Does Influencer Marketing Work?

Influencer marketing continues to be the hot trend. But does it deliver results? The answer is “Yes,” followed by a big “But…”

Here’s why working with social influencers is so powerful.

• Consumers say they enjoy influencer posts more than TV commercials and find them more authentic, unique, relevant and engaging.
• Significantly more consumers remember key brand messages from sponsored social posts than from TV commercials. The difference is pretty huge.
• The fact that a post is sponsored doesn’t matter to most people. Over 60% say they don’t check or they don’t care.
• Less than half of consumers know which hashtags indicate content was paid for by a brand.
• Consumers tend to buy products suggested by influencers with proven expertise. They are less swayed by a social personality’s number of followers.

 
Now, for the big, “But…”

• Brand name recall—both aided and unaided— is notably lower for influencer posts than for TV ads. When I say notably lower, I mean 50% lower. Ouch.

 
Sources: Nielsen 2018, ZINE 2018