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Many brands turn to paid advertising to speed up their results when it comes to boosting awareness, engagement, and sales. However, influencer marketing has also proven to be just as effective (if not more), particularly in recent years.
In this post, we’ve compiled some influencer marketing statistics to show why it needs to be part of your overall marketing strategy if you want to expand your reach online.
To kick things off, here are a few fun influencer marketing statistics to pique your interest:
Showing just how prevalent influencer marketing is currently, 93% of marketers stated they’d used influencer marketing within their overall marketing strategy. That means only 7% have yet to try this strategy as a way to market their business to potential new customers.
There are a number of reasons to invest in influencer marketing. However, the top objective of influencer marketing campaigns is to raise brand awareness. Here’s a breakdown of the most common goals to provide an idea of what it can help you achieve:
A recommendation from a creator that you like goes a long way. 61% of consumers trust the product recommendations they get from influencers. Meanwhile, only 38% trust branded social media content.
Working with influencers is something that brands all around the world are getting involved in. Here are a couple of stats for you to consider based on its demographics:
As it’s a growing industry, it’s no surprise there are influencers based all over the world. According to influencer marketing statistics, the influencers based in the U.S. receive the most deals. The cities in North America with the most influencers are Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Miami, and Chicago. Following behind the U.S. in terms of the amount of influencer deals is Canada, the UK, and Australia.
After analyzing over three million Instagram posts labelled as an ad, Statista found that 84% of the influencers creating sponsored posts were women. Clearly, they’re dominating the influencer marketing industry.
Brands based in the UK are no stranger to the influencer marketing world. Here are a few fun stats to consider if you’re also in the UK:
Proof that there’s tons of interest in learning more about influencer marketing! Google searches for “influencer marketing” grew by 400% from 2016-2023 in the UK alone.
According to a survey of B2C (business-to-consumer) brands in Europe, 44% said they planned to increase their influencer marketing budget in 2021. On the other hand, 7% said they wanted to decrease it. And 29% of those brands intended to keep their budget the same as 2020.
Influencer marketing content spans a wide array of niches, with many influencers specializing in just one. In 2020, lifestyle content reigned supreme as the most popular influencer category in the UK. It was followed by travel and food content.
Influencer marketing isn’t anything new, but the industry sure has grown tremendously in recent years. This data shows just how popular it’s become:
In recent years, influencer marketing has really been on the rise. What was a $1.7 billion industry in 2016 has since grown to become a $9.7 billion industry in 2020. In just 2021, it grew to $13.8 billion, $16.4B in 2022 and is expected to reach $21.1B in 2023.
As it’s a booming industry that seems to show a great return on investment, it’s no wonder that marketers plan to increase their spending on influencers by 2023. Surely this will make it even more tempting for content creators to get in on the action.
Luckily, you don’t need to have millions of followers to become an influencer. Micro-influencers can often have just as big an impact as those with larger followings due to their highly engaged and loyal communities. Influencer marketing statistics show the market share of micro-influencers grew from 89% in 2020 to 91% in 2021.
As a business, working with an influencer can speed up your results by generating lots of traction. Here are some influencer marketing statistics to consider before diving in:
Now, let’s talk actual money. Data shows that businesses are making $5.20 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing, on average. The top 13% of businesses are seeing revenue of $20 or more per every $1 spent.
For businesses with eCommerce stores, influencer marketing appears to be a popular way to reach new customers. 50.7% of brands that work with influencers have an eCommerce store to sell their products.
When trying to choose the right influencer for your campaign, don’t overlook those with a smaller following. Nano-influencers (with 1,000-5,000 followers) have a 5% engagement rate, beating out even the mega influencers with over one million followers.
Seeing a return on your investment (ROI) is crucial for any marketing strategy. Here’s some data around the ROI others have seen on their influencer campaigns to show how effective it can be:
As we know, generating customers is one of the primary reasons brands implement influencer marketing. So, it’s good news that 51% of marketers say influencer marketing has helped them acquire better customers. This is likely because the right partnership will put you directly in front of an audience that’s filled with potential customers.
While branded posts can certainly be effective, 60% of marketers believe influencer-generated content performed better. At the end of the day, it’s all about doing what drives the most follows, engagement, and conversions.
Paid advertising in the form of website or social media ads has long been the way to boost brand awareness, sales, and more. While they do get the job done, some influencer marketing statistics say it might not be the best way to go. According to a study from Convince and Convert, influencer marketing received 11x the ROI than banner ads did, which is impressive data.
If making sales is your primary goal, influencer marketing may help you make it happen. Eight out of 10 consumers have purchased something after seeing it recommended by an influencer. This is likely because we tend to trust our favourite creators' recommendations.
Instagram is a popular choice for influencers, and this data makes it clear why it comes out on top:
With so many social media platforms out there, it can be tricky deciding where to run your campaigns. It turns out that Instagram is seen as the most important platform for influencer marketing. Not only can brands have influencers post to their main feed, but they can also have them share Stories posts.
Brands aren’t the only ones that love Instagram. Influencers do too. Half a million influencers said their preferred or only channel of influence is Instagram. This could be because it’s where they have the most followers or simply because Instagram gives them plenty of options for the types of content they can create.
A huge part of influencer marketing is gaining exposure to a new audience and getting them to take action. Well, 87% of users have taken action after seeing a product on Instagram. What kind of action? This could be following the brand’s account, visiting their website, or actually making a purchase.
Fashion brands frequently use Instagram to spread the word about their clothing. 25% of all sponsored posts on Instagram have been related to fashion. That makes it the platform’s leading topic for brand partnerships. Fashion beats out food, entertainment, and baby products.
When it comes to video content, YouTube is a favourite platform for influencers to talk about their favourite brands and products. These influencer marketing statistics show why it can be a great platform for influencer and brand collaborations:
While celebrities still have power when it comes to persuading their followers, we seem to value the average person’s opinion more. Google says that 70% of teenage YouTube subscribers relate to YouTube creators more than they do traditional celebrities.
Some Millennials feel their favourite YouTube creators understand them better than their own friends. In fact, four in 10 Millennials agreed with this sentiment. This shows just how important a role YouTube creators play in the lives of the younger generations.
When compared to videos owned by traditional celebrities, it appears YouTube videos are generating much better results. Google says YouTube creators see 3x as many views, 2x as many actions, and 12x as many comments. That sounds like a win, right?
And as it turns out, YouTube subscribers take product recommendations seriously when they come from their favourite creators. Six in 10 YouTube subscribers would follow advice on what to buy from their favourite creator over recommendations from their favourite TV or movie personality.
Even though TikTok hasn’t been around as long as some other platforms, it’s getting some traction in the influencer marketing world. Here are a couple of stats to consider:
With TikTok’s user base rapidly expanding over the past few years, so have the opportunities for brands to run influencer marketing campaigns on the platform.
Influencers on TikTok with less than 15,000 followers see an engagement rate of 17.96%, beating out Instagram’s 3.86% average.
If generating sales is the goal with your campaign, 39% of respondents reported buying products through TikTok, versus 22% for influencer posts on Instagram and 9% on Facebook.
Not only does this data show why influencer marketing is a powerful and effective marketing strategy, but it can also help you determine which platforms to use to reach your target audience.
Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok have proven themselves to be strong platforms for collaborating with influencers.
Just remember that you don’t need a massive budget to work with an influencer. It’s all about creating a campaign that resonates and choosing the right person to collaborate with.
