Part Four: Influencer Marketing On the Rise
This is the fourth blogpost in our five-part series discussing the most important trends in public relations and marketing.
Over the past few years, a new word has been introduced to the lexicon of marketing and public relations: Influencer.
That word, and associated phrases such as “influencer marketing” and “influencer branding,” has become part of our daily PR jargon – whether we are planning outreach for a non-profit in Loudoun County, a small business in Leesburg or a multinational corporation in Washington, DC. For today’s effective marketing strategies, influencers matter.
Let’s define our terms.
Influencer (noun): A person, usually not a professional journalist, who has cultivated a social-media following (within a particular community or among the general public) sizable enough to warrant influence with that audience.
Influencer marketing (compound noun): An increasingly common outreach technique in which businesses, non-profits and organizations will strategically partner with online influencers to disseminate and share their message in a direct, targeted way.
Now a few points demonstrating why influencer marketing matters:
- According to a Nielsen study (referred to by Social Media Today at https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/why-influencer-marketing-is-on-the-rise-and-how-to-maximize-your-campaigns/525434), 83% of consumers trust brand recommendations made by their friends.
- According to research done by Influencer Marketing Hub (summarized at https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-2019-benchmark-report), influencer marketing in 2019 is predicted to be valued at more than double the value it had in 2017.
- According to that same report, every $1 put into influencer marketing in 2018 resulted in an average of $5.20 in earned-media publicity, and some influencer marketing strategies netted returns up to $18 in earned-media value.
- According to responses to a 2018 State of Influence survey (written up at https://www.chiefmarketer.com/power-of-influencer-marketing-continues-to-grow-report), 72% of respondents said they’re investing at least $100,000 toward influencer marketing.
- According to a study conducted by Linqia and referred to by Forbes (at https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomward/2018/12/18/the-influencer-marketing-trends-that-will-explode-in-2019), 39% of marketers plan to increase their current influencer marketing budget.
Recent Comments