As the influencer marketing industry continues to grow at an exponential rate, it can be difficult to know what to expect from both creators and marketers. WARC has been working alongside Impact.com to analyze key features within both roles and learn more about how wider marketing circles have been affected by the rise of influencers. 

Who Conducted the Survey?

In order to produce this report, WARC partnered up with Impact.com to collate a variety of research methods and perspectives. WARC was established in 1985 and has since been striving to provide expert advice and insight on effective marketing campaigns. They use a plethora of evidence-based research to help brands from around the world to find success in their respective markets.

Impact.com is a global management partnership program that aims to help brands build strong collaborations to boost their presence in the market. They help to build affiliate programs as well as pair brands with the right influencer for their next campaign. 

Survey Methodology 

The data collected from this report was sourced from over 400 marketers and influencers from across Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. WARC conducted a series of interviews with these candidates to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. 

All of these findings were then combined with WARC’s global data to implement key pieces of industry knowledge into the entire report. 

Three Key Findings

The Aligning Marketers and Influencers: Shifting Perspectives on Influencer Marketing Across the Funnel report managed to collect a plethora of interesting findings, helping to offer a more comprehensive look into the type of marketing. Listed below are just three key findings from the report. 

1. 54% of influencers now identify themselves as content creators.
2. 92% of influencers mostly post on Instagram.
3. 32% of marketers see increased engagement as the top metric when working with influencers.

What Does This Mean for Influencer Marketing?

The first key finding from this report highlights how more people are choosing to use the term content creator over the term influencer. WARC explains that those who use the term content creator are more likely to diversify their revenue streams by using subscription models and merchandise. However, WARC goes on to explain that 77% of content creators still gain a majority of their income through brand partnerships, signifying that the relationship between marketers and influencers is more profitable than the social media platforms themselves. 

This report also notes that a majority of influencers see Instagram as their most used platform. This data also informs us that 43% of the sample are most likely to post on TikTok. Despite the popularity of both platforms, WARC states that many influencers are still intimated by the novel nature of TikTok. The company also states whilst YouTube and Instagram are more popular amongst marketers, TikTok offers a higher engagement rate of 7.5%.

Finally, the third finding elucidates that engagement is a key indicator of success for many marketers. They believe that this metric shows that an influencer is able to effectively communicate with an audience, increasing its value in a highly saturated market. The second most important metric was an increase in social media traffic, again proving that influencers must interact with an audience across a number of platforms in order to see success with brands. 

Link to the Survey

The Aligning Marketers and Influencers: Shifting Perspectives on Influencer Marketing Across the Funnel report can be found on Impact.com’s website. Here, you can also discover a range of other reports as well as demos of their latest software.