Your influencer marketing strategy—and metrics—shouldn’t stand alone
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2025 5:49 am
We hear so much about how brands collaborate with influencers for their authenticity, but that only reveals a fraction of the business case. Consumers are smart. They recognize an ad or a paid partnership, even when it’s coming from an influencer they follow and trust. But influencers can afford traditional industries something that has been nearly impossible to achieve to date: the ability to bring a product or customer service experience to life in a more genuine way.
Take the auto industry. Car manufacturers british indian ocean territory b2b leads like Subaru and Toyota are striking a balance between content and experiential quality by tapping influencers to show their vehicles in action.
A screenshot of an Instagram Reel posted by creator Faith Briggs Rose, in partnership with Subaru.
These partnerships can support buyers’ research process long before they step foot in a dealership, in a way that high-production commercials and website slideshows can’t. There’s no reason a similar approach couldn’t work for retail banks, insurance firms or appliance brands.
For brands used to running campaigns across TV, print or radio (let alone organic social), influencer marketing poses a new measurement challenge. Nearly half of marketers we surveyed told us they struggle to quantify influencer ROI.
The underlying issue is that influencer marketing can’t be compared apples to apples against other channels like paid social or display ads. Influencer partnerships are unique to media, in that the advertiser gets two outcomes: organic impressions and a creative asset that can be repurposed across channels. There are multiple elements of the spend to consider. Marketers need to understand their industry benchmarks for each channel they use before declaring whether or not an initiative was successful.
Take the auto industry. Car manufacturers british indian ocean territory b2b leads like Subaru and Toyota are striking a balance between content and experiential quality by tapping influencers to show their vehicles in action.
A screenshot of an Instagram Reel posted by creator Faith Briggs Rose, in partnership with Subaru.
These partnerships can support buyers’ research process long before they step foot in a dealership, in a way that high-production commercials and website slideshows can’t. There’s no reason a similar approach couldn’t work for retail banks, insurance firms or appliance brands.
For brands used to running campaigns across TV, print or radio (let alone organic social), influencer marketing poses a new measurement challenge. Nearly half of marketers we surveyed told us they struggle to quantify influencer ROI.
The underlying issue is that influencer marketing can’t be compared apples to apples against other channels like paid social or display ads. Influencer partnerships are unique to media, in that the advertiser gets two outcomes: organic impressions and a creative asset that can be repurposed across channels. There are multiple elements of the spend to consider. Marketers need to understand their industry benchmarks for each channel they use before declaring whether or not an initiative was successful.