It doesn’t take millions: activating influencer marketing by social channel

According to a recent AdWeek study, the average ROI of influencer marketing is 550% – but as a Forbes study found, identifying the right influencers is still the biggest struggle for 73% of marketers. But actually, as Baglietto points out, multiple influencers (from macro to micro, brand ambassadors, influential characters/personas and celebrities) are needed to reach different audience segments.

He says: “The point here is that relevance matters. Each platform has a different audience, and they talk about products, services and trends a little differently on each platform. Understanding those differences goes a long way in finding the right influencer mix for your marketing efforts.”

The webinar offers an analysis looking at the average engagement rate on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. It shows that the higher the follower count, the lower engagement rate across each of these platforms. That means that brands have an opportunity to activate influencers or brand ambassadors in a way that suits the specific needs of users and the people influencing them.

Brands can use audience segmentation to learn about the multiple groups comprised within their overall audience. Then it’s about finding the influencers that are right for each niche, and for each story you want to tell. Next, use Net Sentiment and Passion Intensity to understand what exactly they love about your brand and why, and explore how you can create a mutually-beneficial value exchange between the brand and influencer.

TikTok: seeking inspiration and entertainment

With over 2bn downloads and 800 million active users worldwide, TikTok has quickly become an important tool in every marketer’s influencer toolkit. It boasts a younger audience base who go to TikTok to be entertained, spending an average of 21.5 hours per month (+325% over last year). And while only 55% of TikTok users are sharing their own content, 68% are watching other creators’ content, with 63% of them choosing to ‘like’ it.

Instagram: moving toward transactions

On Instagram, users spent 30 minutes per day on the platform in 2020 (an increase of almost four minutes over the previous year). 90% of its users follow a business, with 200 million users visiting at least one business profile daily. Plus, 81% of them research products and services. But in finding the right Instagram influencers, it pays for brands to do their due diligence. It might be an influencer hotspot – but that doesn’t mean all influencers are equal, so be wary of ‘inflators,’ pick influencers with engaged followings and engage with the influencers yourself, explains Baglietto.

Twitter: tackling taboos and finding escapism

With an advertising audience of 353 million, Twitter has a different audience again – with the male to female ratio particularly stark (70% male to 30% female users). Almost a third (28.9%) of its audience is 25-34-year-olds. And while people used Twitter to talk about difficult or important topics in 2020, they also used it for entertainment and escapism. For example, 7,000 tweets about TV or movies are posted every minute and there were 2bn tweets about sports. Tweets about video games and cooking saw significant increases in 2020 – up 75% and 300% respectively.

Measure your impact

By tapping into unique audience insights, Baglietto reveals more statistics that show who the different audiences are, the top influencers by channel, most popular trending hashtags, and how to cut across industries – with examples of how particular brands are thriving across each channel.

In the webinar, Baglietto also looks at how marketers can track different influencers and measure their progress – before concluding with four key takeaways to improve influencer marketing:

• Break through the noise by connecting with relevant influencers

• Authenticity and brand alignment are critical for influencer marketing success

• Look for influencers, not inflators (think engagement, not followers)

• Benchmark your baseline metrics before starting and clearly define your goals.

For more actionable insights on how to tailor your influencer marketing strategy by social channel across TikTok, Instagram and Twitter, watch the full webinar here.