Report: Influencer Marketing Continues to Grow as a Popular Tactic

Many marketers have turned to influencer marketing to reach out to their target audience in the past, and new research shows it remains a popular tactic in 2018.

The “2018 State of Branding Report” from Bynder and OnBrand recently looked at how marketers intend to invest in influencer marketing in the coming months. The statistics showed that in total, 79 percent of marketing decision-makers intend to invest in influencer marketing this year. Forty-three percent will invest more than they previously had in the past, while 22 percent will utilize influencer marketing for the first time.

“As the industry matures—and becomes more transparent—we’re likely to see more and more data-driven influencer marketing platforms popping up to help brands identify niche communities and provide real-time data on campaign performance,” wrote the authors of the report.

Influencer marketing (42 percent) is also one of the most popular marketing trends marketers are excited to explore in 2018. Other trends include personalization (56 percent), brand activism (36 percent) and content atomization (23 percent).

The Early Days of Influencer Marketing

While some marketers are just beginning to test the waters with influencer marketing, others have been turning to this tactic to achieve a wide range of objectives for an extended period of time.

In 2017, Bloglovin’ conducted the “We Asked, They Answered: How Marketers Are Leveraging Influencer Marketing” report to gauge how marketers were beginning to integrate influencer marketing into their strategies. At the time, 76 percent said they were using it to raise brand awareness, and 71 percent were doing so to reach new audiences. About 54 percent work with them to grow social media initiatives.

However, 41 percent said back in 2017 that they were dedicating no more than 5 percent of their budget to influencer marketing.