ensure your influencer marketing strategy is as effective as possible, we've created a template and guidelines to help get you started.

Follow Along With Our Free Influencer Guide + Templates

Influencer collaboration.

According to Influencer Marketing Hub , 90% of marketers will allocate a budget to influencer marketing, with 62% increasing their existing budget. The same study also cites that most brands that have worked with influencers are pleased with their results based on conversion rates and sales they received as part of the collaboration.

The good news is even companies that hired micro-influencers (that is, influencers with 15K followers and fewer) still got impressive results.

According to Convince and Convert , the top 13% of marketers are getting great returns from influencer collaboration regarding quantifiable results.

In fact, for every $1 spent on influencer marketing, they’re getting $20 or more. This explains why marketers are increasing their influencer marketing budgets.

Influencer Marketing Strategy Checklist

• Define your goals.
• Identify and define your audience.
• Define your budget.
• Choose a type of campaign.
• Decide on the social media platform you want to use.
• Create content for your campaign.
• Find your brand influencers.
• Promote your campaign.
• Track your success.

Here are six steps to help you create and implement an influencer marketing strategy:

1. Define your goals.

By clearly defining the end goal of your strategy, you can work your way backward to determine the steps needed to get there. Using your goals as guiding lights will also define your strategy’s metrics for success. These will help keep your campaign on track.

Are you trying to increase brand awareness or drive engagement? Do you want to spruce up your lead generation method, or do you want to build on the loyalty and goodwill of your existing audience?

Dunkin Donuts is an excellent example of how defining your goals can influence your results. They hired Charli D'amelio to advertise their products to increase their app downloads.

After her video went viral, they launched a drink named after her, "The Charli," and her 143 million Tiktok followers were more than willing to join in the trend. As a result, the app's download increased by 57% when Dunkin Donuts released the drink.

Free Influencer Marketing Kit

Learn the fundamentals of successful influencer marketing strategy with this free ebook and set of templates.

• Email templates for influencer outreach
• The do's and don'ts of working with influencers
• The ins and outs of paying influencers
• Measuring success from influencer campaigns

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Click this link to access this resource at any time.

2. Identify and define your audience.

Properly segmenting and identifying your audience can determine the effectiveness and success of your influencer campaign. It’ll be easier to identify which audiences would best help your marketing goals once you define them.

Depending on your organization’s target personas or ideal buyer, you should group consumers by demographics, psychographics , buyer lifecycle stage, or preferred channel.

Tinder is an excellent example of how your target audience can influence your campaign. Most of their app users are 18-25 years old, so they hired influencers in this age bracket to promote their app.

Tayler Holder was one of the influencers who participated in the campaign, and one of his posts has over 500k likes. It's just a photo of him wearing a Tinder-branded shirt and a short caption, “Swipe right and come find us on @tinder .”

3. Define your budget.

Defining your budget is essential s because it guides your content creation and distribution options.For example, if you’re on a limited budget, you may opt to use an independent influencer instead of an agency.

This is also a good time to decide how you compensate your influencers. Some influencers are okay with being paid using free products and services.

Every influencer marketing campaign is different depending on the means of payment and the resources required for the campaign. Here is an example of how you can break down your marketing campaign budget:

4. Choose a type of campaign.

The way you promote your brand through an influencer depends on your goals and the target audience’s preferences.

Guest posting, sponsored content, re-targeting, co-creation, competitions, mentions on social, discount codes, and more are terrific examples of influencer marketing campaigns.

For example, Audible partnered with best-selling author Tim Ferriss on his podcast, where his listeners could use his custom link to get a discount on Audible content. This partnership delivered a relevant offer to the target audience, benefitting Audible, Tim Ferriss, and his podcast listeners.

5. Decide on the social media platform you want to use.

One good thing that happened during the pandemic is that the usage of all social media platforms went on the rise . Marketers’ most used social media platform as of last year is Facebook, and the least used is Snapchat.

That being said, the best platform is based on your target market and the kind of content you’re promoting.

For example, if you’re promoting something for teens, Snapchat would still be your best platform. This chart from WordStream will give you more clarity.

6. Create content for your campaign.

Once you’ve decided on the medium and campaign type, it’s time to create compelling content. Even if you have the most exciting campaign or best product-market fit, consumers will lose interest if your messaging or content doesn’t captivate them.

Make it as easy as possible for your influencer to share your message. The better your messaging fits with their audience, the easier it is for your influencer to push your brand out to their audience.

For example, Fitplan targets people working out from home who might need professional training to reach their body goals. To increase their app sign-up, they work with influencers already sharing fitness content with their audience, like Michele Win .

In return, when their followers sign up for the app, the influencers get to train them and earn money from the app. This strategy works because the content aligns with the users' needs, and they can see what to expect. It’s also easy for the influencers to push this message because they simply share the same message with their followers.

7. Find your brand influencers.

The right influencer should understand and connect with your audience, your brand, and the content you’re promoting. For example, if you’re promoting supplements, you have a better chance with influencers who are into health and fitness than influencers who are mainly interested in new fashion trends.

You can get influencers in your niche by using hashtags on social media platforms. For example, by simply searching #fitness on IG , you get over 1 million posts from different fitness influencers.

Sometimes, you don’t have to work with an influencer in your niche but rather someone who is trending. One solution is to use an influencer marketing platform to find an influencer in your niche. Your marketing team can help identify the best influencers for your brand by staying on top of their social media game.

8. Promote your campaign.

Once you’ve successfully identified your target market, found your ideal influencer, and created compelling content, all that’s left is promoting your new partnership!

Go to your favorite social channels or draft a blog post to generate some buzz.

For example, Fitplan shares short workout advice videos by their influencers on their IG page. This is a good way to encourage viewers to sign up by giving them a glimpse of what happens in their program. Sharing the content on their page also helps reach the people who might not be following their influencers.

9. Track your success.

It’s critical to track the performance of your partnership to ensure all expectations are met and determine the success of the campaign.

Track website traffic, engagement, conversions, or other metrics you decided on when you determined your marketing goals. You can agree to check the data weekly, monthly or quarterly depending on the nature of your campaign. Check in with your original goals to analyze your success and how to repeat them.

There’s a lot of potential for high return on investment (ROI) from influencer partnerships. Therefore, tracking if and how your influencer content performs better than your non-influencer content is essential. Platforms like the Meltwater Influencer Marketing Suite help you measure your influencer campaign success.]

The Influencer Contract Checklist

An influencer contract is a document that contains the details of the agreement between the influencer and a business. For example, the contract includes the terms of content creation, legal protection for both parties, and compensation received, among other details.

It's important to have a contract to keep the influencers you're working with accountable, and it's always a brilliant idea to have a legal document where money is involved.

1. The Basics

This includes the date your contract begins and both parties' official names. It's important to ensure the names that appear in the contract are official and acceptable in a court of law.

Use simple language to describe everything in this section to avoid any kind of misinterpretation in the future.

2. The Expiry Date

How long will you be working with the influencer for this particular campaign? However short or long it may be, stating the dates is essential.

This section should state whether it's a one-time campaign and, if not, the terms of renewing the contract. For example, you can set your influencer's contract to one year, with the option of renewing it based on the parties' agreement.

3. The Mode of Compensation

What will you be offering the influencer in exchange for their services? It could be monetary or a free product or service.

Regardless of what you'll offer, ensure you state it clearly. How much will you be offering if it's money and after how long?

For example, your terms could state that you'll pay the contractor 30 days after sending their invoice.

The payment structure will vary from one agreement to another. For example, if it's a one-time campaign, you could agree on paying half the money before the campaign and the rest after the influencer hits their key performance indicator (KPI).

4. Your Inclusion in the Campaign

Content distribution is just one of the main parts of an influencer marketing campaign. There are other vital parts, like creating content and deciding on the best tone for the campaign.

