Influencer Use

Delivered July 10th, 2019. Contributors: Erin J., Edgar M., Norman and

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Influencer Use: Evidence

As a result of the high number of consumers who turn to social media for advice on purchasing decisions, influencer marketing is a successful marketing strategy across many industries, including the beauty, fashion and entertainment industries. Significant data is available to support influencer marketing as a successful strategy, as outlined below. 
Influencer Marketing in Beauty, Fashion and EntertainmentIn the fashion and beauty industries, influencers are part of the marketing mix for 57% of companies. 
Beauty and fashion brands see a significant increase in post interactions on Instagram when the post mentions an influencer, with an average of 800 interactions per influencer post. 
Of the top 10 non-celebrity influencers on Instagram in 2018, 9 were in the beauty, fashion or entertainment ("online personality") spaces. 
In 2017, the entertainment industry spent an average of $209 per sponsored influencer post while the fashion industry spent an average of $173 per post and the beauty industry spent an average of $160 per post. All three of these industries were in the top 10 industries in terms of per-post spend on influencer marketing. 
Consumer InsightsMost women (86%) rely on social media, including influencers, for advice on purchases.
A large majority (70%) of teenage consumers trust influencers more than other celebrities. 
Almost half (40%) of Twitter users have purchased something based on a tweet they viewed. 
Around 60% of consumers report they would consider buying an item if it was promoted by an influencer as compared to just 3% who report the same for a product promoted by another celebrity. 
 Instagram is the most impactful platform for implementing influencer marketing. 
Marketer PerceptionsIn a recent study conducted by Mediakix, 80% of marketers surveyed said they believe influencer marketing to be effective (45%) or very effective (35%).
In the same study, 71% of marketers stated that they agree (53%) or strongly agree (18%) that the quality of traffic derived from influencer marketing is better than traffic derived from other types of marketing. 
Of marketers surveyed, 84% stated that return on investment (ROI) for influencer marketing is comparable (41%), better (34%) or much better (14%) as compared to other forms of marketing. 
A poll of marketers completed by Tomson, an influencer marketplace, revealed that 70% of businesses make $2 or more for every $1 invested in influencer marketing with the average ROI being $6.50 per $1 invested. 
The Tomson poll also showed that budgets for influencer marketing are increasing among 59% of those polled, indicating that it is seen as an effective marketing strategy. 
It is expected that the influencer marketing industry will be worth $10 billion by 2020. 
Research StrategyYour research team reviewed a variety of reports and news stories detailing hard data related to the success of influencer marketing to identify stats for this report. While several statistics related directly to the fashion, beauty and entertainment industries were identified, there were also many statistics available related to influencer marketing in general that are likely to impact these industries. We therefore included both the stats related to the identified industries and the more general stats on influencer marketing in our report. The stats on the general influencer marketing industry fit into two general categories, consumer insights and marketer perceptions, and were therefore presented as such. 

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Influencer Tiers

Influencer tiers are Nano-influencers, Micro-influencers, Mid-tier, Macro-influencers, and Elite influencers. Many digital marketers adhere to a pricing range of $100 per 10,000 followers.

NANO-INFLUENCERSNano-influencers are influencers that have between 1,000 and 10,000 followers/subscribers on social media.
Influencers on Instagram that have between 5,000 and 10,000 followers are paid between $100 to $500 per post.
MICRO-INFLUENCERSNano-influencers are influencers that have between 10,000 and 50,000 followers/subscribers on social media.
Influencers on Instagram that have between 10,000 and 25,000 followers are paid between $500 and $800 per post and those with between 25,000 to 50,000 followers, are paid between $800 and $1500 per post.
MID-TIER
Mid-tier influencers have between 50,000 and 500,000 followers/subscribers.
Influencers on Instagram that have between 50,000 and 100,000 followers are paid between $1500 and $2000 per post and those with between 100,000 and 250,000 followers are paid between $2000 and $6000 per post. Influencers with followers between 250,000 to 1,000,000 are paid between $6,000 and $10,000 per post.
YouTube Influencers are paid $2,000 per 100,000 followers on average.
MACRO-INFLUENCERSMacro-influencers are influencers that have between 500,000 and 1,000,000 followers/subscribers on social media.
Influencers with between 250,000 and 1 million followers are paid between $6,000 to $10,000 per post. 
ELITE/MEGANano-influencers are influencers that have between 1 million and 5 million followers/subscribers on social media.
Influencers with over 1 million followers are paid over $10,000 per post.
RESEARCH STRATEGYWe started our search for different tiers of influencers and how they are priced by looking into credible industry surveys and articles.  We found out that definitions of influencer tiers differ based on channel, opinion, and context. We were able to find a general classification, outlined above. We found out that most beauty, fashion, and entertainment brand influencers are attracted to Instagram, so we focused our findings on Instagram pricing. Our findings are largely based on the price ranges released by a handful of influencers such as Matt Crump. Not all influencers make their pricing available to the public, so we have provided the averages and common price ranges that are publicly available, including those of Matt Crump, findings derived from Digiday, and Mediakix.

