At Primetag, besides producing and publishing our own research, we’re also avid readers of all types of guides and studies that can cast some light into this fast growing new marketing discipline.

There’s plenty of free content about Influencer Marketing on the web – and that’s good news. This industry suffers from a lack of standard procedures, benchmarks and a coherent framework. Marketers struggle to work with Influencers in a professional, measurable and scalable way.

To make your life easier – and save you a lot of time – here’s a selection of some of the most insightful publicly available Influencer Marketing Guides, Reports and Studies.

The State of Influencer Marketing 2019 – An Analysis of the Social Media Ecosystem

Social Influence Reports 2018 by Primetag (Portugal and Spain)

Estudo Creators & Marcas

Libro Blanco de Marketing de Influencers

What Consumers Think About Influencer Marketing

The Marketer’s Guide to Influencer Marketing ROI

Later x Fohr State of Instagram Influencer Marketing 2020

The Economic Cost of Bad Actors on The Internet: Fake Influencer Marketing in 2019

2019 Influencer Marketing Report: A Marketer’s Perspective

2019 Influencer Marketing Report (Global Survey Consumers and Marketers)

Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report: 2019

2018 Influencer Point-of-view Report

The State of Influencer Marketing 2019 – An Analysis of the Social Media Ecosystem

AspireIQ – Influencer Marketing Platform
English. November 2019. About 20 ~ 30 min to read

This report aims to explain how the influencer community behaves and the main reasons driving marketers to use Influencer Marketing. It also focuses on benchmarks, like the average pricing on Instagram compared to other platforms or the average campaign budget and ROI. AspireIQ refers the advantages of repurposing Influencer content for other marketing channels. An up-to-date 360 degree view on the industry.

As Influencers’ rates rise, authentic and strategic relationships between brands and the creators they partner with will become increasingly important. Influencers are more likely to work for less with brands that they feel aligned with.

Highlights from the report:

• Why do brands use Influencers?
• What defines an influential account?
• Average engagement rate across all platforms for influential accounts
• TikTok: Is it the next big social platform?
• How does the size of an influencer’s audience impact follower engagement?
• How does engagement vary by industry?
• How much do brands pay for Instagram posts?
• Average campaign ROI What’s the best influencer marketing strategy?

Social Influence Reports 2018 by Primetag (Portugal and Spain)

Primetag – Influencer Marketing Platform
Portuguese / Spanish, February 2019 / March 2019 . About 10 ~ 15 min to read (each)

Primetag has produced the Social Influence Reports as a response to the lack of real data on Influencer Marketing. The reports provide an insight into Instagram, the social network most used by Influencers, its most popular contents and accounts.

The Spanish report was built by analysing 6.221 Spanish influencer profiles and 1.3 million posts. The Portuguese report is based on the data from 1.682 Portuguese influencer profiles, more than 354 thousand posts and 2.710 million interactions. These insights into social media have become a key asset in assisting brands and agencies with their influencer marketing endeavours in the Iberian Peninsula.

A general and sectoral analysis of the accounts and content preferred by the audience.
On one hand, it contributes to the application of criteria when choosing of Influencers. On the other, it provides a global vision of the (…) digital landscape and identify its protagonists.

Highlights from the report:

• Top accounts with the highest number of followers
• Top accounts with the highest engagement rate
• Top contents with the most interactions and views  
• Top 100 accounts with the highest number of interactions
• Rankings by industry
• Brands’ accounts most mentioned by Influencers

Estudo Creators & Marcas

Youpix – Influencer Marketing Consultant, Brunch – Influencer Marketing Agency
Portuguese. May 2019. About 10 min to read.

Creators & Marcas study was produced upon surveys made to Brazilian Influencers and portrays what they think, their behavior and relationship with the brands.

The study brings several insights about the second largest influencer community in the world, after the US. For example, less than 24% of Influencers live exclusively from content production, most have Instagram as their main platform, with about 66% of branded actions concentrated there and 66% of them work alone in content production.

Highlights from the report:

• Influencers income
• Influencers work process
• Most used platforms
• Compensation models
• Sponsored posts disclosure

Libro Blanco de Marketing de Influencers

IAB Spain – Advertising and Digital Communication Association
Spanish. November 2019. About 40 ~ 50 min to read.