An influencer better understands the kind of content that resonates with their audience and creative ways to present it.

Therefore, it's good to include the influencer in the creative briefing sessions. In this case, you'll need to state how many meetings they'll be expected to attend and for how long.

5. The Type of Content

What kind of content are you expecting from the influencer? Is it a guest post, a vlog, or a reel? State the expectations clearly.

If you're expecting multiple content formats, mention exactly how they should be delivered. For example, you could state you need four reels and four social media posts twice a week.

7. The Approval Process

As we mentioned, a marketing influencer campaign works best when the influencer collaborates with the marketing team. This helps with quality control by ensuring the influencer adheres to company values.

In some instances, the marketing team may have some suggestions for or edits to the content before posting. Ensure you mention how many revision rounds the influencer should expect to make and if revisions guarantee extra pay.

8. The Promotion Requirements

How much do you want the influencer to be involved in the marketing process? For example, do you want them to share the content on their personal pages? If yes, what platforms and how often?

State these expectations, including how much they should engage with the audience to avoid any conflicts in the future.

9. The Content Copyright

If you want the right to edit or modify the influencer's content, it's important to include content copyright in the contract. Your copyright terms should also allow you to use their images or logo when posting related content.

On the other hand, the influencer might want access to the content they edit. If this is the case, be sure to mention how long they're allowed to access the content. When can they access the content and do they retain the copyright forever?

10. The Publication Agreement

A publication agreement details when the influencer will publish the content. Do you publish once, twice a week, or several times a day?

Ensure you capture all these details on your contract and include any penalties the influencer will face if they don't comply.

Include other additions the influencer must make to the content when uploading it. These may consist of promo codes, hashtags, or tracking links.

11. A Restrictive Covenant

A restrictive covenant is an agreement on the length of time an influencer isn't allowed to work with a competitor after the campaign. So first, define your competitors and include them in the contract.

Additionally, ask the influencer to confirm that they have no written contracts with your competitors.

12. A Sunset Clause

A sunset clause dictates the length of time your sponsored content should appear on the influencer's pages. Without a definite period, many influencers can delete the sponsored content once they’ve been paid or after a short period.

Be clear on how long the content should stay on the influencer's page before they can delete it.

13. A Cancellation Clause

What happens if the influencer feels you're no longer a good fit for their audience? Or they break the agreement, and you can no longer continue working with them?

Prepare for these scenarios by having a cancellation clause in place. It should cover any penalties or repayment.

14. Image Authenticity

Image manipulation isn't a new concept– especially with the editing apps and filters available on the market. Ensure you have a clause that protects you from image manipulation.

While you want your products to appear appealing, you also want to ensure customers don't feel cheated when they receive your product.

Image manipulation may also trigger publishers to flag your ad for false advertising. Publishers could then remove your content or your ad campaign from their platform.

15. A Morality Clause

You can't control what an influencer does, but you can protect yourself with a morality clause. Remember, how they conduct themselves during the campaign can damage your brand's reputation by association.

Therefore, some guidelines can protect you, like discontinuing the contract when they conduct themselves in any way that puts your brand at risk.

Once you have an influencer marketing strategy and a contract, you’ll need to create an influencer proposal to send to potential collaborators.

Here’s a short influencer proposal checklist:

The Influencer Proposal Checklist

• State your goals.
• Show visual examples.
• Simplify the numbers.
• State the responsibilities of the influencers.
• Give examples of influencers you’d like to work with.
• Don’t be too detailed.

1. State your goals.

What do you want to achieve with this influencer marketing campaign? It could be better brand awareness, increased subscription rates, high traffic, or high engagement.

Whatever your goal is, it should be stated clearly in your presentation.

2. Show visual examples.

Influencer marketing is mainly about visuals. So, before you meet with an influencer, research and take screenshots of the campaigns you like.

These resources will give your influencer an idea of what kind of content you’re looking for.

3. Simplify the numbers.

If you love data, chances are your proposal will be full of figures. This is boring, and most influencers will not pay attention to this presentation. Provide only the necessary data based on the influencer’s preference to avoid overcomplicating the proposal. The metrics you share will depend on the media platform you’re working on. For example, if you’re promoting IG content, your influencer will need to see the content interactions, profile activity, and the accounts your posts are reaching. This information is important when setting future goals and negotiating prices.

Also, try to replace the data and tables with graphics that appeal to them based on their interests and the nature of their career. Keep in mind that successful influencers are heavily booked and you also need to wow them to work with you.

4. State the responsibilities of the influencers.

State all of the influencer’s responsibilities. How should the influencers participate in the marketing campaign?

Responsibilities can include creating content, developing hashtags, editing images, or sharing content on their page.

5. Give examples of influencers you’d like to work with.

If you don’t have specific names in mind, you can create a buyer’s persona to represent the kind of people you want to collaborate with. You can boost this persona with success metrics like followers, engagement, and likes.

Coming up with this persona will help your potential influencers know your priorities in this campaign.

6. Don’t be too detailed.

Although you want to ensure your collaborators understand your expectations , you don’t want to micromanage them.

Instead, include a brief. This allows the influencer to share ideas on how to reach your goals.

Download the Influencer Strategy Template

Are you ready to try these influencer marketing strategies with your organization? Download our free influencer strategy template and achieve your marketing goals today.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in August 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

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Effectiveness of Instagram Influencers Essay

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Introduction

Consumerist culture, envy as a driver of consumerism, unrealistic body image, reference list.

Social media has become an integral part of life in the developed nations, and it is only natural that it has an impact on how people perceive brands and make buying decisions. When people engage with each other online, they perceive others as real people and therefore trust them as they would their friends in real life. Hajli (2014) explains how trust has a statistically significant effect on someone’s decision to purchase a product, which was recommended by someone familiar. Influencers also harness that trust, because they present themselves as real people, and their core appeal is their relatability to the audience.

The trust that the influencers get from their audience makes them more effective at marketing than traditional celebrities. Another significant reason for their effectiveness is the niche appeal and the specialization of their celebrity. Influencers appear to be the middle ground between a famous celebrity and a trustworthy acquaintance. The audience identifies with the influencer and regards them as a real person, and thus the endorsements they make as part of a marketing campaign are seen as genuine recommendations (Schouten, Janssen, and Verspaget, 2019). However, that only works if the product fits the niche of the influencer: for example, a beauty vlogger advertising lipstick is seen as genuine, but a travel vlogger advertising a set of spanners is not. That product-endorser fit is not available to traditional celebrities, as they are primarily famous for completely unrelated artistic accomplishments.

At this point, influencer marketing is a developed industry, and employing social media personalities is a staple for advertising. All of the benefits of influencer marketing over traditional tactics are well-known to the advertising market. One report shows that using influencer marketing can generate up to 11 times more return on investment than the traditional channels (Kirkpatrick, 2016). While there are many different platforms and networks for influencer marketing, approximately 79% of the brands use Instagram, with Facebook, a distant second at 46% (Schomer, 2019). Instagram appears to be the most attractive social network for both media personalities and brands that wish to partner with them. A survey performed by an influencer advertising platform shows that nearly all of the brands plan to keep using Instagram (The State of Influencer Marketing 2020, no date). The survey also reports that influencer-generated content is 2.7 times more effective than typical branded content.

That survey reveals one additional insight that is important for digital marketing. 77% of marketers report that they prefer microinfluencers over other kinds of influencers. That hints at an incentive to utilize smaller personalities with less reach, which appears counterintuitive. However, it has been shown that influencers with a smaller audience enjoy more engagement, as their audience is more interactive and loyal (Instagram Marketing: Does Influencer Size Matter? no date). The microinfluencers, or the influencers with 10,000 or fewer followers, appear to be more genuine, more authentic, and thus more trustworthy (Bohan, 2016). The influencer marketing industry, in this regard, seems to follow the same logic as it does with traditional celebrities. As a particular example, Amazon seems to understand that, and it successfully utilizes microinfluencers to promote its Audible audiobook service (Amazon’s marketing strategy with social media influencers, no date). The advertisements are personal, relatable, and seemingly authentic, which generates a lot of engagement and helps the brand. Partnership with microinfluencers is also significantly less expensive than with larger-scale media personalities, which increases return on investment even further.

