17% of 11-16 year olds want to be a social media influencer when they grow up. While adults roll their eyes in response, at least a few of those grownups work in marketing and are merrily lobbing money at influencers like its going out of fashion.
Food is the biggest single interest area on Instagram and according to YouGov research, 31% of UK shoppers actively use social media for recipes and product recommendations
Casey DePalma McCartney is developing Unilever’s commitments to help eradicate fraudulent activity and increase transparency in influencer marketing
“The scale and scope of influencer marketing is growing apace and holds increasing importance in the marketing mix as a way for brands to reach consumers, given influencers’ deep and direct connections with their audiences. At the same time, bad practices or dishonest business models have the potential to erode trust in the whole ecosystem.” – Casey DePalma McCartney, Unilever
From mega to midsize influencers: Marta Pozzan, with around 400k followers on Instagram, has paid partnerships with Elle and Dior among others.
The yogurt brand FAGE Total worked with 10 influencers, paying them to make and post visual content for their Instagram accounts, also include recipes in their blogs.
The area of influencers is a rapidly evolving space that should offer brands great ways to reach and influence consumers in an increasingly fragmented media environment. However, it’s interesting to observe that some senior marketers that were once shouting about committing arbitrary percentages of spend to digital, are now much quieter. Some others are even publicly saying the investment pendulum has swung too far.
The whole area of social media influencers is still in relative infancy. For marketers in consumer packaged goods, especially those concerned about being too speculative with budgets, it might be an area to tread more cautiously – at least until there is more consensus about their efficacy and effectiveness.