This is a very complete document that aims to frame the Influencer Marketing activity in all aspects. It covers the definition and classification of Influencers and the characterization of relevant stakeholders. It sets a framework for strategy and campaign operation, from briefing to results measurement. It also frames this activity within the Spanish law regarding the advertising norms, intellectual property, and contract structure.

Influencer marketing is a relatively new business model that is booming. These characteristics mean that the ecosystem formed around it is complex, misunderstood by many and needs a series of guidelines to shed light on its operation.

Highlights from the report:

• Definition and classification of Influencers
• Influencer marketing strategy
• Industry stakeholders
• Measurement and metrics
• Relevant metrics before selecting an influencer
• Post collaboration evaluation
• Relevant metrics per platform
• Negotiation process 
• Applicable legal norms
• Intellectual property and third party rights
• Contract structure

What Consumers Think About Influencer Marketing

Influencer Intelligence – Influencer Marketing Platform, Econsultancy – Marketing Consultant
English. February 2019. About 10 ~ 15 min to read

This research report explores the attitudes and perceptions of young consumers towards digital Influencers. It was produced using online surveys. 500 consumers from the US and UK, aged 18 to 34 years, responded to the research’s requests.

61% of consumers say that having the ability to create authentic, engaging content is the most important attribute in a social media influencer.

Highlights from the report:

• The influence of social media content creators
• The value of micro and mid-tier talent 
• The most important attributes in an influencer 
• Influencers versus celebrities
• Sponsorship disclosures and credibility
• Consumer’s concerns

The Marketer’s Guide to Influencer Marketing ROI

Mediakix – Influencer Marketing Agency
English. May 2019. About 40 ~ 50 min to read.

More than an introduction to Influencer Marketing this guide covers the fundamentals of Social Media mechanics like the main differences between platforms, types of interactions and metrics. It features actionable tips, campaign examples and aims to explain how to track and measure Influencer Marketing ROI. It has also a very useful list of the Do’s and Don’ts that can help when building campaigns and working with Influencers.

Instagram posts are ephemeral—older in-feed posts are rarely seen and Stories disappear within 24 hours. Keep time-sensitivity in mind when planning an Instagram influencer campaign.

Highlights from the report:

• Setting campaign goals
• Campaign goals & kpis
• The costs of influencer marketing
• ROI by social media channel
• Tools for measuring & tracking influencer marketing ROI
• Examples of calculating ROI for campaigns
• Tips for achieving a positive ROI

Later x Fohr State of Instagram Influencer Marketing 2020

Later – Digital Marketing Software, Fohr – Influencer Marketing Agency
English. December 2019. About 20 ~ 30 min to read.

More than an introduction to Influencer Marketing this guide covers the fundamentals of Social Media mechanics like the main differences between platforms, types of interactions and metrics. It features actionable tips, campaign examples and aims to explain how to track and measure Influencer Marketing ROI. It has also a very useful list of the Do’s and Don’ts that can help when building campaigns and working with Influencers.

When searching for the perfect influencer to work with, it’s worth looking at how much sponsored post is already on their feed (…). If their audience is seeing too much sponsored content, it could mean that they become immune to it — and the partnership may feel less genuine to an influencer’s audience.

Highlights from the report:

• The impact of hashtags for engagement
• Best times to post on Instagram
• Choosing an Instagram Influencer
• Average engagement per category

The Economic Cost of Bad Actors on The Internet: Fake Influencer Marketing in 2019

CHEQ – Adtech Software, University of Baltimore – Public University
English. July 2019. About 15 ~ 20 min to read.

This report provides an in-depth economic analysis of fake influencer marketing and helps to uncover the damage done by fake followers and their growing impact for brands, consumers and platforms.

Fake influencer marketing will cost advertisers $1.3 billion in 2019. Left unchecked the problem will continue to grow (…) costing the global economy $1.5 billion by 2020.

Highlights from the report:

• Estimates of fraud levels
• Indirect costs of growing influencer marketing
• Indirect costs for consumers, brands and social media networks

2019 Influencer Marketing Report: A Marketer’s Perspective

SocialPubli.com – Influencer Marketing Platform
English. February 2019. About 20 ~ 25 min to read.