As the commodification of Instagram influencers grows, the platform increasingly becomes an infinite advertisement reel. Consumerism is nothing new to a person living in the XXI century, but Instagram, with its influencer-driven sponsored content, creates new ways for it to blossom. The industry that is possibly affected the most in this digital advertising evolution is fashion. The integration between the social network, the marketers, and fashion outlets has made shopping for clothes both a seamless and desirable activity (Kozlowska, 2019). One of the most harmful effects of this cultural shift is the rise of fast fashion. Also known as disposable fashion, it is aimed at pumping out cheaply made clothing that is supposed to be worn for a short while and then discarded in favour of a new trend.

Instagram is rapidly becoming one of the primary inspirations for fashion choices for the modern consumer. Instagram influencers are reported to be chief fashion inspiration for approximately 17% of the people, as a survey by Fashion Retail Academy reveals (Skeldon, 2019). Consumers are not unaware of the trend, especially the younger generation: about 73% of respondents say that Instagram personalities are to blame for the rise of fast fashion. That awareness, however, does not translate into abstaining from it, as fast fashion brands are successfully operating and advertising around the world (Wood, 2019). Despite the claims that Generation Z and the young people, in general, are more environmentally conscious and sustainability-driven than ever, the sales of such brands as Missguided continue to grow.

Perhaps the most telling testimonies about the drive of fast fashion come from the consumers themselves. Paton, Lorenz, and Kwai (2019) present interviews from several teenage and young adult girls, which shed some light on the thought process that drives this new brand of consumerism. As they use Instagram and other social media apps to share their looks to their followers, their chief concern is not to appear in the same outfit twice. They also use Instagram to find fashion inspiration, which is where they likely picked up that ethic of not wearing the same outfit twice from the influencers that promote the clothing. A positive trend is buying second-hand clothes due to price considerations, but it is unlikely to offset the almost daily purchases of new clothes from fast fashion outlets.

The environmental concern of many of the journalists that cover the worrying trend appears to be justified. According to Boström and Micheletti (2016), the textile and clothing industry is one of the biggest polluters of the planet. As an example of some of the best-known human rights violations of the modern world, many clothing producers rely on sweatshops that run on what is essentially slave labour. Driving the production expenses down to be competitive in the fast fashion environment can cost fashion brands actual human lives, for which they have rarely been held accountable. Another critical factor to consider is the harmful impact on the environment due to land use, chemical waste, and air and water pollution. The consumer culture that has grown around Instagram fame and influencer marketing only serves to accelerate and reinforce these practices as demand rises and costs drop. Considering that, according to Paton, Lorenz, and Kwai (2019), sustainable clothing is more expensive than the unsustainable, and that there is a social pressure to always buy new articles of it, it is unlikely that the problem can be solved without some significant upheaval of the current consumer culture.

It has become a truism in recent years that advertisements do not sell products, but experiences or a lifestyle. When the general public became savvy and less receptive to traditional forms of advertising, Instagram influencers became the go-to for creating content that appears authentic. With that degree of authenticity that is necessary to stay competitive, influencers inevitably begin to project their own lives onto the content they make. Because for some of them, it is a primary source of income and business, the content is likely to have high production values. A single sponsored picture posted to Instagram can have entire teams of professional photographers, lighting engineers, makeup artists, tailors, and editors working on it. Naturally, that does not create a representative depiction of real life, while claiming to do so for the relatability, authenticity, and trustworthiness crucial to effective marketing. No actual human life can measure up to that polished snapshot of artificial reality, creating feelings of envy and inadequacy in Instagram users.

Influencers posting about their daily lives, even without sponsored content, can cause users to feel inadequate. According to Chae (2017), the projections of influencers’ daily lives can negatively impact the users’ emotional wellbeing when they are expressly interested in them. The effect is lessened for the followers that view informational content with an express purpose. Some types of content may trigger social comparison behaviour more than others, which can also influence the feelings of envy in the viewers. A significant mediator is the viewers themselves, as social comparison and subsequent envy was more pronounced in individuals with low self-esteem and high self-consciousness. As the author focused on the female perspective, a particular point was made in the paper that an image of a successful woman who ‘has it all’ can have additional repercussions on the users’ mental state. These images are as artificial as advertisements, and as reliant on perceived authenticity to drive engagement.

Like any other emotional state, envy can be harnessed to drive the purchasing decisions of the consumers being advertised to. According to Jin and Ryu (2020), there are different patterns of envy between men and women, which they recommend to take into account when making advertisements. According to the authors, men seem to feel greater intragender competitiveness, which drives them to purchase the products advertised using selfies and photos of a single person. Women, on the other hand, feel envy as a form of parasocial interaction, thus feeling more envious of groups of women, which influence their purchasing decisions more. These findings represent the commodification of envy and the ability of advertisers to consciously manipulate feelings of competitiveness and social comparison, as well as the subconscious mechanisms that allow people to relate to media personalities as if they were real acquaintances.

The negative consequences of viewing Instagram posts of strangers and influencers are a well-researched topic at this point. According to Lup, Trub, and Rosenthal (2015), viewing the content generated by friends and acquaintances may be associated with positive emotional affect, because the social media images of their daily lives are balanced with the knowledge of their actual lives. However, that knowledge is not present in case of strangers, and their social media images become associated with reality, which triggers unfavourable social comparison and subsequent adverse psychological effects. The same cannot be said about negative body image that results in women from seeing others on Instagram; the negative effects are present both for celebrities and peers (Brown and Tiggemann, 2016). Feelings of inadequacy and envy seem to be endemic to a social network that is based on sharing pictures of oneself, and they appear to increase when viewing successful influencers that can afford to project an unrealistically perfect image of daily life.

As it was mentioned already, the pictures and videos that Instagram influencers tend to post are highly produced artificial depictions of a life that does not exist. The staged, well-lit, and heavily-edited bodies of influencers invite unfair comparisons and decrease body satisfaction of the users. The culture of disposable fashion and filtered selfies is perpetuated by regular users, spreading and integrating itself further into the people’s daily lives. The influence of Instagram and its edited and manipulated collective visage is so strong and pervasive that people have begun referencing it while getting cosmetic or plastic surgery (Kelly, 2020). The plastic surgery has seen record spending, and the most popular procedures are those that are performed by face-editing apps. People engage in social comparison and find themselves lacking, while their ideal is completely fabricated.

That ideal being the stranger, the influencer, or the model, can be more detrimental to the psychological wellbeing of an individual, as previously stated. Moreover, Vendemia and DeAndrea (2018) suggest that acquaintances and friends that engage in similar behaviour are viewed as more pathologic and less virtuous. The thin, attractive, sexualized professional models that posted pictures on Instagram were regarded as posting these images as motivation or inspiration. The people from real life that also posted sexualized pictures were regarded as doing it for the attention, and thus less virtuous, altruistic, and intelligent. It appears that this mismatch of judgement can elevate models and influencers, driving upward social comparison and making them even more salient when internalizing ideal body type.

The negative impacts of these body comparisons on the psychological wellbeing are well-researched at this point as well. Its adverse effects are especially pronounced for women, who tend to engage in parasocial relationships more often, and thus compare themselves to others (Jin and Ryu, 2020). Several articles describe how edited pictures are more harmful to the self-esteem of an Instagram user than non-edited ones. Tiggemann and Anderberg (2019) describe how seeing highly manipulated fake pictures triggers upward social comparison, which leads to feelings of envy and inadequacy. However, seeing the non-edited picture, or both the edited and non-edited pictures together creates a more relevant target for comparison, which features a less attractive and less thin model. Comparisons often become lateral or downward in that case, which leads to increased self-esteem, even if it is at the expense of someone else.

