influencer marketing study - ses · 2018-08-31 · for influencer marketing activities just under...

Influencer Marketing Study

June 2018

Background

Q: Which of the following geographies best describes your area of

responsibility?

• This document contains results from an

online survey of WFA members in Q1

2018

• 34 companies took part representing 15

categories and approximately $59 billion

in global media & marketing spend

• All respondents use influencers to market

their products online 54% “only

occasionally / in some markets” and 46%

“very often”

Global33%

Asia Pacific7%

China5%

EMEA38%

India4%

Latin America

4%

USA & Canada

9%

Source: WFA Online Survey. Date: Q1 2018 Respondents: 38 from 34 companies in WFA membership www.wfanet.org/members

Majority have an influencer policy in place

Q: Does your company have a policy on how to work with online influencers?

Q: Is influencer marketing covered by: Your marketing policy/A company policy specific to influencer marketing/Don’t know

BUT:

“Currently working on it”

“Coming soon”

Covered by:

• 45% marketing policy

• 55% specific policy for influencer

marketing

Source: WFA Online Survey. Date: Q1 2018 Respondents: 38 from 34 companies in WFA membership

71%

26%

3%

Yes No Don't know

Majority rely on external partners to identify and

manage influencersQ: Who identifies the online influencers your company is working/wants to

work with?

Influencer identification Influencer management

64% 63%

Q: Who manages the online influencers your company is working with?


Recommended external partners

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

WFA is happy to pass on members’ experiences and/or recommendations. Please note that any such experiences and/or recommendations do not reflect WFA's position and should not be considered as WFA's experiences and/or recommendations. In particular, WFA does not undertake any investigations or make any judgments on the quality or the performance of any agency and does not take any responsibility for the accuracy of experiences and/or recommendations expressed by its members.

“We work with our PR agencies…”

…to help you manage the online influencers your company is

working with:…to help you identify the online influencers your company is

working with:

3

https://matterofform.com/

https://vaynermedia.com/

https://www.vml.com/

https://www.carat.com/global/en/

http://cherrypicktalent.com/

http://www.twisterme.ae/

http://goodrelations.co.uk/

http://www.ummena.com/

https://hjaltelinstahl.com/da/news-and-work/

http://www.omd.com/

http://storylab.com/

http://cherrypicktalent.com/

http://www.twisterme.ae/

http://www.ummena.com/

http://ykone.com/

Identifying and contacting influencers

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

WFA is happy to pass on members’ experiences and/or recommendations. Please note that any such experiences and/or recommendations do not reflect WFA's position and should not be considered as WFA's experiences and/or recommendations. In particular, WFA does not undertake any investigations or make any judgments on the quality or the performance of any company and does not take any responsibility for the accuracy of experiences and/or recommendations expressed by its members.

• “Social media stats – reach and revelance segments”

• “Social media analytics”

• “Manual search”

When managed internally, brands use the following tools to

identify online influencers:

3

58%

33%

25%

25%

Email Social Media Don't know Other

Personal contacts

from fairs & events

What is your primary form of contacting online influencers

about a potential collaboration?

https://indahash.com/

https://www.talkwalker.com/

https://www.brandwatch.com/

70% of brands always sign contracts when

working with influencersQ: Does your company sign contracts when working with online influencers?

70%

22%

4%4%

Always Sometimes Never Don't know

Comments:

• [We] “very rarely [sign contracts] because we take

an editorial rather than paid approach. There is a

risk influencers do not deliver on expected ROI.

But 90% of the time, we get what we want and

more.”

• “This is managed through the agency who

indemnifies us.”


Pre-peak for Influencer

marketing

Q: How important will online influencer marketing become for your company in the future?

Q: Looking ahead to the next 12 months, how is your company's online influencer marketing budget likely going to

change? (Including all resource costs, activation costs, agency fees, technology, etc)

• Whilst all participants use influencers (100%)

• 64% of respondents stated it will become

more important in the future - or stay the

same (32%)

• 65% shared their influencer marketing

budget is likely to increase in the next 12

months (anywhere from 10-100%). 30% said

it will stay the same.

