If I take you back to 5 years ago, no sign of influencer marketing was in the digital industry. But, today it has turned out as one of the most evolving and popular marketing strategies which have compelled top businesses and brands to incorporate this campaign in their marketing plan for more value and ROI. You would be surprised to know that according to a research done by Sway Group – ‘a successful influencer marketing campaign earned an average of $6.85 in media value for every $1 they spent on paid media’. In today’s date, 92% consumers trust personal recommendations, while 33% count on traditional ads such as billboards and TV.
An important point to note here is that – if you are a brand, leave considering about what an influencer/blogger think about your brand because they can’t make or break your business. Just 3rd party promoters can generate ‘awareness’ about your brand.
Important pros and cons of paying and not paying influencers.
A lot of micro-influencers have high engagement rates and are usually relevant for recommendations. This means if you have a successful collaboration with these influencers, you can reap benefits for long-term.
High level of influencers such as celebrity level influencers, they set their rates according to the access you will get by using their large follower base. In fact, elite level of such influencers has an agent with whom you must work through to come to an agreement. After entering into an agreement, these influencers hype your business in a more professional way.
Evaluating an influencer’s value is pretty hard because their value varies based on their followers base.
a) It may surprise you to learn that the influencers in the United Arab Emirates charge the highest on an average range. Influencers in UAE charge over 25% more than influencers in the US and Canada. Where, the US maintained the largest % of Instagram accounts globally, there on the other side, UAE has noticed a surge in the growth of Instagram accounts. Not only this, in UAE people are more free to sponsored content on social media as compared to other global counterparts.
If you are mulling over the cost of living and salaries also come into play in estimating the total value by an influencer, you are wrong. Take an instance of Singapore. Singapore is the world’s most expensive city, but influencers here take an average $129 per post and fall to the 13th spot.
b) A report studied by Influence.com over the Instagram accounts suggests that engagement rates decreases when popularity increases. If your count is ascending, it’s natural that the percentage will descend.
c) Sproutsocial did an interesting survey and here is that survey.
• $175 per collaboration w/10,000 monthly impressions
• $500 per collaboration w/100,000 to 500,000 monthly impressions
• $1,000-$5,000 per collaboration w/500,000+ monthly impressions.
d) Utilize CPM. An average CPM started for a sponsored post from $5 and go up to $20 on Instagram, according to the industry and budget of the advertiser.