The Roi Of Influencer Marketing

By Author: Rayford Marks
Total Articles: 186
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I’ve seen a bunch of data around ROI on influencer marketing recently and thought it was about time we wrote a post on that. It’s important to remember that along with some of our data we’re going to be referencing some other sources too, which may or may not reflect the returns on investment we can offer to clients as a business.

Now that’s out of the way lets get going.

In a recent article by convince&convert they cover some case studies that include some interesting stats.

Effectiveness can be a grey area and measured in a variety of ways, but with such a percentage difference between blogs and the nearest competitor (which for brands, Facebook is really a pay to play platform now) its clear to see blogs and other peoples Facebook pages are still getting amazing results.

One of the talent on our roster has an amazing stat i’d like to share, get ready to look away brands (yes she has a brand page, just like every other brand) — she achieves in excess of 90% ORGANIC engagement on her page.

Let me repeat that.

One of ...
... our SocialTalent achieves 90%+ organic engagement on their Facebook branded page.
Welcome to a new world. A world where people not only like a brand page, but they double opt in and actually go to check out the latest content on a regular basis (as well as getting to see all the updates).

This type of activity shines a light on the difference between brands and people. Brands have adopted a tone of voice, online persona and tried to be more human in the ‘social age’. Don’t get me wrong, thats a good thing — but this is why they’ve been doing that. It all sounds so obvious, but real people connections are the strongest you can have. I could be best friends with the John Lewis or Selfridges customer support on twitter, but I know they go home after their job. I also know that a blogger lives and breathes their content — they don’t go finish and go home. Most of their content is created in their home in some cases, so I’m immediately more engaged.

Social media has allowed people to be connected. That is not going to go away. Platforms will come and go (they have already) but the feeling people are now getting used to is the feeling of connectivity. That any post from their social profile could be seen by anyone in the world (using that platform) along with inherent need as humans to share information, this is where we are, people are driving it, brands are getting more involved, but the two audiences are very, very different.

People like numbers — numbers are easy to understand, we’re used to them and can easily define successes by numbers, its important. Today, still in 2015 people are obsessed with the wrong numbers, but I guess its part of our job to educate and teach the important social media metrics that can be measured and the ones that actually mean something.

ROI is just the same — the numbers speak volumes… In this case numbers actually affect the business, the marketing, sales, recruitment and many other areas — a successful marketing campaign can take your business from one level to another quickly.

If you’re tracking follower numbers/community size — (and thats the only thing you’re measuring), influencer marketing can be a useful edition to growing your community, but if its sales, sign ups, actual activity to make you do something more than click a like it can be more powerful than a lot of people realise.

Want Better ROI? — You Need A Better Idea!

The best ideas are ones that involve the influencer as early as possible. Remember, these are expert content creators — they’ve amassed a following and dedicated audience as a direct result of their content, their personality and building their personal “brand”.

Integration between influencer and early stage idea process results in a better outcome. Not just because they are more invested in the project, but because they know what they’re doing when it comes to their audience! Some might say, they are almost more qualified than other creative teams (controversial) but, some of our clients want that involvement from the beginning — its no coincidence that 9/10 that results in a better campaign.

Influencers don’t just think about their audience, they know exactly what they want.

They also know when the best time to post is, the best titles to use for content, how a story can unfold, how to use the brand in the right way and how to make a richer experience for their audience. I’ll take this further, they’re obsessed with their content and reaching new people.

Influencers should only focus on 2 things — Their Content & Their Audience.

Brands spend £/$100,000's on this type of tracking, analysis and understanding of key trends happening on social — influencers live on the platforms, they understand it from the top down. Who else would you hire to help you with your content marketing?

Influencer marketing is quickly becoming one of the most important online marketing channels around. Budgets are growing fast, and marketers are seeing strong returns. The majority of marketers are generating real revenue from influencer marketing, and the top 13% are making around $20 or more for each $1 invested (obviously that depends massively on many factors, one being the cost of products/services etc. etc).

With returns like this, budgets will keep increasing for the foreseeable future. With increased budgets comes knowledge (usually learnings from a successful campaign) and those learnings power the next generation of integrated, authentic recipes for brands and influencers to work together in harmony (with a mutual benefit).

If you liked this article — please comment, like or share with your audience. For more information on SocialTalent and our range of services offered to businesses/brands and agencies please get in touch at http://www.SocialTalent.co.uk

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