Ten Influencer Marketing Statistics to Help Brands and Influencers Strategize Better

Brands need to evaluate their needs and choose an influencer who will best serve their promotion

PUBLISHED DEC 11, 2023

Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Liza Summer

Influencer marketing statistics you should know

Image Source:Photo by George Milton | Pexels — Image Source: Photo by George Milton | Pexels

Influencer marketing has become a huge part of the marketing department of any company as it has proven to be a great way to let people know about your products and services. Brands normally collaborate with an influencer to reach more of their target customer base. Influencing has hence become a great career path, especially for millennials and Gen Z'ers. Influencers mostly work in a specific niche and build a trustworthy following. Influencers follow several strategies that are based on certain statistics that you would want to learn, especially if you are planning to make a career in influencing. So, here's us taking a look at ten influencer marketing statistics.

1. Instagram continues to be the most preferred platform when it comes to influencer marketing

Photo illustration of the social media applications logos | Getty Images | Photo Illustration by Chesnot — Photo illustration of the social media applications logos | Getty Images/ Chesnot

While you may think that TikTok is the hub for new viral products, Instagram still dominates the space for most influencer marketing. Yes, TikTok is rising but Instagram is still the go-to place for marketers. According to a Hubspot survey, 72% of marketers use Instagram to market their products and services. YouTube is also one of the top platforms for brands to look at, and around 58% of the marketers taking the survey said that they use YouTube to market their products.

2. Instagram yields the highest return on investment

Source: GettyImages | Bethany Clarke Stringer — Instagram yields the highest return on investment | Getty Images/Bethany Clarke Stringer

Instagram yields the highest ROI which is why most marketers head to Instagram when they want to sell their products and services. In terms of ROI, TikTok is still lagging with only 14% of marketers saying that they get the biggest ROI from TikTok. The participants of the survey also said that besides getting the most ROI from Instagram, it is also the easiest platform for working.

3. Marketers prefer to work with smaller influencers

Image source: Pexels | Photo by George Milton — Influencer video-recording herself | Pexels/George Milton

The basic idea is simply cost-cutting. Marketers have realized that they can achieve the same goals with smaller influencers that they could with celebrity influencers. The trick is to reach out to smaller influencers rather than just 1 or 2 celebrity influencers. Marketers have found out that they can easily attain the same targets by spending less. According to the survey, only 16% of marketers work with celebrity influencers.

4. Over 80% of marketers have a budget set aside for influencer marketing

Pexels | Photo by Anna Nekrashevich — Separate budget for influencer marketing | Pexels/Anna Nekrashevich

More and more companies are realising the importance of influencer marketing and now the companies keep dedicated budgets for influencer marketing. The IMH report from earlier found that 82% of those who took the survey had a budget for influencer marketing and 77% were already planning to have a budget from the next quarter. This shows that companies are slowly adapting to the new style of marketing and not being rigid anymore.

5. The increased budget has also increased the engagement

Pexels | Data entry — Budgets set aside for influencer marketing increases engagement | Pexels/Data entry

It has been seen that the increase in the influencer and marketing budgets impacts the campaigns and the ROI of the brands in a positive way. One study, as reported by UW News, found that influencer marketing spending has raised engagement rates. Even a 1% increase resulted in an engagement boost of almost 0.5%. If brands pay attention to their budgets and increase them even by a tad bit, then they are bound to see the engagement rates go up.

6. 31% of social media users discover new products and services through influencers

Social media contests Pexels | By Kerde Severin — Social media contests | Pexels/Kerde Severin

Most people are on their phones and consuming content so brands are putting in a lot of effort to increase their brand awareness online. The survey also found that 31% of the respondents prefer to find out about new products and pay more attention to new products when they are scrolling online. The number is high among Gen Z consumers who discover most of the products that they buy online through some influencers.

7. Gen Z is the most likely to be influenced by influencer recommendations

Pexels | fauxels — Influencer marketing for a Gen Z customer base | Pexels/fauxels

Influencers successfully influence people to make buying decisions. The age group that most listen to the influencers was born between 1997 to 2012. 21% of social media users between the ages of 18 and 54 are influenced by the influencers. On the other hand, around 32% of Gen Zers are likely to listen to an influencer when it comes to their buying decisions.

8. Relatable content is the most appealing

Image Source: Oscar Wong/Getty Images — Relatable content online | Getty Images/Oscar Wong

Relatability has become an extremely important factor and 63% of marketers in the Hubspot survey said that relatable content was the most effective. A study by Matter Communication revealed that consumers like influencers who speak with a sense of familiarity. This indicated that people prefer influencers who they think are closer to their lifestyle than extremely unapproachable people.

9. AI and ML usage in influencer campaigns will increase

Generative AI Pexels | by Tara Winstead — Generative AI | Pexels /Tara Winstead

Artificial Intelligence(AI) and Machine Learning(ML) are taking over almost all industries and therefore, it's hardly a shocker that the influencing world will also be impacted by it. Marketers say that they will be using AI and ML to identify the right influencers and even to determine their consumer base. AI can also be used to identify fraud influencers. They can also match the brand and the influencers optimally. Some marketers also said that they will be using AI to distribute the content and also get some new metrics on which they can plan their future campaigns.

10. Most brands work with many influencers

Image Source: Hello Bello Website — Brands work with multiple influencers | Photo from Hello Bello Website

Brands are starting to work with smaller influencers and hence, they are working with more and more influencers. Many studies have found that a lot of brands work with at least 10 influencers and sometimes way more than that. By getting more influencers on board, the brands have been able to maximize their reach and campaign impact. Some brands work with a staggering number of influencers, sometimes more than 1000 at a time.