Leading platforms for our respondents Q: Which online channels does your company select for influencer collaborations?

85%100% 44%67%

Facebook is the

second most

widely used social

media platform for

influencer

collaborations

Instagram is used

by all respondents

for influencer

marketing activities

Just under half of

marketers use

Snapchat for

influencer

marketing

comes in third with

67% of brands

selecting it for

influencer

marketing activities

Note: followed by Twitter 33%, Blogs (Tumblr/Wordpress) 30%, WeChat 19%, Pinterest 19%, Line 7%, LinkedIn 4%, FB Messenger 4%, Other 4%


4%

11%

11%

14%

21%

21%

32%

39%

50%

57%

11%

37%

61%

32%

46%

57%

39%

50%

46%

36%

That the influencer has a niche audience

That we can script/approve the content

The amount of followers/subscribers/fans of the influencer

That the influencer has a reasonable fee

The quality of engagements the posts of the influencer get

The amount of engagements per post of an influencer

That the influencer is transparent and discloses the commercialrelationship

The topics the influencer writes/speaks about

The quality of the followers the influencer has

Credibility and reputation of the influencer

Absolutely Essential Very Important Of Average Importance Of Little Importance Not Important At All

Reputation and quality paramountQ: Please rate the following criteria in order of importance for your company when choosing to work with an online influencer


59%26%

15%

Yes No Don't know

Brands seek reputable influencers, however, not all

encourage transparency about the collaboration…Q: Do you actively encourage the online influencers you work with to disclose the commercial relationship with your brand?

How members actively encourage transparency:

• “We stipulate that when working with an influencer our teams

must: "Ensure that the exchange of goods, services and

experiences is clearly disclosed in all relevant communication, by

both the company and the influencers involved. We have a

section in our dedicated policy which provides guidance and

examples of how this can be done both written and verbal”

• “Requirement to disclose commercial relationship is included in

contract”

• “Always with #AD #SPONSORED or #SPONSORED CONTENT”

• “[We] ask them to use our hashtags“

• Tagging us, saying "with xxx" (on FB), or disclosing in the editorial

text itself


23% 21% 19% 18%8%

45%42%

24%32%

8%

21%

29% 18%

23%

32%

17%

29%

18%

23%

14%

38%

Through the use of hashtags (e.g. “advertisement”)

In the description text of thepost/video

Through a “paid partnership” label (e.g. as provided on

Instagram)

Verbally mentioned (in avideo)

It is not disclosed

Always Very Often Sometimes Rarely Never

#Hashtags most commonly used to disclose

commercial relationships


Q: How is the information about the relationship with the brand usually disclosed by the influencers you are working with?

14%10% 6%

52%52%

6%25%

11%

14%14%

22%

35%

16%

14%

10%

17%

10%

37%

5%14%

50%

30%37%

We offer them a flat fee perpost/video

We provide products/services forfree per post/video

We offer them a fee based onperformance

We do not compensate them (butmight send them products to test)

We provide products/services forfree based on performance

Always Very Often Sometimes Rarely Never

Majority of brands pay/offer free services & products

per post/video vs. based on performanceQ: How are the online influencers you work with remunerated by your company?


Multinationals seeking awareness & new audiences

Q: What are the top goals your company wants to achieve through online influencer marketing? (Select top three)

86% 74% 69% 46%

Increase

brand

awareness

Reach

targeted/new

audiences

Improve

brand

advocacy

Increase

sales

conversion

Note: manage reputation also cited by 11%


Success = reach (and engagement)Q: How does your company measure the success of online influencer collaborations? (KPIs)


Main challenges in working with influencers

42%Lack of editorial

control & therefore

risk for brand

reputation

33%Lack of transparency -

non-disclosure of the

commercial

relationship

38%Non-compliance with

regulations/standards

Others:

• Resource: Lack of time to manage influencers - “We sign them up and forget about them”

• Lack of authenticity and brand fit – “Having a collaboration that goes beyond just money”

• Moving from an ad-hoc to long-term relationships

• Organic reach is very low

• Lack of professionalism of some influencers

• Measuring ROI – “Business fails to understand the impact”


21%

28%

32%

32%

38%

36%

28%

32%

Brand safety: influencer may be inaccurate

Reputation: influencer marketing is a sensitive area and can cause negativepublicity.

