Is It Time for Influencers Marketing to Embrace the Performance Model?

This framework will allow brands to embrace the performance model when it comes to their influencer marketing strategies.

We are seeing new rules of engagement emerging as influencers look to secure results-focused partnerships with brands rather than simply fulfilling traditional influencer roles.

This year, influencer marketing is forecasted to grow to somewhere in the region of $9-10billion globally. This represents significant confidence in this marketing activity and surveys have shown that 89% of marketeers believe the ROI from influencer marketing is comparable or better than other channels. Digging deeper, this belief is not always backed up by data or confidence in actual sales. This belief is largely anecdotal and, unfortunately, few brands have managed to measure the actual impact of their influencer marketing.

Whilst there is certainly no lack of appetite from brands to drive the influencer charge, the pandemic and various economic factors have accelerated the need for the existing model to mature rapidly, to offer brands more accountable and enhanced measurement, tied to ROI.  It is not only in the interest of brands themselves trying to justify every media pound invested during times of economic uncertainty, but also influencers who are seeing contracts change rapidly as industries are impacted differently by the pandemic. Influencers also need to make themselves stand out from the competition and be able to tie their posts back to revenue for the brands they are promoting.

This could drive the next iteration of how brands view and collaborate with influencers through an influencer maturity index. The below framework will allow brands to plot themselves in different stages of maturity:

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