Marketers Say They’re More Interested in Working with Micro-Influencers Than Celebrities

March 18, 2020

Linqia Influencer Types to Work with in 2020 Mar2020Two in 5 (40% of) marketers and agencies report having run at least 6 influencer marketing campaigns last year, with 16% saying their influencer campaigns were always on. The future of influencer marketing also looks promising, with about 3 in 5 (57%) of the almost 200 marketers and agency professionals surveyed for a report [download page] from Linqia expecting to increase their influencer marketer budget this year.

More than two-fifths (43%) of those surveyed say that 11-25% of their digital marketing budgets will go to influencer marketing in 2020, with another 18% of respondents dedicating between 26%-50% of their budgets towards the strategy. So, what types of influencers do marketers and agencies want to work with this year? As it turns out, with the exception of “nano-influencers,” the smaller the follower size, the more likely respondents are to see a future engagement.

Indeed, some 77% of respondents say they want to work with micro-influencers (5K to 100K followers) in 2020. Earlier research shows why this might be the case: a study by Fullscreen and Shareablee found that micro-influencers were better than others at motivating 18-34 -year-olds to try something they have recommended.

Close to two-thirds (64%) of respondents report that they would like to work with macro-influencers (100K to 500K followers), while fewer (31%) want to work with mega-influencers (500K to 5 million followers) and nano-influencers (up to 5K followers, 25%). In light of research that found that celebrities don’t have as much influence over buying decisions as other sources, it’s perhaps not too surprising that fewer than one-quarter (22%) of marketers say they want to work with celebrity influencers (at least 5 million followers) this year.

When it comes to budget allocations, the rankings differ slightly. Micro-influencers still rank highest as the type likely to receive the largest budgets (6.3), but they are followed this time by macro-influencers (6.0), possibly due to the higher costs associated with such engagements. Interestingly, despite few respondents indicating that they want to work with affiliate influencers, these influencers rank relatively highly for the amount of budget to be spent.

Influencer Platform Preferences

Nine in 10 marketers say they want to use paid social channels for their influencer content, while 72% will use their organic social following to distribute influencer content. When it comes to platforms, Instagram is where most marketers and agencies are putting their faith. A full 97% of respondents say they plan on using this social platform for influencer marketing this year, with Instagram Stories (considered a separate platform in this case) a destination for 83% of respondents.

Additionally, almost two-thirds (63%) of respondents say they plan to use at least one-quarter of their Instagram campaigns on Instagram Stories.

Only 16% of marketers and agency executives surveyed say they plan to use TikTok for influencer campaigns, although this number may grow in the next couple of years if the platform’s popularity continues to increase. Its use may also rise considering that 6 in 10 respondents believe that vertical video (i.e. Instagram Stories and TikTok) will be either important (33%) or very important (25%) to their influencer marketing efforts this year.

To read more, the full report can be downloaded here.

About the Data: Findings are based on a survey fielded in December 2019 of 192 marketers and agency professionals across a variety of industries including CPG, Food & Beverage, Media and Retail.

Chart-Library-Ad-1

Explore More Articles.

Which Skills Are Important in RevOps?

Which Skills Are Important in RevOps?

9 in 10 RevOps professionals view data analysis skills as being important, a high percentage also don’t believe they need this skill for their job.

Marketing Charts Logo

Stay on the cutting edge of marketing.

Sign up for our free newsletter.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This