Influencer Marketing: An Anchor in the Era of Democratic Media Consumption

The 2020 lockdowns were a catalyst of change across multiple industries, and advertising was certainly no exception. The shift in media consumption that 2020 finally solidified was this: consumers fully completed their move to digital.

With that, we find ourselves in a (relatively) new era of democratic media consumption where consumers are fully in control of not only what they consume but who they trust. Some brands - and admittedly even some advertising agencies - have not yet fully embraced this change, but all are starting to see that media plans that have worked for decades no longer perform, putting marketers in a position of actively having to work to avoid being left behind.

A brand’s target audience - who are, after all, human beings - are interested in content that adds value, especially from advertising. Brands can no longer just talk to consumers and expect results, as the power dynamic has shifted to consumers talking to each other about brands. It’s been long-known that “word-of-mouth” recommendations carried the heaviest influence over consumer decisions. Thus, it should be no surprise that influencer marketing has reached a true tipping point in the digital move.

However, utilizing an influencer program alone cannot be relied upon to do all the heavy lifting of a campaign. Audiences still require multiple touchpoints with a brand to convert, which means that influencer content amplified by performance marketing combines the best of both worlds. Influencers create content that tends to resonate better with consumers, which, in turn, can enhance advertising performance and improve overall conversion.

And the numbers support that it works. Nielsen’s Consumer Trust Index reports that 92% of consumers trust influencer marketing over traditional advertising. Not only that, influencer marketing content delivers 11X better ROI than other more traditional marketing tactics.

Another reason influencers are so important at this moment in time is not only due to a growing lack of trust in advertising; consumers are hungry for authenticity. People can engage directly with influencers, many of whom respond to posts and comments and participate in two-way dialog with followers.

At Sanders\Wingo, we have implemented influencer executions for clients already thus far in 2021, which were met with great success metrics across the board. The campaigns worked, we believe, because the brand, topic and target audience aligned in an authentic way in trusted environments. And while it may not be a fit for every brand and every product - particularly as it is beginning to become expensive as the discipline has developed to mean a professional social media personality who derives income in part from sponsored content - our belief is that today it should be considered as part of every media mix.