For this report SocialPubli.com has surveyed consumer-facing digital marketing professionals with more than 20 questions related to Influencer Marketing budget, usage frequency and effectiveness. It also covers their preferences regarding Influencer selection content type, social networks and ROI measurement.

55.8% of the marketing professionals surveyed regularly use influencer marketing. For 30.2% of them, it is an “always-on” strategy. 25.6% of marketers use it periodically.

Highlights from the report:

• Percentage of overall marketing budget designated to Influencer Marketing
• Main objectives and benefits when using Influencer Marketing
• Biggest challenges for Influencer Marketing
• Top factors taken in consideration when selecting Influencers for campaigns
• Prefered platforms for Influencer Marketing campaigns
• Influencer Marketing campaigns success management

2019 Influencer Marketing Report

Rakuten Marketing – Marketing Agency, VIGA (now Savanta) – Market Research Company
English. March 2019. About 40 ~ 50 min to read.

Part I: 2019 Influencer Marketing Report – Global Survey Consumers

Rakuten Marketing conducted this research between December 2018 and January 2019. The survey includes the responses of 3,600 consumers interviewed across the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, France and Germany.

It covers topics such as the type of Influencers consumers follow the most, the preferred social media networks, favorite type of content, Influencer discovery and influencer trust. It also features a very useful analysis on how consumers purchase through Influencers.

In the US, four in five consumers have made a purchase through clicking a link or image an influencer shared.

Highlights from the report:

• What kind of Influencers consumers engage with 
• How consumer shopping behavior is influenced by different types of Influencers
• What consumers expect from an influencer 
• What can change a consumer’s relationship with an Influencer
• Benefits from Following an Influencer

Part II: 2019 Influencer Marketing Report – Global Survey Marketers

Rakuten Marketing conducted this research between December 2018 and January 2019. The survey includes the responses of 719 global marketers interviewed across the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, France and Germany. The respondents include marketers at varying management levels ranging from organizations of less than 50 employees to over 50,000 working directly on influencer programs.

It casts new light on Influencers payment models, campaign fees and performance measurement.

Brand reach is the most measured key performance indicator; closely behind is brand awareness. Direct sales is less of a prioritization (…) but still important to a marketer, along with site generated traffic.

Highlights from the report:

• How the measurement of campaign performance has matured
• What payment models are most popular and efficient
• Which influencer marketing investments affect a brand’s performance and how

Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report: 2019

Influencer Marketing Hub – Influencer Marketing Resources and Academy, NeoReach – Influencer Marketing Platform, Viral Nation – Influencer Marketing Agency
English. February 2019. About 25 ~ 30 min to read

Influencer Marketing Hub surveyed 830 marketing agencies, brands and other relevant professionals to determine their views and build insight into their thoughts on the industry.

This resulted in a complete, 360 degree report on the maturity of the industry, its growth, challenges and major achievements. A must read.

Our survey respondents (…) agree that influencer marketing attracts high-quality customers. 82% believe that the quality of customers from influencer marketing campaigns is better than from other forms of marketing.

Highlights from the report:

• Instagram growth and its impact in the industry
• Influencer Marketing budget allocation
• Campaign ROI measurement
• Brand safety when working with Influencers
• Influencer Marketing automation and scalability

2018 Influencer Point-of-view Report

Mavrck – Influencer Marketing Platform
English. June 2018. About 8 ~ 10 min to read.

Mavrck surveyed and interviewed more than 100 Influencers to discover what inspires and motivates them to collaborate with brands, which social platforms have the highest influencer affinity (and best features), how marketers are enforcing legal guidelines, and how marketers can be better partners in the creative process.

The poll feature on Instagram is very underused by a lot of marketers and it’s such an amazing way to understand your community and what they want.

Highlights from the report:

• When Influencers started their activity
• Influencers’ motivation to publish content
• Preferred social media networks and platforms
• Preferred compensation methods
• Influencers’ motivation to collaborate with brands

Overwhelmed? I feel you.

I made an honest effort to include reports written in other languages than English. Influence marketing is a global industry that must be studied evenly between different geographies and cultures. I wish I was fluent in other languages like French, Chinese or Russian.

The various Influencer Marketing Guides, Reports and Studies combine different points of view: Influencer Marketing Agencies and Platforms, Marketers, Influencers, Advertising Associations and Consumers. 

