Vuelio’s State of the Influencer: Our takeaways

The influencer marketing industry today is worth an estimated $5.5bn and is expected to top $20bn by 2024, making it essential for brands to push what was once viewed as a lucrative hobby, further up their marketing strategy agenda. Vuelio and PR Week recently published its annual report on the current state of the influencer marketing industry. Reflecting on a year which turned the media landscape on its head, here are our top takeaways.

Who are influencers and what are their roles now?

Influencers, bloggers, content creators, or whatever you may know them as, used to sit within the earned media mix before brands recognised the value they delivered. With influencer agencies cropping up to manage talent, PRs have a significant role to play in getting the most from social media partnerships.

Blogging was once the foundation of influencer marketing, but this has now expanded into a vast industry in itself. The content created and platforms upon which the creators are now present is driven by how their audience engages, and this can vary from Instagram to TikTok and YouTube to Twitch.

How did 2020 change the influencer landscape?

Vuelio’s report spoke to influencers about how the pandemic impacted their content, engagement and relationships with brands, with many reporting their commercial agreements were frozen. Jo Middleton of Slummy Single Mummy commented, “Of the projects in progress or about to start when the crisis hit, at least half were cancelled or dramatically reduced.”

Yet, as we previously shared, traffic to social media and blogs increased over the past year. As with all digital marketing, influencers’ snappy turnaround times allowed them to be dynamic, and when the pandemic grew, adapt content overnight to keep up with the state of the nation. According to John Adams of dadbloguk.com, “the content that was popular on my blog changed overnight. Various lifestyle and motoring articles that accounted for a sizeable chunk of my regular page views became less popular. They were instantly replaced with articles focused on education, health, mental health or uplifting interviews I had done with celebrities.”

However, similarly to traditional PR, working with content creators is built on personal relationships. How brands acted throughout the pandemic is likely to influence (pun intended) how they are perceived in future with creators ready to “be more supportive of brands who are able to, and trying to, support their industries.” (Elle Linton, Keep It Simpelle)

How frequently do influencers work with brands?

So, how in demand are influencers really? Well, Vuelio’s research found 85% of those with less than 50 thousand followers receive less than one collaboration enquiry from PRs a week, and 6% are likely to be contacted over seven times a week. At the other end of the spectrum, 6% of influencers with over 50 thousand followers are contacted once a week on average, whilst 59% of these larger creators are contacted over seven times a week.

You may assume a savvy influencer would convert seven enquiries a week into daily collaborations, but this is incorrect. PRs’ pitches to influencers and talent management most often fail due to a lack of relevancy to the creator in question. Therefore, PRs must undertake in-depth research and advise clients as to whether their brand and/or concept is appropriate to an influencer and their audience. The most important factors when considering collaborations are found to be audience interest, compensation and their own personal opinion of the brand. 

To pay or not to pay?

What was once a hobby has evolved into an an intuitive business model and often a creator’s sole source of income. Today, 30% of influencer content has been compensated in some way, through gifts, trips, experiences or direct payment. The sectors that influencers are most likely to receive compensation in are fashion and beauty, lifestyle, parenting, food and travel. Whilst this concludes influencer marketing as a tried and tested method in these industries, are these groups now oversaturated?

When asked about the collaborations influencers are most keen to participate in, sponsored blog posts and social media content came out on top. Meanwhile, discounts and affiliate posts were those least likely to be paid for – often in lieu of commission. In terms of partnerships delivering the most compensation, ambassador programmes were rated highly due to income being received over a long period. As platforms evolve, influencers are now developing custom packages based on how their followers engage, along with a campaign’s aims and topics. Not only do these packages vary in terms of social media content (ranging from reels to swipe up stories) but can also include event attendance, review writing, product testing and asset creation.

Since 2017, there has been an 18% increase in those expecting to be paid for content, to 68%. Expectedly, 65% of those whose full-time job is blogging agree that they should be paid for jobs, whilst only 53% of those with a popular personal account will only partner on a paid basis. However, this has risen by 10% in the last year, indicating the pandemic’s impact.

The future of influencers vs traditional media

Regardless of a brand’s strategy, it is clear that influencer marketing is only going in one direction.

However, Vulieo’s annual reports have found every year that the majority of creators believe PRs value journalism more than influencer partnerships. As influencers often receive monetary incentives, it could be assumed that their opinions are, pun number two, influenced. Demonstrated by a 10% increase in concerns that audiences will become more cynical of influencers as the industry grows, it’s no surprise that there are fears some may have a sceptical stance. As an agency, we regularly hear brands query the authenticity of followers, suggesting the 58% of influencers who would be keen for audits have the right idea to prevent ‘follower fraud’.

While some brands may see traditional media or influencer marketing as independent variables, they should in fact be fused together as a wider strategy. And who better to manage your partnerships than those who drive your media relations?