Earlier research on the topic supports these findings and adds several additional points. Kleemans, Daalmans, Carbaat, and Anschütz (2016) have found that there are personal differences in the perception of edited and non-edited pictures by adolescent girls. Girls with a lower tendency to engage in social comparison do not exhibit significant differences in personal body image after viewing edited and unedited pictures. However, the body image of girls who were prone to social comparison was especially lower after seeing edited pictures. The authors suggested that even if image manipulations are disclosed to the public, they still facilitate the negative body image.

There is evidence to suggest that no measures can hold the body image dissatisfaction in check effectively. An article by Tiggemann, Anderberg, and Brown (2020) suggests that including body-positive captions to pictures of female bodies does not have any effect on social comparison or body image. The picture itself is the only thing that has any effect on the body image of an Instagram user. It is reasonable to suggest that when body-positive captions about acceptance and celebration of all body types are included with pictures of conventionally attractive thin women, they are seen as disingenuous pandering, and, at best, have no effect. However, the same captions could help women internalize a more positive beauty ideal when they are accompanied by larger, plus-size models.

It appears that the marketing industry has come to similar conclusions regarding body types of models and influencers. Shoenberger, Kim, and Johnson (2019) describe how purchasing decisions are manipulated more effectively by influencers with a diverse set of body types. Pictures of plus-size models with no digital enhancements are reported to increase the perceived authenticity of the message to a female audience. The dissemination of these findings to marketers may increase the presence of plus-sized, or otherwise divergent models, and decrease the amount of digital editing of the pictures. While that may reduce the incidence of negative body image and subsequent psychological problems in girls and women, that perspective does not take other ethical considerations into account. For example, the influencer’s daily life, which is also a fabrication aimed at perceived authenticity, remains a driver of unfavourable social comparison. Moreover, the findings may force influencers or marketers to find other, better forms of picture editing, which are as harmful while being harder to distinguish.

• Amazon’s marketing strategy with social media influencers. (no date).
• Bohan, J. (2016) There’s nothing micro about the power of micro-influencers . Web.
• Boström, M. and Micheletti, M. (2016) ‘Introducing the sustainability challenge of textiles and clothing’, Journal of Consumer Policy , 39(4), pp. 367–375. doi:10.1007/s10603-016-9336-6
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• Kirkpatrick, D. (2016) Influencer marketing spurs 11 times the ROI over traditional tactics: Study . Web.
• Kelly, S. M. (2020) Plastic surgery inspired by filters and photo editing apps isn’t going away . Web.
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• Kozlowska, H. (2019) Why go to the mall when you can look at Instagram?
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• Shoenberger, H., Kim, E., and Johnson, E. K. (2019) ‘#BeingReal about Instagram ad models: The effects of perceived authenticity’, Journal of Advertising Research , 35. doi:10.2501/jar-2019-035
• Skeldon, P. (2019) Social influencers have led to the rise in fast fashion, with 30% of shoppers using Instagram for inspiration.
• The state of influencer marketing 2020 (no date).
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• Vendemia, M. A., and DeAndrea, D. C. (2018) ‘The effects of viewing thin, sexualized selfies on Instagram: Investigating the role of image source and awareness of photo editing practices’, Body Image , 27, pp. 118–127. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2018.08.013
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IvyPanda. (2022, February 16). Effectiveness of Instagram Influencers. https://ivypanda.com/essays/effectiveness-of-instagram-influencers/

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1. IvyPanda . "Effectiveness of Instagram Influencers." February 16, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/effectiveness-of-instagram-influencers/.

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IvyPanda . "Effectiveness of Instagram Influencers." February 16, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/effectiveness-of-instagram-influencers/.

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You are here: Influencer Marketing Hub » Influencer Marketing » May 2024 Influencer Marketing Report

May 2024 Influencer Marketing Report

Key Findings

Budget increases and confidence.

• 66.8% of marketers plan to increase their influencer marketing budgets in the coming year, demonstrating strong confidence in this marketing method compared to traditional tactics like SEO.

Effectiveness and Challenges

• Despite 66.8% of marketers planning budget increases, 32% still find influencer marketing not effective, indicating significant variability in success and the need for better strategies.
• Major challenges include identifying the right influencers (44%) and managing contract negotiations (17.1%).

Platform Preferences

• Instagram (39.2%) and TikTok (38%) are the top platforms for influencer marketing campaigns, with YouTube (13.5%) and Facebook (8.2%) also playing significant roles.
• A notable decrease in TikTok's preference is attributed to potential regulatory concerns.

The Influencer Marketing Report May 2024 provides an in-depth look at the current state of the influencer marketing industry . Based on a survey of 237 marketing professionals, this report highlights their perspectives on the evolving landscape, the challenges they face, and their strategies for success. Given the rapid changes in the digital marketing world, we believe it is crucial to share monthly insights to keep you updated on the latest trends and developments.

In our survey marketing professionals revealed a landscape where 66.8% are planning to increase their influencer marketing budgets in the coming year, signaling a robust confidence not seen in other sectors. This contrasts sharply with the general anxiety surrounding more traditional digital marketing tactics, such as SEO, which constantly grapple with Google's algorithm changes .

Influencer marketing remains a highly complex discipline that many in-house marketing teams struggle with, often lacking the bandwidth and specialized skills to manage campaigns successfully. While 66.8% of the 237 marketers we surveyed plan to increase their influencer marketing budgets in the coming year, 32% still find influencer marketing not effective, highlighting a critical contrast in the industry. Despite the industry's growth, new uncertainties such as potential TikTok bans and Meta's stringent API changes add layers of complexity to platform reliance and data accessibility.

The commitment to influencer marketing is strong, but its effectiveness varies widely, necessitating a deeper dive into what drives success and what leads to disappointment.

Solving the Complexities of Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is a tough game, but our report highlights that success hinges on strategic planning, data-driven influencer selection, and creative content guidelines. Ubiquitous’ campaign for Litter-Robot exemplifies this by achieving 66.6M views and six-figure revenue through meticulous planning, innovative strategies, and real-time optimizations. This approach underscores the importance of combining precision with creativity to navigate the complexities and achieve remarkable ROI.

Hence, we will explore key influencer marketing strategies used by leading influencer marketing agency Ubiquitous to overcome influencer marketing challenges:

• Strategic Planning and Coordination: Learn how Ubiquitous started planning three months before the campaign launch, resulting in 66.6 million views and over six figures in sales.
• Platform-Specific Strategies: Discover the importance of allocating 60% of the budget to top-of-funnel platforms like Instagram and TikTok, and 25-30% to conversion-focused YouTube.
• Data-Driven Influencer Selection: See how proprietary technology helped identify influencers with the highest engagement rates, leading to 93K site visits from 20 influencers.
• Creative Content Guidelines: Understand how balancing structure and creative freedom led to the creation of 130 unique posts, driving massive engagement.
• Execution and Performance Monitoring: Explore the methods used for continuous monitoring and rapid iteration that maintained an average CPM of $4.50 and ensured campaign success.
• Consumer Engagement and Feedback Handling: Learn techniques for maintaining positive engagement and addressing consumer concerns in real-time, which enhanced consumer trust and campaign impact.

Our May 2024 Influencer Report delves into these dynamics, offering a clear, structured analysis packed with actionable insights. In this report, we decode the current sentiment amongst marketers in relation to influencer marketing, 100% based on unique first-party data findings, via our pool of leading marketers.

Platform Preferences in Influencer Marketing

Budget allocation across influencer tiers, effectiveness and budgeting trends in influencer marketing, challenges in influencer marketing.