From my research I came to the conclusion that it’s not so easy to find information on the Influencers point of view. I believe there’s an opportunity to survey and question Influencers – the key stakeholder in this field – and find out what’s on their minds.

The post Most Insightful FREE Influencer Marketing Guides, Reports and Studies – Crunched appeared first on Primetag Blog.

Political campaigns, companies, security agencies, government departments, serious hardware and software failures. By 2017, the media and the general population finally woke up to a hidden reality – cybersecurity.

Today, the real reward for hackers is user information. Our data, such as passwords, financial or medical information, addresses and purchase history is all at risk. This information is valuable and it ultimately ends up being sold on the internet’s black market, the “dark web.”

What is the relevance of this to a professional working in the communication sector?

My interest in this subject matter has been sparked by my professional experience in e-commerce and brand construction within a digital environment.

Trust is the most valuable aspect for e-commerce companies. This is because without it customers are less likely to order a product they have never seen, from people they have never met, through an online store.

Cyber ​​attacks destroy consumer trust in companies, brands and businesses. There is no marketing plan, promotional strategy, or discount campaign that works when the consumer does not feel safe and protected.

THREATS TO COMPANIES

Increasing Digitalization

Modern companies operate based on digital processes and rely on technology for communication, billing and logistics. With the increasing expansion of IoT (“Internet of Things”) it is understood that the more intertwined links you have the more you are prone to digital invasion and computer hacking.

Shopping Inhibition

A lack of trust continues to be one of the main factors preventing consumers from buying or using online services. However, if a loyal customer was to find their data exposed or potentially compromised, this would destroy their trust in that particular online business.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR COMPANIES

Contingency Plan

“There are only two types of companies: those that have been hacked and those that will be hacked”. 

Robert S. Mueller, former FBI director

This famous statement by Robert S. Mueller, a former FBI director, serves as a wake-up call for all businesses who need to prepare for contingency communication plans. These plans should be designed to respond to different scenarios of security breaches. The speed and the way you react to a cyber attack is determined by the amount of damage done and ultimately the public’s opinion.

Positive Differentiation

There is an opportunity for companies to differentiate themselves from competition. This can be achieved through an integrated plan to combat potential threats, and make this process one of the company’s values. Thus, increasing the trust a customer has in that business.

THREATS TO THE GOVERNMENT

Slow Adoption of New Technologies

The government tends to be slow in adopting new technologies and computer processes. While using new technology carries its risks, relying on outdated technology – with well-known weaknesses – also poses serious challenges to the systems sustainability.

Fragmentation of Adopted Solutions

Different departments that are ran by people who depend on electoral cycles, lead to a fragmentation of adopted solutions. This tends to lead to integration problems as they usually require consistency to function properly. The more links a system has, the more it is prone to attacks.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE GOVERNMENT

Lack of Critical Infrastructures

Portugal, for instance, does not have nuclear facilities or military infrastructure (when compared to other countries). Typically, these amenities consume many resources and require constant monitoring.

A smaller, cohesive, geographically focused network is easier to manage and maintain.

Capitalize on the Sense of Security

Portugal is viewed, internationally, as a stable country with low crime rates as well as being able to positively react to crisis scenarios. Our country ranks third in the “Global Peace Index 2017” and it is also included in the list of less dangerous countries for travelers from the United States Department of State. This, together with the excellent quality of our software and IT professionals, could be a good launching base for making Portugal a country with above-average levels of cybersecurity, attracting foreign investment and positioning it at the forefront of an industry that will define the future of our society.

The post Cybersecurity: Threats and Opportunities for Businesses and the Government appeared first on Primetag Blog.

Buying followers on Instagram isn’t exactly fresh news but this phenomena has been disregarded as something of lesser importance. The New York Times was the first major news outlet to cover it in depth in a January 2018 article: The Follower Factory

The Times reviewed business and court records showing that Devumi has more than 200,000 customers, including reality television stars, professional athletes, comedians, TED speakers, pastors and models. In most cases, the records show, they purchased their own followers. In others, their employees, agents, public relations companies, family members or friends did the buying.

The New York Times

A year later New York’s attorney general announced a settlement with Devumi, the company that sold hundreds of millions of fake followers on various social media platforms.

This was the first highly publicized case of a company prosecuted for providing this type of service. Still the amount paid in the settlement, $50,000, was relatively small when compared with the revenue generated by Devumi’s 200,000 customers over the years.

