Marketing Budget Analysis: How Much of It Goes on Influencer Marketing?

Use of Influencer Marketing: Statistics

One of the challenges (and attractions to many) of digital marketing is its constantly evolving nature. One of the trends that’s picked up in recent years is influencer marketing. Traditional media used the word influencer as a moniker for someone who’s famous thanks to the internet, but we (read: the older generation) don’t really understand why.

In fact, influencer marketing is a modern form of celebrity endorsement that focuses on content creators that have a following (global or in a specific niche) and can influence people’s purchasing decisions.

In the past few years, influencer marketing has become a steady part of the marketing efforts of companies trying to establish an online presence. According to a survey, as of 2023, almost one in four companies devotes over 40% of its marketing budget to collaboration with influencers.

The Rise of Influence Marketing

While influencer marketing is not a completely new concept, it is relatively young. It’s been steadily growing in the past seven years as companies are more and more open to collaborating with online influencers. The change, of course, comes from the fact that you can get a lot of traction for your product or brand when you get associated with influential personalities.

The global value of influencer marketing started at $1.7 billion in 2016 and amounted to $16.4 billion in 2022.

If we look at the United States alone, the usage rate of influencer marketing is massive. According to Statista projections, over 85% of all companies with 100+ employees will have worked with influencers to achieve marketing goals by the end of 2025. Check out the table below for a detailed breakdown per year:

Why Professionals Use Influencer Marketing

In terms of social media platforms, Instagram and TikTok are the frontrunners for influencer marketing. Marketers use influencers from these networks to achieve a variety of goals, with the increase in sales being the most dominant one. In fact, in 2022, 38% of all influencer marketing efforts were sales-driven.

After sales, other prevalent marketing goals are as follows:

• Brand awareness: 29%
• Brand engagement: 24%
• Content: 8%

Different Types of Influencers

When you work with influencers, you can tap into their audience with ease, but you need to have a strategy that will make you relatable and attractive to followers. Many companies managed to strike gold with influencers that have a smaller follower base but are influential in a specific niche. If you have an established target audience, you can find a micro-influencer within the niche and achieve better results while spending less of your budget on paid posts.

Marketers generally split influencers into five categories:

• Nano-influencers: 1–10,000 followers
• Micro-influencers: 10,000–50,000 followers
• Mid-tier influencers: 50,000–500,000 followers
• Macro-influencers: 500,000–1,000,000 followers
• Mega-influencers: Over 1,000,000 followers

On average, a paid post with a nano-influencer varies from $5 to $25 and can bring you a lot more sales than paying an unrelated mega-influencer $2,000+ for a single 10-second video.

Summary

Companies are devoting larger and larger chunks of their marketing budgets to influencer marketing. You can profit from a fanbase someone else built and reach a lot of people by collaborating with an internet celebrity.

It’s important to pick the right one, as someone who others perceive as small-time can be of greater influence in the niche you’re in and achieve better results. If you want to see how you can optimize your marketing efforts and make the most out of it, check out our marketing software recommendations.

Related Articles

• Most Popular Social Media Platforms (2023)
• How to Plan a Social Media Calendar with Examples
• 15 Ways To Elevate Your Small Business’s Social Media Marketing
• Top Ways for Using AI in Marketing Worldwide (2021-2022)