Legal/ financial: law suits/ financial penalties

Consumer trust: lines are blurred.

Very concerned Concerned Moderately concerned Slightly concerned Not concerned

Multiple concerns relating to risk management

Q: How concerned is your company of the following risks related to online influencer marketing?


Commonalities in terms of advice from peers

Approach and alignment

• Address internal

objections/understanding

first, by far our biggest

obstacle.

• Ask them to promote mass

product or send product

directly, do it before

important launches as

influencers rather do not care

about [your] timing.

• Make sure there is a

program for the influencer

already set up prior to sign

them up.

Q: Do you have any watch-outs or tips other members should keep in mind when working with online influencers?

Ensure risk mitigation

• Researching, risk

management

• Always get a legal

agreement and cover the

risk

• Ensure you have a process

in place and fully understand

who bears the risk. Ensure

FTC compliance.

• Payment should be

performance oriented

Transparency & authenticity

• Authenticity is key; long-term

trumps "one night stand“.

• Authenticity: Be clear about the

"overlap" between your brand's

value set and the influencer's

value set. It should be a true,

strong fit. Consumers have

gotten too savvy to be blinded by

commercial partnerships.

• Be transparent!

• Check legalities of disclosure,

which differs by platform and

market. Influencers talk to each

other... if you start paying one in a

market, there'll be an expectation

that you'll pay others too.

• Fraud.

“

”

WIP, WFA work on influencer marketing

90% of respondent would welcome WFA’s recommendations – so we will do that!

A practical guide for “better” influencer marketing:

effective and responsible.

Watch-outs for marketers

Practical guidance relating

to disclosure

Overview of existing rules (statutory and

voluntary)

Maybe reference sectoral

specificities (HFSS, alcohol,

kids involvement)


All WFA benchmarks, survey results, agendas and minutes are reviewed by Hogan Lovells

International LLP, our competition lawyers.

WFA Competition law compliance policy

The purpose of the WFA is to represent the interests of advertisers and to act as a forum forlegitimate contacts between members of the advertising industry. It is obviously the policy of the

WFA that it will not be used by any company to further any anti-competitive or collusive conduct, or to engage in otheractivities that could violate any antitrust or competition law, regulation, rule or directives of any country or otherwiseimpair full and fair competition. The WFA carries out regular checks to make sure that this policy is being strictlyadhered to.

As a condition of membership, members of the WFA acknowledge that their membership of the WFA is subject to thecompetition law rules and they agree to comply fully with those laws. Members agree that they will not use the WFA,directly or indirectly, (a) to reach or attempt to reach agreements or understandings with one or more of theircompetitors, (b) to obtain or attempt to obtain, or exchange or attempt to exchange, confidential or proprietaryinformation regarding any other company other than in the context of a bona fide business or (c) to further any anti-competitive or collusive conduct, or to engage in other activities that could violate any antitrust or competition law,regulation, rule or directives of any country or otherwise impair full and fair competition.

World Federation of Advertisers

London, Brussels, Singapore

wfanet.org

[email protected]

+32 2 502 57 40

twitter @wfamarketers

youtube.com/wfamarketers

linkedin.com/company/wfa

Thank youFor more information contact Julia Kraft [email protected] or visit

www.wfanet.org

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.wfanet.org/

influencer marketing study - ses · 2018-08-31 · for influencer marketing activities just under...

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