The word ‘influencer’ has become synonymous with social media, but the truth is influencers have existed long before the rise of social. Be it a traditional celebrity endorsement or a recommendation from a friend; customers are more inclined to do things if it's recommended to them by someone they admire or trust.

Yet influence has become synonymous with negative press, evidenced most recently by the backlash to Molly-Mae Hague’s comments that ‘we all have the same 24 hours-in-a-day’.

Yet such an outcry also shows the impact influencers have and their ability to create widespread cultural conversation.

As social media continues to grow, so does the power of influencers. Now, there’s an unmatched breadth and depth of influencers from micro to macro, mass-market to niche; truly an influencer out there to suit almost every brand.

Love them or loathe them, there’s no denying that influencers have the power to sway an audience which is why we have asked industry experts; Are brands doing enough to capitalise on the power of influencer marketing to change consumer behaviour?

The quick answer is probably no. Why? While the rise in influencer marketing has been phenomenal in the last five years, this has not yet been reflected in changes in consumer behaviour. Spend is expected to reach $16.4 billion in 2022, with two-thirds of brands planning to spend 10-30% of their marketing budgets on influencer marketing*. Typically, brands tend to track sales through referral links (71%*), which indicates the role influencers have in the marketing mix – fundamentally, they are used to push products. But in a world where consumers are increasingly challenging brands and looking to them to take a stand on social issues, how can we switch from ‘influence to boost sales’ to ‘influence to prompt societal change’? And can you do both?

If a brand’s partnership with an influencer is authentic, this is powerful. However, if influencers don’t create content around a product or topic they’re genuinely interested in, audiences see straight through brand messages and recognise an influencer who is out to make money. As a result, it backfires on the brand: the content is viewed as ‘ad spam’ and has little to no impact on consumer behaviour.

No doubt there’s increasingly a social responsibility for brands to work with influencers to drive a positive message – and, contrary to popular belief, it’s not all about those with high engagement or those who reach the largest audience. Being smart with how you approach influencer strategy is the foundation for success, and getting the balance right between reach, relevancy and brand fit will result in authentic partnerships that genuinely shift the dial beyond sales and impact society.

(* The State of Influencer Marketing 2022: Benchmark Report, Influencer Marketing H

The fact is, consumer behaviour has massively changed over the past 10 years and brands are still not adapting effectively. Research shows that consumers are more likely to buy a product/service off the back of a recommendation from an influencer than ever before. Consumers now head to social media platforms to find reviews and opinions prior to making that ultimate purchase decision. If brands aren’t capitalizing on this behaviour shift, they really are causing a disservice to not only their social media strategy, but their overarching marketing strategy.

Brands that are leveraging influencer marketing are not only infiltrating the consumer journey but are endorsing campaign effectiveness and a positive brand reputation. Gymshark is a great example of how brands can use influencers to not only build brand awareness and increase one-off sales but also create a loyal customer base that entices repeat purchases. Gymshark has created a community of like-minded individuals who believe in the brand and will invest in their products time and time again; through the effective use of an influencer ambassador programme.

This leads nicely on to the point that influencer marketing is largely used by the fashion industry, with industries like finance, culture and education falling far behind. However, in the past year, we have clearly seen that there is influencer activity happening across these industries, especially on platforms such as TikTok. There has also been an emergence of new influencer categories such as financial influencers (finfluencers), skincare influencers (skinfluencers) and pet influencers (petfluencers), forging clear opportunities for these industries to capitalize on.

Influencer marketing is a powerful marketing tactic. Brands and companies that are effectively executing influencer marketing strategies are more likely to win, in comparison to those who are in denial about its success.

Simply put: no. The key to influencers’ success is that they have a genuine human connection with their followers in a way that brands struggle to emulate. The whole concept of influencer marketing is to allow these individuals, who hold the trust and attention of their audience, to interpret a brand’s messaging in a way that is accessible and inspires behaviour change. However, influencer marketing often ends up being seen as a paid media channel. A numbers exchange – what’s the CPE? And whilst the metrics play an important role, if your message is wrong you just end up with another like on a photo, another view on a video, another tick in a box. Choose your influencers based on their ability to take your brief and make it relevant to the audience you’re trying to target (and give them the flexibility to do so!)

Brands should treat influencers as partners and trust them to do what they do best. At The Corner, we consult with influencers during the creative process to sense check our social strategy, and make sure we’re not trying to force an unrealistic change on consumers. Having access to that expertise, which sits outside of the brand bubble, can often give a fresh perspective on a problem, and inevitably leads to a more impactful outcome.

Our Ogilvy research shows the use of an influencer on a marketing channel can increase the return on investment – whether that be impressions, sales leads or another metric – by up to 30% each time. And yet many brands are still largely featuring influencers only on the peripherals of their marketing strategies, such as on social media.

Couple this with some ongoing shady practices around lack of full disclosure around payment for ads, you can see why ‘influencer marketing’ has at times impacted brand trust.

But team up the right brand, the right influencer, and the right message - and you have the foundations for a brilliant campaign.

The first golden rule is to get your influencer team involved with any campaigns right from get-go. By getting all teams into a room upfront at the start of the campaign, rather than working one team to the next as you move through the chain – from conceptual creative to earned and paid media and beyond – you’re able to better identify moments of integration.

By bringing influence into the loop sooner, you can spot opportunities to interact with consumers earlier on and by ensuring influencer briefs work within the wider campaign plan (including setting up all content to be trackable) you can more effectively manage production budgets and assess ROI against true business results. In return, these results can illustrate how best your brand is communicating with its consumer and if any change in behaviour has happened