• The Six-Figure Secret: Ubiquitous’ Formula for Influencer Marketing Success

Most Effective Content Types and Campaign Frequency

Integration and perception of effectiveness, adaptation to platform changes, incentives used in influencer campaigns, objectives of campaigns, emerging trends and future focus, conclusion: navigating the future of influencer marketing, methodology and data transparency, the short version – quick facts.

• Dominant Platforms : Instagram (39.2%) and TikTok (38%) are neck-and-neck as the top platforms for influencer marketing campaigns , showcasing the ongoing preference for visually driven social media.
• Rising Influence of Nano Influencers: Nano influencers (53.8%) dominate brand collaborations, suggesting a shift towards authenticity and niche audiences over broader reach.
• Investment Levels: 26.1% allocate less than 10% of their marketing budget to influencer marketing, indicating room for growth in this area.
• Effectiveness Perception: 24.6% of marketers find influencer marketing very effective, highlighting its significant impact on marketing strategies.
• Budget Trends: A substantial 66.2% of marketers plan to increase their influencer marketing budget next year, reflecting confidence in this marketing method.
• Content Formats: Video posts (57.4%) are considered the most effective content format in influencer campaigns, underscoring the importance of dynamic and engaging content.
• Technology Adoption: A large segment of marketers (42.5%) do not use any technology or tools to manage influencer campaigns, pointing to potential growth in the influencer tech sector.
• Top Challenges: Identifying the right influencers is the biggest challenge faced (44%), stressing the need for better discovery tools and methods.
• Algorithm Impact: A significant majority (81.1%) have adjusted their influencer marketing strategies due to platform algorithm updates, indicating high responsiveness to digital environment changes.
• Incentive Strategies: Free products are the most common form of influencer incentive (56.2%), but monetary compensation is also widely used (20.1%).
• Campaign Frequency: Most brands (59.4%) launch influencer marketing campaigns monthly, highlighting the tactic’s role as a regular marketing activity.
• Integration with Marketing: A vast majority of respondents (89%) believe that influencer marketing integrates well with their other marketing efforts, illustrating its effectiveness as part of a comprehensive strategy.
• Emerging Trends: The growth of video content (44.6%) and the increased use of AI for influencer discovery and management (36%) are seen as the most impactful trends for the next year.
• Focus on Direct Sales: Over half of the marketers (54.9%) aim their influencer marketing efforts at direct sales more than at brand awareness, emphasizing its effectiveness in driving immediate business outcomes.

The landscape of influencer marketing platforms remains highly competitive and diverse. According to our survey:

• Instagram remains a staple for influencer campaigns, utilized by 39.2% of respondents.
• TikTok closely follows with 38%, reflecting its rapid ascent as a powerhouse for engaging content.

• YouTube and Facebook continue to play significant roles, preferred by 13.5% and 8.2% of marketers, respectively.
• This data suggests a strategic diversification in platform use, ensuring brands can engage audiences across multiple touchpoints.

Last year's data from our annual Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report , which asked respondents "Which channels do you predominantly tap into for influencer marketing campaigns?" indicated a much higher preference for TikTok, with 67.8% of brands leveraging it for their campaigns. This contrasts with this year's survey phrasing, "Which platforms do you primarily use for influencer marketing campaigns?" where only 38% of respondents indicated TikTok as their choice.

Drop in preference for TikTok

The significant drop in preference for TikTok this year may be influenced not only by the differences in how the question was framed but also by the looming uncertainty surrounding the potential TikTok ban, which could be causing marketers to reconsider their platform strategies amidst evolving regulatory concerns.

Instagram (39.2%) and TikTok (38%) are the leading platforms for influencer campaigns, reflecting their dominance in visually-driven social media.

Marketers show a clear preference for more accessible influencers, indicating a shift towards authenticity:

• Nano influencers (1K–10K followers) are primarily engaged by 53.8% of brands, underscoring their cost-effectiveness and high engagement rates.
• Micro influencers follow, engaged by 21.6% of respondents, balancing reach and relatability.
• Macro and mega influencers are utilized less frequently, highlighting a strategic focus on influencers who resonate more genuinely with niche audiences.

Last year in our yearly Influencer Benchmark Survey, 44% of brands chose nano influencers as their most likely partners , marking an increase to this year’s 53.8%. This growth suggests an intensified appreciation for the high engagement and authenticity that nano influencers can offer. Preference for micro-influencers has slightly decreased from last year's 25.7% to 21.6% this year. This shift might reflect a strategic reallocation towards even smaller influencers or a broader diversification in influencer marketing tactics.

The May 2024 influencer marketing data corroborates a continuing trend towards leveraging nano and micro-influencers, driven by their ability to engage more effectively with specific audience segments.

Brands prefer engaging nano influencers (53.8%) for their cost-effectiveness and high engagement rates, shifting towards authenticity and niche audiences.

Despite varying opinions on effectiveness, the commitment to influencer marketing remains strong:

• 66.2% of marketers plan to increase their influencer marketing budgets, signaling strong faith in its ROI.

• 24.6% of respondents find influencer marketing very effective, while only 7.4% deem it extremely effective, suggesting room for optimization in campaign strategies.

Year-over-Year Comparison:

• Budget Increases : The commitment to enhance influencer marketing budgets has shown a slight uptick from last year’s 59.4%. This consistent increase underscores the growing recognition of the value delivered by influencer marketing strategies.
• Budget Allocation : This year, 26.1% of respondents expect to spend less than 10% of their marketing budget on influencer marketing, up from last year’s 20%. Meanwhile, 24.2% of brands are dedicated fans of influencer marketing, planning to spend more than 40% of their marketing budget on such campaigns. This is a considerable rise from 23% in 2023, showcasing a deepening trust in the effectiveness of influencer marketing.
• Decrease in Budgets : The percentage of marketers planning to decrease their influencer marketing budget is marginally higher this year at 13.9%, compared to last year’s 7%. This might reflect a more cautious approach amidst economic uncertainties, even as the overall sector sees an upward trend in investment.

Strategic Implications:

These trends not only reflect the resilience of influencer marketing as an effective strategy but also highlight how brands are progressively adapting their budgets to leverage its benefits. The increase in marketers spending a significant portion of their budget on influencer marketing emphasizes its central role in contemporary digital strategies . However, the slight increase in those reducing their budgets could signal a need for more demonstrable ROI to sustain or increase investment levels in the future.

Despite varying opinions on effectiveness, 66.2% of marketers plan to increase their influencer marketing budgets, signaling strong faith in its ROI.

Identifying the right influencer remains the most significant challenge, cited by 44% of marketers. Other notable challenges include:

• Contract management and negotiation difficulties (17.1%),
• ROI measurement complexities (15.5%), and concerns over influencer fraud and brand alignment (11.9% and 11.4%, respectively).
• These challenges highlight critical areas where businesses seek improvements, from better selection processes to more transparent and effective collaboration terms.

In light of the recent upheaval caused by Meta's restrictions on third-party data, the influencer marketing industry faces a pivotal shift toward first-party data reliance. This transition, exemplified by Grin' s rapid adaptation in compliance with Meta's API changes , underscores a broader industry challenge: the pressing need for platforms to secure robust, consent-based data channels. Despite the obstacles, Grin quickly reinstated influencer search capabilities on Meta, reaffirming their position as a leader in influencer marketing by demonstrating resilience and adaptability in a rapidly evolving landscape.

As platforms scramble to adjust, the implications for influencer marketing are profound. Businesses must navigate these changes wisely to maintain efficacy, particularly as 44% of marketers already struggle with identifying the right influencers—a task complicated further by restricted access to reliable data. This evolving landscape calls for a strategic pivot to first-party data, ensuring that influencer marketing remains a powerful, effective tool despite the challenges highlighted by the industry's mixed effectiveness ratings.

