+ “Between 2019 and 2021,
[influencer marketing grew] from 6.5 billion to 13.8 billion U.S. dollars in
the three years alone.” – Statista, 2021
+ Consumers sometimes see
influencers as key opinion leaders (KOL).
Influencer marketing is not
generally a new concept or idea despite being in its nascent phase in Africa.
With bits of search, you would come up with Payperpost - one of the earliest
influencer marketing companies. This was before influencer marketing became a
thing-thing.
Now, that's out of the way. Let's go.
Some call it branded content or
working with 'creators'. It is safe to say creators = influencers. Period.
This is Influencer marketing— a
dependable way brands expand their reach on social media. I said dependable
because that is what is expected unless it was done wrong.
When it comes to using
influencers to power a brand, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. With the
right planning and research, just about every business – small and great, can
benefit from using the strategy.
The emergence of the coronavirus
pandemic accelerated the employment of influencer marketing in many ways, as
consumers and brands sought unscripted, authentic content.
Some breakdown…
There are two words married here
– 'influencer and marketing'. In a plain description, an influencer is someone
who can influence others. Marketing is getting words about a business out to
reach more people. Therefore, influencer marketing is when the influential
person partners with a brand to promote something – usually to a defined goal.
Celebrity endorsements can be
said to be one of the widely known original forms of influencer marketing. It
is different today. Social content creators with niche audiences have been seen
to often offer more value to brands. Why? They have dedicated and engaged
groups of followers.
The market is rapidly expanding
as influencer types have multiplied, with influencers filling every conceivable
niche and sub-niche interest. Each of these types offers distinct benefits and
trade-offs for brands.
The influencer marketing
technique - if properly executed, is one of the effective marketing strategies
that reach direct customers.
More sectors are embracing it to drive their brand value
The Financial Times predicts that
the value of the global influencer market will reach $15 billion by 2022.
Influencer marketing hub reports
that the influencer marketing industry is set to grow to approximately $13.8
Billion in 2021.
The finance sector is yet to
fully employed the use of influencers to drive their businesses. The issue here
could be the word - ‘endorsement’. Brands don't want to get into a legal fight
because of misrepresentation by an influencer or misinterpretation by the
consumers. Though, we are beginning to see stuff from them as they learn how to
navigate the space e.g. VFD and Don Jazzy.
Health is another sector not well
represented. (We should talk about the legal part of these things in a future
post.)
Everything is looking beautiful.
As e-commerce and social media connect (social marketing! or social
selling???), influencers will become increasingly vital in helping to connect
brands with consumers in a more authentic way that can deliver better returns.
There are two primary ways of categorizing influencers: reach and
niche
+ Reach: nano, micro, macro and
mega influencers. As a general rule (remember: no one size fits all), targeted
reach, cost-effective, engagement, authenticity and accessibility all go up as
follower count goes down.
Nano Influencers: 10,000
followers or fewer
Micro-Influencers: 10,000 to
100,000 followers
Macro Influencers: 100,000 to 1
million followers
Mega Influencers: 1 million+
follower
+ Niche: Brands can leverage
relevant niche influencers to more intentionally target audiences.
*Consider this the holy grail of
influencer marketing: finding the sweet spot of convergence where an influencer
with the right reach and niche can power a brands product or services.
Influencer Africa
What report says – using the
PLAQAD 2020 Compensation report
Carry PLAQAD. According to the
report, 40% of brands preferred to work with influencers versus regular
celebrities. 100% of influencers want to be compensated for work done and
delivered. More influencers are open to being compensated with products and services
in place of cash payment with 18.6% - an increase from 13% in 2019, willing to
accept the product and complimentary services from brands.
Let’s talk payment. Influencers
want a stable and regular paycheck. Only 43% of brands/agencies pay immediately
with 27% of macro-influencers said they get paid upfront. 41% of influencers
want to get paid per post, 38% want to get paid per campaign while 11% simply
wants a flat fee. Brands and agencies want – ‘per campaign’.
More numbers. 35.7% of
influencers want to get paid before the start of a campaign, 46.3% wants their
money immediately after a campaign ends while 15.8% can manage a 7-day
extension to get their money after the campaign ends. But, brands and agencies
prefer 45 to 60 days after the campaign to pay. This could be a result of
broken analytics associated with running a campaign. Or just agencies usual
payment circle thing associated with agencies.
Measuring ROI. It is a known
struggle to measure the ROI of an influencer campaign. It is even more
difficult when a brand works with more than one influencer on the same campaign
– how do you know which drives more engagement? The PLAQAD report stated that a
whooping (in their own words…) “77.8% cannot tell in actual terms the impact of
their influencer marketing spend on the overall business objectives”.
The Consumers. The goal of
driving a campaign is to grab market share. And that means consumers money or
attention. This could be from sign-ups, purchases, awareness and others. Three
people are in the loop – brand, influencer and influenced. 42% of surveyed
consumers make decisions based on influencer recommendations. 40% of these
consumers want influencers to disclose brand promotions/sponsorships.
Influencer Marketing Tools in Africa: from platform to front and
back-office
Following a global influencer
marketing platform report by Markets and Markets; “the global influencer
marketing platform market size to grow from USD 6.0 billion in 2020 to USD 24.1
billion by 2025, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 32.0% during the
forecast period”.
Many reasons have contributed to
the increase of startups offering other ways for creators to make money and for
brands to effectively calculate campaign ROI. Companies like PLAQAD makes it
easy for brands and agencies to effectively measure a campaign effort while
exposing influencers to better deals. Other companies are taking care of the
backend like payment, invoicing, taxation etc.
Let’s take a look at some of them…
Humanz: AI-powered platform aimed
at combating influencer fatigue while also measuring true ROI and creating a
safe and seamless end-to-end experience for all parties involved.
Tribahl: partner with Africa’s
top media, entertainment and lifestyle influencers to create entertaining
content that meets our client’s marketing objectives.
PLAQAD: provides influencer
marketing, paid media distribution, content creation and media intelligence –
offering a faster, seamless and cost-effective way to do marketing.
Alfluence: uses Artificial Intelligence-driven
to accurately match influencers with brands, monitors & manages high impact
audience-based campaigns in real-time.
Buzzbite: a self-service
influencer marketplace for Consumer Brands looking to reach audiences in the
African Market.
Extra:
FYPM: (F*** You Pay Me = FYPM).
The platform lets influencers anonymously spill the dirt’s about their brand
deals, like how much they were paid and what was asked of them.
Is influencer marketing effective?
As per available reports, the
influencer marketing industry has exceeded $10 billion in 2020 and nearly 40%
of marketers don’t feel confident in their ability to report influencer
marketing ROI.
Part of the issues has been
working with the right influencer, work on the right KPI's and efficiently
calculating ROI. Also, there is the challenge of the ability of influencer
relationship managers to demonstrate that performance in dollars and cents.
Talk about ROI.
What to track and report as a
marketer
+ Influencer discovery
+ Influencer analysis
+ Influencer management
+ Campaign workflow
+ Campaign analytics
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