A report from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has found that only a minority of marketers are currently convinced that their influencer campaigns are effective.

The Drum reports that a survey of 158 marketers found that only 36 per cent felt their influencer campaigns were effective. 44 per cent said they were neutral as to their effectiveness while 19 per cent said they were ineffective.

Regardless, 75 per cent said that influencer marketing was now a thing they do and 43 per cent plan to increase their influencer spend in the next 12 months. Of those who do not yet dabble in the dark art, 27 per cent plan to begin doing so in the next year.

Facebook and Instagram were named as the top two platforms of choice. 90 per cent claimed that their main influencer objective was brand awareness while over half used it for either brand perception or purchase drives.

Revolution not evolution

62 per cent pay influencers for their work while 35 per cent offer free products. Over 60 per cent said their annual influencer outlay was under $100k.

73 per cent use either the FTC approved #sponsored or #ad hashtags for purposes of disclosure.

“It’s clear that the popularity of influencer marketing has increased among marketers in recent years, largely due to the growth and evolution of social media,” ANA chief executive Bob Liodice said.

“We’ve found that a growing number of marketers are turning to influencers to help them combat ad blocking, leverage creative content in an authentic way, drive engagement, and reach millennial and gen Z audiences who avidly follow and genuinely trust social media celebrities.”

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