A robust digital strategy includes investing in SEO, SEM, targeting, retargeting, blog presence, newsletter strategy, organic media, and more. But you just might want to add an influencer marketing campaign into the mix if you haven’t already.
Influencers have impressive followings and heavy impact (hence the name, influencer), turning this segment of media into a powerhouse.
Whether they’re macro (meaning they have 100,000 to 1 million followers) or they’re micro (meaning they have 10,000 to 100,000 followers, but their audience tends to be more loyal), they can all promote products, services, and events.
Unlike traditional journalism, where the ethical standard and overall opinion are up to the writer, influencers are more ‘for sale.’ Any company can pay them to post a certain number of times, say scripted words, and endorse their product.
Influencer marketing statistics to inform your campaigns
Influencer marketing taps into a seasoned group of followers who trust their leader, rely on their advice, are captivated by their daily updates, and linger on every word. It’s a powerful investment that can pay off for months after the initial investment/posting.
Also, influencers tend to offer a more hands-on, visual experience that’s different from traditional magazines or publications. With the use of videos, graphics, and carefully edited imagery, potential users get an up-close-and-personal view of the product or service. In some ways, this may make consumers more likely to convert. You can also purchase multiple touch-points: say, a video, an image post, a story, or a mix of all three, to widen your reach.
Here, we have rounded up crucial influencer marketing statistics for 2023. Many will surprise you, a few will dazzle you, but all will inform your strategic decisions for future client campaigns.
AI is making its way into influencer campaigns in 2023
- 63% plan to use AI in executing their influencer campaigns, and 2/3rd of these brands will use AI for influencer identification (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- Over 83% of survey respondents still believe influencer marketing to be an effective form of marketing. (Influence Marketing Hub)
- TikTok influencers with fewer than 1,000 followers had the highest engagement rates, around 9.4%. Believe it or not, the rate trended down as the follower count went up. (Statista)
- 42% of survey respondents in the Benchmark Report 2023 believe TikTok has the highest ROI for influencer marketing. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- TikTok has the highest engagement rate compared to Instagram or YouTube. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- The least popular channel is Snapchat. Since 2018, it’s gradually lost the interest of marketers looking to purchase sponsored content. (Big Commerce)
- Instagram has over 500,000 active influencers. (Omnicore Agency)
Influencer marketing statistics about growth and rates.
- Influencer marketing has grown significantly over the years. In 2016, the influencer market size was $1.7 billion; in 2022, $16.4 billion; in 2023, it’s projected to be $21.1 billion. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- Since 2019, more than 240 influencer marketing-focused agencies and influencer platforms have been founded. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- Instagram micro-influencers have an engagement rate of 3.86%, while mega-influencers fall around 1.21%. This is the same trend on YouTube, where the smaller influencers have an average engagement rate of 1.64%, while the big guys only have 0.37%. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- Brands prefer to work with small (nano – 39% and micro – 30%) influencers instead of expensive macro-influencers (19%) and celebrities (12%) (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- On Instagram, nano-influencers charge between $10–100 per post; micro-influencers charge between $100–500 per post; macro-influencers charge between $5,000–$10,000 per post. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- On TikTok, nano-influencers charge between $5–$25 per post; micro-influencers charge between $25–$125; macro-influencers charge between $1,250–$2,500 (Influencer Marketing Hub)
Influencer marketing statistics about budgets and income.
- 23% of respondents intend to spend more than 40% of their entire marketing budget on influencer campaigns (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- 67% of those who budget for influencer marketing intend to ramp up their influencer marketing budget in 2023 (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- 56% of companies will work with the same influencer multiple times, while 44% say they prefer to vary the hiring. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- It’s now the norm to pay influencers (42%) rather than just give them a free product (30%), and the most common payment method is now a percentage of sales value, which is a big change from 2022. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- When hiring an influencer, it can either be a one-off promotion, or an ongoing relationship, where the influencer becomes a spokesperson. 67% of brands prefer their influencer marketing to be campaign-based rather than always-on. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- 70% of influencers in the United States say their number-one revenue source was brand partnerships. 9.3% of income comes from promotional codes or affiliate marketing. (E-Marketer)
- 68% of U.S. companies with 100 employees or more intend to invest in influencer marketing in 2021. That’s a 62.3% increase from 2020 and projected to rise to 72.5% in 2022. (E-Marketer)
- It’s estimated male influencers receive 7% more per Instagram post than female influencers. averaging $1,411 for the males and $1,315 for the females.(HypeAuditor)
- An estimated 43% of influencers make $50,000+ in annual revenue. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- Income is not follower-based, influencers with a 1.8 difference in followers have reported incomes varying from $50,000 to $1 million in revenue. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- 41% of influencers said the number one factor of working with a brand was how much they were paying for the time the collaboration would take them. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- 33% of influencers said low-balling was the biggest turnoff. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- 36% of influencers also admitted a personal passion for a brand or product helped them determine how much effort to put into a campaign. This makes a case for targeting your efforts toward niche creators. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- Most brands spend less than $50,000 on influencer marketing but some spend over $500,000 (Influencer Marketing Hub)
Influencer marketing statistics about measuring success.
- 75% of brands track sales from their influencer marketing campaigns (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- The most common ways to track sales from influencer marketing campaigns are email addresses (30%), referral links (30%), coupon codes (12%), and product SKUs (5%) (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- 70% of brands track the ROI of their influencer marketing campaigns through impressions, reach, and views (Influencer Marketing Hub)
Need high-quality content to complement an influencer marketing campaign? Talk to a content specialist at ClearVoice to get engaging content created for your brand today.