Identifying the right influencers remains the most significant challenge, cited by 44% of marketers, highlighting the need for better discovery tools.

The Six-Figure Secret: Ubiquitous’ Formula for Influencer Marketing Success

Influencer marketing demands more than just budget—it’s about blending strategic planning, creative storytelling, and human engagement. Unlike performance marketing, which relies on search engines and algorithms, influencer marketing uses humans or animals, requiring motivation and alignment.

Managing this balance of art and science, while keeping an eye on ROI, is challenging. This case study explores how Ubiquitous mastered these complexities for Litter-Robot, generating six-figure revenue and millions of engagements through detailed coordination and innovative strategies, showcasing the transformative power of effective influencer marketing.

Influencer Marketing Campaign Secret Sauce

Ubiquitous’ strategy was a blend of precision and creativity: they initiated planning three months ahead, harnessed proprietary tech to select influencers with pinpoint accuracy, and orchestrated a multi-platform campaign. Their secret? A seamless mix of human touch and data science, turning influencers into authentic brand storytellers and maximizing ROI through real-time optimizations. This case study demonstrates that top-class teams are essential to achieving remarkable ROI in influencer marketing.

Challenges/Problems

Bandwidth and Specialized Skills

Litter-Robot, despite having a strong product and a baseline presence in the cat community, faced significant challenges in executing a large-scale influencer campaign. The internal team lacked the bandwidth to manage the extensive coordination required, including hundreds of contact details, negotiations, agreements, creative briefs, and payments. This aligns with our report findings, where 44% of marketers identified the right influencers as their biggest challenge and 42.5% reported not using any technology or tools to manage influencer campaigns, highlighting a gap in resources and expertise.

Influencer Identification

Identifying the right influencers who could genuinely engage with the target audience was another major hurdle. The challenge was to find influencers who were both relevant and capable of driving high engagement and conversions, especially given the product's premium price point of $650. Again, our report underscores this challenge, as marketers are citing influencer identification as their top issue and 24.6% finding influencer marketing very effective, indicating that success heavily depends on choosing the right partners.

Early Engagement and Planning

Ubiquitous started collaborating with Litter-Robot three months before the launch of the LR4. This early engagement allowed for meticulous planning and coordination, setting a strong foundation for the campaign. Regular weekly syncs ensured that both teams were aligned and could make necessary adjustments in real time.

Full-Funnel Strategy

The budget was strategically spread across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Approximately 60% was allocated to Instagram and TikTok for top-of-funnel activities to generate awareness, while 25-30% was dedicated to YouTube to target high-intent consumers and drive conversions. This strategic allocation mirrors our report's insight that video posts (57.4%) are considered the most effective content format, underscoring the importance of using the right platforms to engage audiences effectively.

Strategic Multi-Channel Tactics

YouTube was chosen as a conversion channel due to its unique ability to engage viewers with longer, in-depth content that is crucial for high-ticket items like the Litter-Robot LR4. Potential buyers often seek detailed reviews and demonstrations before committing to a purchase, and YouTube's format allows influencers to provide comprehensive insights and answer potential questions in a single video. This aligns with our finding that 24.6% of marketers find influencer marketing very effective, as well-placed, detailed content can significantly enhance consumer trust and drive sales.

The choice to use YouTube as a bottom-of-funnel channel also takes advantage of its robust search functionality and high user intent. Consumers actively searching for product reviews are already further along in the buyer journey, making them more likely to convert. By focusing YouTube efforts on influencers with a strong following and credibility in tech and pet care, Ubiquitous ensured that the content resonated well with the target audience, ultimately driving higher conversions.

This platform-specific strategy is further validated by our report's observation that a significant majority (81.1%) of marketers have adjusted their influencer marketing strategies due to platform algorithm updates, highlighting the need for adaptability and precision in platform selection to maximize campaign effectiveness.

Data-Driven Influencer Selection

Ubiquitous employed proprietary technology to identify influencers, leveraging thousands of data points to filter for those with the highest engagement rates and the most relevant audiences. They also broadened their search by collaborating with other agencies to find influencers who had not previously worked with Litter-Robot.

Creative Content Guidelines

Ubiquitous adopted a balanced approach to content creation, providing influencers with creative freedom within structured guidelines. For YouTube, influencers were tasked with creating detailed tech reviews, leveraging their expertise to highlight the features and benefits of the LR4. On Instagram and TikTok, influencers were encouraged to produce two types of posts: product introductions to spark curiosity and creative engagement posts to drive interaction. This strategy allowed influencers to be imaginative while emphasizing the unique selling points of the LR4, ensuring authentic and compelling content that resonated with their audiences.

Give Influencers Structured Freedom

Structured Freedom: Giving influencers the flexibility to be creative within set guidelines helped maintain brand consistency while leveraging the influencers' unique styles. Dual-Post Strategy: Using a combination of product introductions and creative engagement posts maximized reach and interaction. USP Highlighting: Encouraging influencers to focus on the LR4's unique features ensured that key product benefits were effectively communicated.

Execution and Monitoring

Throughout the eight-week campaign, Ubiquitous continuously monitored performance metrics and made rapid iterations to optimize results. The use of cross-platform posting significantly reduced rates per post, and real-time engagement management helped maintain positive consumer interactions.

Engagement and Feedback Handling

By equipping influencers with fun and informative responses to common questions and concerns, Ubiquitous ensured that consumer feedback was promptly addressed, enhancing trust and engagement. This proactive approach was crucial in maintaining the campaign's momentum and effectiveness.

Massive Reach and Engagement

The campaign generated 66.6 million views, 93,000 site visits, and an additional six figures in revenue. Across all platforms, 130 posts went live, resulting in 68.1 million views, 7.3 million engagements, and a blended CPM of $7.27, exceeding the initial goal.

Platform-Specific Success

• TikTok and Instagram: 20 influencers created 88 posts on TikTok and 39 on Instagram, achieving 64.5 million views with an average CPM of $4.50.
• YouTube: Despite deploying only three YouTubers, their videos generated 360K views, 20.5K site visits, and significant additional revenue.

Long-Term Impact

The campaign not only achieved short-term success but also laid the groundwork for long-term influencer relationships. Litter-Robot hired an internal influencer marketing manager to continue leveraging the insights and connections developed during the campaign.

Ubiquitous achieved remarkable results by combining strategic planning, creative storytelling, and data-driven influencer selection.

• 17 Key Influencer Marketing Statistics to Fuel Your Strategy
• Top Influencer Marketing Agencies in 2024
• 5 Influencer Marketing Insights You Need to Know

Video content emerges as the most effective, with 57.4% of marketers favoring it over images, stories, and live sessions. This preference aligns with the rise of platforms like TikTok and the ongoing popularity of YouTube. Regarding campaign launches:

The majority (59.4%) launch campaigns monthly, demonstrating the dynamic and ongoing nature of influencer engagements in marketing strategies .

Video posts are the most effective content format, favored by 57.4% of marketers, with most brands launching influencer campaigns monthly.

A significant majority of respondents (89%) believe that influencer marketing integrates well with their other marketing efforts, reinforcing its value as a complementary strategy.

In terms of effectiveness:

• 24.6% find it very effective, indicating a strong impact on marketing goals.
• Despite some skepticism, with 32% considering it not effective, the overall sentiment remains positive, as 85% of businesses continue to dedicate a budget to influencer marketing, up from previous years.

A vast majority (89%) of marketers believe that influencer marketing integrates well with their other marketing efforts, reinforcing its value as a complementary strategy.

The dynamic nature of social platforms requires marketers to remain adaptable. A substantial 81.1% of marketers have changed their approach to influencer marketing due to recent platform algorithm updates, demonstrating a proactive stance in maintaining campaign effectiveness across varying digital environments.

81.1% of marketers have adjusted their influencer marketing strategies due to platform algorithm updates, demonstrating a proactive stance in maintaining effectiveness.