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Influencer Case Studies

Some case studies examples of brand's successful use of different tiers of influencers include MeUndies seasonal prints campaigns that featured vlogger Travis Bryant and Nike's Air Vapormax campaign that featured YouTubers Dan and Lincoln Markham. We have also included Olay's case study that features the successful use of different tiers of influencers on a single campaign.

1. Nike's Air Vapormax Case Study (mega level influencer)In 2017, Nike partnered with YouTube mega influencers Dan and his son Lincoln Markham who are behind the YouTube channel, What's Inside?, to promote what was then Nike’s newest shoe, the Air Vapormax. 
Currently, the What's Inside? YouTube channel has 6,600,155 subscribers and when Nike partnered with Dan and Lincoln Markham, the channel was about to hit 6 million subscribers.
The collaboration enabled the pair to create What's inside Nike Air VaporMax? sponsored video under the hashtag #HitTheBell, as well as a series of other videos that documented Dan and Lincoln Markham's trip to Nike's headquarters.
The sponsored video was published in March 2017 ahead of Nike's launch of Air Vapormax. 
The video revealed how the soles of the shoes are made as Dan and Lincoln Markham unboxed and cut the Nike Air Vapormax shoe in half. 
The video was successful and to date, it has generated a total of 6,111,021 views, 8,196 comments, and over 47K likes on YouTube.
According to MediaKix, the success of the Nike's Air Vapormax video stems from the fact that the Markhams were able to integrate the branded message of Nike into the core theme of their channel where the father-son duo usually reveals what's inside an item by presenting the item and later cutting it in half. 
2. MeUndies Seasonal Prints Case Study (micro level influencer)In 2018, MeUndies launched a series of campaigns that targeted different seasons through its collaboration with different Instagram influencers.
The goals of the different marketing campaigns were to share the social values of the brand, reach out to customers, and to promote its different seasonal prints.
One of the MeUndies winter campaigns featured vlogger and YouTube actor Travis Bryant. 
Currently, Travis has about 165.6k followers on Instagram and 299,079 subscribers on YouTube. 
For the Winter campaign, Travis shared a sponsored photo that had a checklist of the necessities that one needed to keep warm during winter including "a cozy blanket, a cup of hot chocolate, and a pair of MeUndies".
The Instagram post ended with the caption “Who says LA can’t feel like the holidays?”. 
This Instagram sponsored post by Bryant generated 19,165 likes and about 153 comments, and it resulted to an engagement rate of 12.14% making it among the top influencer post for MeUndies based on engagement rate in 2018. 
MeUndies also partnered with Travis during the Pride Month of June 2018 to promote its social values that are specific to the LGBT community through Travis' YouTube channel. 
Travis published a video on his YouTube channel that shared the views of MeUndies with the LGBT community.
The sponsored video garnered 650 comments, 271,259 views, and about 6.1k likes on YouTube.
The takeaway from these campaigns by MeUndies is that brands can collaborate with social media influencers to promote campaigns that raise awareness of their products while promoting social values that align with their audiences. 
3. Olay #FaceAnything Campaign (mix of different influencer tiers)In 2018, Olay collaborated with a diverse group of nine "fearless" women influencers on Instagram to fight against women being commonly labeled as "too" something such as "too different", "too emotional" or "too flawless" 
The nine women belonged to different tiers of influencers that included:
Aly Raisman — An Olympic Gold medalist gymnast with about 2.3M Instagram followers. 
Denise Bidot — A model, and an activist with 522k Instagram followers.
Lilly Singh — An entertainer and a comedian with 7.9M Instagram followers.
Elyse Fox — A film director and a mental health activist with 29.6k Instagram followers.
Jillian Mercado — A model, and an activist with 105k Instagram followers.
Mama Cax — A blogger, an advocate, and a cancer survivor with 162k Instagram followers.
Kay Adams — A sportscaster and a TV personality with 107k Instagram followers.
Piera Gelardi — A creative films director and a media mogul with 179k Instagram followers.
Angela Dimayuga — An executive chef and a cultural advocate with 21.8k Instagram followers.
Under the hashtag #FaceAnything, the 28-day challenge by Olay was meant to inspire women to be bold, have confidence and to be true to themselves in the face of any negativity. 
The campaign was meant to help the women to prepare for walk makeup-free during the 2018 New York Fashion Week. 
During the 28-day challenge, the influencers shared various posts on their Instagram channels that targeted a combined reach of 21,027,546 Instagram users.
The #FaceAnything campaign was able to generate a combined total of 1,441,220 likes, 11,654 comments, 1,027 hashtag usage and an engagement rate of 8.33%.
Your Research Team Applied the Following StrategiesIn order to determine some examples of the successful use of different tiers of influencers, we commenced by scanning through databases of digital marketing agencies to establish any recent case studies that the agencies may have compiled featuring the success stories of brands that relied on social media influencers in their campaigns. We were able to identify different brands that had their share of successes using different tiers of influencers in their marketing strategies. As a bonus to the two case studies found, we added a campaign by Olay that featured the use of influencers of different tiers.