A new survey that was conducted by the Association of National Advertisers found that a large number of them are looking to increase their total spend on influencer marketing. 43% of brands surveyed said they will be increasing their spend in this area because it is such an effective tool.
This is big news because of the fact that about 75% of the major national advertisers are already using influencer marketing. On top of that, 27% of those who reported not currently using influencer marketing say that they will begin using it this year.
ANA CEO, Bob Liodice, said, “It’s clear that the popularity of influencer marketing has increased among marketers in recent years, largely due to the growth and evolution of social media.” He went on to say, “We’ve found that a growing number of marketers are turning to influencers to help them combat ad blocking, leverage creative content in an authentic way, drive engagement, and reach millennial and Gen Z audiences who avidly follow and genuinely trust social media celebrities.”
Those who use influencer marketing do so for a variety of reasons. 86% reported that they use it for brand awareness, 69% for content creation and distribution, and 56% to help improve brand perception. Only 51% use influencer marketing with the goal of driving purchases directly.
Some marketers who don’t yet use influencer marketing have a mistaken idea that they need to be able to afford the huge influencers with millions of followers. The fact is, however, that ‘micro-influencers’ (those with fewer than 25,000 followers) are actually extremely popular. 59% of respondents to the survey said that they use these smaller scale influencers.
If you’re not already using this type of marketing, it may be time to add it to your overall budget.