Incentives play a crucial role in the execution of influencer campaigns. The survey reveals:

• Free products are the most common incentive, used by 56.2% of brands.
• Monetary compensation follows at 20.1%, highlighting the professional nature of these partnerships.
• Smaller incentives like discounts and coupons (12.4%) and commissions based on sales (11.3%) are also utilized to diversify engagement strategies.

Free products are the most common incentive (56.2%), with monetary compensation also widely used (20.1%), indicating diverse strategies to engage influencers.

Influencer marketing is not a sporadic activity but a regular part of the marketing mix:

Campaigns are primarily aimed at direct sales (54.9%), with brand awareness also playing a significant role (27.2%). This underscores the direct impact of influencer marketing on revenue generation.

Influencer marketing campaigns primarily aim for direct sales (54.9%) and brand awareness (27.2%), underscoring their impact on revenue generation.

Looking ahead, marketers are identifying key trends that will shape the future of influencer marketing:

• Growth of video content is anticipated to be the most impactful trend, noted by 44.6% of respondents.
• The use of AI for influencer discovery and management is also expected to rise, with 36% seeing it as a significant future trend.
• There is a notable focus on micro and nano influencers, which is expected to enhance the authenticity and effectiveness of campaigns.

Deep Dive into AI Utilization in Influencer Marketing from Last year's AI Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report :

• Adoption of AI Technologies : 61.4% of marketers have already integrated AI into their marketing activities, with 44.4% utilizing AI specifically for content production. Tools like Jasper.ai are particularly popular, used by 32.8% of marketers, demonstrating AI's role in streamlining content creation.
• Optimism About AI's Potential : A substantial 54.5% of marketers believe AI will greatly enhance their marketing efforts. Moreover, 71.2% contend that AI can outperform humans in certain job functions, underscoring the expected shift towards more AI-driven operations within influencer marketing.
• Investment in AI-Driven Campaigns : Reflecting a commitment to leveraging AI, 19.2% of respondents spent more than 40% of their marketing budget on AI-driven campaigns. This significant investment highlights the growing reliance on AI to deliver tailored and impactful marketing strategies.
• Future Projections : More than 60% of marketers plan to use AI or machine learning in their influencer campaigns. However, challenges remain, as 41.9% have not adopted AI due to a lack of understanding, and 23.7% are deterred by the high cost of implementation.
• Human-AI Collaboration : As AI takes on more operational tasks in marketing, 42.2% of professionals believe that high-level strategy and decision-making will remain in the hands of human marketers. This delineates a future where AI enhances capabilities without replacing the essential creative and strategic input of human expertise.

The growth of video content and increased use of AI for influencer discovery and management are anticipated to be the most impactful trends in the coming year.

As we reflect on the findings from our comprehensive survey of 237 marketing professionals, it's evident that influencer marketing is not just surviving; it's thriving and evolving in a complex digital landscape. With a projected market size of $24 billion by 2024, influencer marketing is poised for unprecedented growth, signaling its increasing importance in the broader marketing ecosystem.

Key Takeaways

• Platform Diversity and Adaptability: The close competition between Instagram and TikTok, along with the steady use of YouTube and Facebook, underscores the need for brands to maintain a flexible and platform-diverse strategy that adapts to changing consumer behaviors and algorithm updates.
• Strategic Investment: Despite economic uncertainties, the significant intent to increase budgets for influencer marketing highlights the confidence businesses have in this strategy. This investment is not just a testament to its current effectiveness but also an investment in leveraging future trends such as video content and AI-driven tools .
• Challenges and Opportunities: Identifying the right influencers and measuring the ROI of campaigns remain the most significant challenges. These obstacles present opportunities for innovation in measurement tools and discovery platforms, which could drive the next wave of efficiency and effectiveness in influencer campaigns.

Looking Ahead

As the digital marketing realm continues to evolve, the role of influencer marketing becomes increasingly critical. The movement towards more authentic engagements through nano and micro influencers, coupled with the rising importance of video content, suggests a shift towards more personalized and impactful marketing approaches. Marketers are encouraged to not only keep pace with these trends but to anticipate them, integrating advanced analytics and AI to refine strategies and enhance outcomes.

Call to Action

In an era where digital noise is louder than ever, the clarity provided by effective influencer marketing can make the difference between a brand that is merely visible and one that truly resonates with its audience. Marketers are advised to:

• Embrace Technological Advancements: Leverage emerging AI tools for better influencer identification and campaign management.
• Focus on Authenticity: Invest in relationships with nano and micro influencers to enhance trust and engagement with target audiences.
• Enhance Measurement Techniques: Develop more sophisticated metrics that go beyond likes and shares to measure true ROI and impact.

Final Thoughts

Let this report be not just a reflection of where influencer marketing stands today, but also a beacon for strategic direction. As you plan your future campaigns, consider how you can turn these insights into action. The future of influencer marketing is bright, and by embracing these evolving trends, your brand can illuminate its path to success in the dynamic marketplace of tomorrow.

To ensure the highest degree of reliability and transparency, this Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report is based on a meticulously conducted survey involving 237 marketing professionals. These participants were sourced across diverse sectors, ensuring a broad representation of the industry.

Survey Execution:

The survey was hosted and administered via influencermarketinghub.com, targeted specifically at pages related to influencer marketing topics to reach the most relevant audience. This method ensured that the respondents were professionals actively engaged with or interested in influencer marketing strategies, providing insights that are both relevant and actionable.

Data Collection and Accessibility:

We utilized a comprehensive online survey platform that allowed for detailed question structuring and response analysis. The survey included a variety of question types, such as multiple choice, scale rating, and open-ended responses, to gather nuanced data on influencer marketing practices, challenges, and trends.

Transparency and Access to Data:

In commitment to transparency and to foster trust with our readers, the complete dataset from the survey is available for review. This dataset includes all responses, anonymized to protect the privacy of the participants, along with the methodologies used for data collection and analysis. Access to this dataset allows interested parties to perform their own analysis and verify findings presented in this report.

Proof of Methodology:

We ensure that all survey practices adhere to high standards of research integrity and ethical guidelines. The survey was designed to avoid leading questions , minimize bias, and provide respondents with the freedom to express their true opinions and experiences in influencer marketing.

Continued Engagement and Updates:

This report is part of an ongoing series that tracks trends and changes in influencer marketing annually. We continuously refine our methodology based on feedback and evolving research standards to enhance the accuracy and relevance of the information we provide.

By sharing our methodology and data, we aim to contribute to the growing body of knowledge in influencer marketing and support marketers in making informed decisions that drive success in their campaigns.

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The New Rules of Marketing Across Channels

• Joshua Bowers,
• Denise Linda Parris,
• Qiong Wang,
• Danny McRae,
• Francisco Guzmán,
• Mark Bolino

Strategies for navigating a new kind of communication landscape: the “echoverse.”

The Internet and AI tools are transforming marketing communications within a complex, interactive landscape called the echoverse. While marketing has evolved since the proliferation of the Internet, in the echoverse, a diverse network of human and nonhuman actors — consumers, brands, AI agents, and more — continuously interact, influence, and reshape messages across digital platforms. Traditional one-way and two-way communication models give way to omnidirectional communication. The authors integrated communication theory and theories of marketing communications to create a typology of marketing communication strategies consisting of three established strategies — 1) promotion marketing, 2) relationship marketing, and 3) customer engagement marketing — and their proposed strategy, 4) echoverse marketing. The authors also recommend three strategies for marketers to make the shift from leading messaging to guiding messaging: 1) Enable co-creation and co-ownership, 2) Create directed learning opportunities, and 3) Develop a mindset of continuous learning.

