Have Influencers Finally Hit The Big Time?
The role of digital influencers in modern marketing hit the headlines this week with the announcement of France’s Publicis Groupe takeover of Influential, an influencer brokerage company with over 3.5m influencers on its books.
The article, written by WSJ writer Katie Deighton, details insights about advertising's changing landscape.
"Advertisers are spending more money on influencers to promote their brands as consumers turn away from historically advertising-friendly mediums like television and magazines, and toward various social media channels. ".
This is not news to anyone working in the digital realm. It's not even news to anyone who reads or watches television but the perceived value of it certainly is.
Influential has over 3.5 million influencers on its books with reported access to over 90% of global influencers with more than one million followers. These are big numbers indeed. But what do they mean?
With revenue of $150 million last year, a closer look will reveal this is less than $45 generated per influencer. Good result for the company, less so for anyone dreaming of becoming a digital lion.
Nonetheless, does this piece of global business rewrite the value of influencers? Our personal experience of using influencers in the hospitality industry, which is sharply different than promoting a new kitchen gadget through Instagram and purchasing online for home delivery, has been hit and miss.
We are also reminded of ex-News Corp restaurant reviewer John Lethlean and his #couscousforcomment campaign to expose parasitic Instagram accounts foraging for a free feed. Reading John's incandescent responses to those prairie beasts was quite the entertainment.
Yet we agree with Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoune when he says "The reason why this is so important for our clients is that they understand now that what others say about their brand is sometimes more important than what they say themselves”.
Is paying to have others speak about you the right way to go about things? Or is focusing on product and service, while letting others speak about you organically (you know, the old fashioned way) a better use of resources?