Today, companies must navigate a new kind of communication landscape: the “ echoverse .” This new terrain is defined by a complex web of feedback loops and reverberations that are created by consumers, brands, news media, investors, communities, society, and artificial intelligence (AI) agents. This assemblage of actors continuously interact, influence, and respond to each other across a myriad of digital channels, platforms, and devices, creating a dynamic where messages circulate and echo, being amplified, modified, or dampened by ongoing interactions.

• JB Joshua Bowers is Co-CEO of Pavilion Intelligence, a marketing science consultancy and upcycled timber operation. He has a Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Oklahoma and is a leader in new product development for enterprise and marketing technology.
• DP Denise Linda Parris is Co-CEO Pavilion Intelligence, a marketing science consultancy and upcycled timber operation. She has been a professional athlete, entrepreneur, and academic with research focused on servant leadership, societal impact, and marketing technology.
• QW Qiong Wang is the Ruby K. Powell Professor of Marketing and Associate Professor of Marketing and Supply Chain at the University of Oklahoma’s Price College of Business. Her research focuses on the processes and boundaries of inter-organizational issues, including the development and management of strategic partnerships, marketing strategies, and supply chain management.
• DM Danny McRae is a technology professional with over 20 years of experience in information architecture.
• FG Francisco Guzmán is Professor of Marketing at the University of North Texas’ G. Brint Ryan College of Business. His research focuses on how brands can drive social transformation.
• MB Mark Bolino is the David L. Boren Professor and the Michael F. Price Chair in International Business at the University of Oklahoma’s Price College of Business. His research focuses on understanding how an organization can inspire its employees to go the extra mile without compromising their personal well-being.

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Influencer marketing works for b2b customers.

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The typical influencer in the B2B world simply has to be recognized in their industry as an expert ... [+] or resource.

Influencer marketing is not about getting millions of views on TikTok. It’s about influencing a specific group of customers, who could be reached on many different channels, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, industry-specific podcasts, YouTube, webinars and many more—including TikTok, if that is where the target audience resides.

The typical influencer in the B2B world doesn’t have to have tens of thousands of followers to be successful. They simply have to be recognized in their industry as an expert or resource that attracts the attention of the customers their clients want to reach.

Onalytica is a consulting company focused on B2B influencer marketing. Its focus isn’t on young “celebrities” who appeal to Gen-Z with videos that include branded product placement to influence them to buy their sponsor’s products. Instead, they look for highly regarded business experts who can influence a small audience of customers using non-traditional advertising and marketing approaches.

This year’s Onalytica B2B Influencer Marketing Report includes success stories and commentary from B2B influencers to help spark creativity in typical marketing, advertising and general promotional campaigns. The goal is to create brand awareness and, ideally, get a customer to take action. According to the report, 75% of Onalytica’s customers listed “increasing brand awareness” as their top marketing challenge in 2023.

B2B influencer marketing has not been part of typical marketing strategies over the years, but that is changing. Companies trying to capture the attention of their customers and “influence” their buying decisions are finding results in a number of areas.

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In 2024, 75% of brand marketers using B2B influencers prioritize social content, videos and other posts that have some staying power and can be found with an Internet search. Live events, both in-person and virtual, and podcasts follow content creation. Other ways to use influencers include eBooks and original research. Janine Wegner, global integrated thought leadership strategist at Dell, says, “In 2024, we will prioritize integrating LinkedIn Lives and video content into our thought leadership influencer marketing strategy to maximize impact.”

In addition, Onalytica asked the influencers which types of collaborations are most successful. Seventy-five percent of influencers are hired to co-create content with their clients and/or speak at in-person events. Sixty-eight percent are hired to participate in online events, such as webinars or panels.

Ursula Ringham, head of global influencer marketing at SAP, summarizes the concept of B2B influencer marketing: “Collaborating with influencers to share our brand story authentically is key. The most effective strategy has been to empower them to speak in their own voices, ensuring our message resonates deeply with their audience. This approach not only boosts brand awareness but also fosters trust and credibility. In a crowded market, it’s vital to move beyond one-off campaigns and toward an always-on strategy, building long-term partnerships that deliver consistent results and meaningful engagement.”

B2B influencer marketing is a departure from normal marketing and promotional practices. Onalytica suggests testing the waters by allocating a portion of the marketing budget to experiment with an influencer. Find an influencer who is recognized in your industry. Determine what type of content or events will give you the most visibility with the influencer. Even if you have initial success, realize that there are multiple ways to take advantage of an influencer’s expertise and continue experimenting with different strategies and tactics. By partnering with an industry-recognized influencer who can authentically articulate a brand’s story and values, companies enhance their visibility and establish lasting connections with their target audiences.

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The influencer marketing industry is on a meteoric rise, with projections suggesting it’ll hit a staggering $22.2 billion by 2025. This isn’t just a flash in the pan – influencer marketing is cementing its place in the digital landscape.

According to the latest State of Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report 2024 , this surge isn’t limited to global markets. South African brands are diving headfirst into the trend, ready to leverage digital strategies and forge meaningful connections with consumers. The report reveals a telling statistic: 60% of brands already investing in influencer marketing plan to up their spend in 2024. It’s clear that influencer partnerships are becoming a cornerstone of modern marketing strategies.

But why the massive shift? Simply put, influencer marketing is outperforming traditional channels. A whopping 85% of survey respondents believe it’s an effective form of marketing – a notable increase from previous years. This growing confidence is pushing more brands to funnel larger chunks of their marketing budgets into influencer collaborations.

When it comes to platforms, TikTok is king. It’s the go-to for 69% of brands engaged in influencer marketing, leaving Instagram (47%), YouTube (33%), and Facebook (28%) in the dust. The appeal? Visually striking, short-form video content that strikes a chord with audiences.

Interestingly, there’s a marked shift towards smaller influencers. Nano-influencers (1k-10k followers) are the choice for 44% of brands, while micro-influencers (10k-100k followers) account for 26%. These smaller-scale creators, known for their higher engagement rates and authentic follower connections, are becoming the secret weapons in brand strategies.

Pieter Groenewald, CEO of the Nfinity Influencer Group , notes: “South African brands are increasingly recognising the value of these partnerships, diving into niche markets and forging deeper connections with their audiences.”

But South African brands aren’t just following the pack – they’re leading it. Albert Makoeng, MD of the Nfinity Influencer Group, says: “South African brands have always been at the forefront of innovation. The nature of influencer marketing presents an incredible opportunity for brands of all sizes to connect with consumers in more meaningful and impactful ways. By leveraging the unique qualities of our diverse influencer community, brands can achieve remarkable results that represent their innovative ways.”

The report also highlights a significant trend: nearly a quarter of respondents plan to allocate over 40% of their entire marketing budget to influencer campaigns. This massive investment underscores the growing trust in influencer marketing as a primary strategy for brand engagement and sales.

However, it’s not all smooth sailing. Brands still grapple with challenges like identifying the right influencers, measuring ROI, and managing campaigns effectively. But there’s a technological cavalry on the horizon. AI and machine learning are stepping in to save the day, with 63% of brands planning to use AI in their influencer campaigns and 55% using it for influencer identification. These tools are crucial for providing detailed metrics on engagement rates, conversions, and influencer media value.

Groenewald adds: “We’ve developed sophisticated tools to help brands navigate these challenges. By providing detailed analytics and insights, we empower brands to make data-driven decisions and maximise their influencer marketing ROI. Our platform connects brands with the right creators, ensuring that every collaboration is strategic and impactful.”

Looking ahead, the report predicts continued growth in AI and machine learning to enhance influencer marketing strategies. These technologies will enable better influencer matching, campaign optimisation, and deeper insights into consumer behaviour.

For South African brands willing to embrace these opportunities, the future looks bright. As Makoeng puts it: “The real challenge isn’t just to keep up with trends, but to stay ahead of the curve. With influencer marketing, brands can build genuine relationships with their audiences and make a significant impact in their industry.”

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Featured image by George Milton .

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