A crash course on buying followers on Instagram

It’s quite simple actually, there are dozens of fake followers, fake likes and “fake whatever” providers. You choose the service you want, you pay and later on you’ll see, for instance, your Instagram account growing in followers. Most services will just unload a truck of them all at once into your account while others, more sophisticated ones, will inject followers by batches to arouse less suspicion.

But wait! It’s also possible to buy fake followers for someone else’s account – or – you can have bots following your account (without paying for them) because that makes bot accounts seem more legit. So, not quite simple actually.

Taking it to an extreme

Buying followers on Instagram is a painful but quite common thing. There are people who buy a few to swell the account a little, you can buy twenty thousand, ten thousand, five thousand, something that doesn’t arouse much suspicion.”

Auron Play, Spanish Youtuber

In last May Auron Play, a very popular Spanish Youtuber with over 2 billion views on his channel, published a video titled La Mujer Del Infierno (“The Woman from Hell”).

In his video he slashes Zaida Ward, an aspiring singer, not just for her lack of talent, cringy music videos or inability to dance but also for her obviously inflated 3.6 million followers Instagram account.

This young lady, with three point six million followers, only one hundred are human beings. If we take a look at any photo we see that it has hundreds of thousands of likes, it’s very good, isn’t it? It fits a lot. If we start looking at who has given a “like” to these photos, if we look at the list of people who have liked it, we see that it is full of accounts from Saudi Arabia with only one follower, that is, a ton of bots.

Auron Play, Spanish Youtuber

Auron proceeds to fundament his findings about the fake following by comparing her Instagram posts performance with the number of times Zaida’s music was played on Spotify. The numbers don’t match. He also uncovers some posts where, he claims, the singer’s forgot to buy likes because they drop from an average of 100,000 likes to about 100.

If we look further at her Instagram’s feed we find a video and here it seems that, well, she had an oversight, she forgot to buy likes. One hundred and nineteen “likes”, that is, from one photo to another you have gone from having a hundred thousand to having a hundred likes. Congratulations!

Auron Play, Spanish Youtuber

Double checking Zaida Ward Instagram account

We’ve analysed Zaida’s account using Primetag proprietary machine learning algorithms with data gathered and processed between the 11th and 25th of June, 2019.

From the total only 11.7% were flagged as regular Instagram users, still, a number above than the mere “one hundred human beings” as stated by Auron Play. The remaining followers are businesses (0.6%) and influencers (0.4%).

Buying followers on Instagram and the relevance of poor quality content

There’s a direct correlation between poor quality content production and the fake followers phenomena. Likes, comments and followers act as a social proof and validate that someone has an important message to share with the world. Without them an account seems irrelevant. Social media users as well as brands and marketers should make an effort to look beyond those metrics and evaluate if the content is authentic and relevant, even if it seems to be enjoyed by a lot of people.

“Never in my life I had seen someone buying three million bots”

Auron Plays’ statement is related with an extreme case that describes how this underground industry works. It has all the ingredients – an aspiring performer, an immense drive towards recognition and social validation through big numbers on social media. In an era of fake news and alternative truths the 3.6 million followers account becomes real, it mimics not only the reality that Zaida’s want to see but also the reality that many of us believe when using social media networks.

Tips and techniques to spot accounts with fake activity

Now that we had enough moaning, whining and philosophical drifts here’s a list of things that you should pay attention to when looking at social media accounts.

Hope you find these tips useful to uncover an account that has resorted to buying followers on Instagram. If you know any other cases like Zaida Ward feel free to share them with me, you can find my contact below.

Primetag is striving to shape a sustainable industry

Primetag is striving to shape a professional and sustainable industry where influencers can build not only an authentic and honest relationship with their followers but also collaborate in a professional way with brands and other partners.

We are turning this vision into action. Last June Primetag promoted the #realfollowers event in Barcelona where several representatives of the influence marketing industry joined us to discuss the steps needed towards the professionalization of the industry.

The post Buying 3 Million Followers on Instagram: How Far is Too Far? appeared first on Primetag Blog.

The basic definition of the internet as “a network” is correct but outdated. Today, the digital universe goes beyond the traditional design of the internet. Added to the base, were several other networks to form an increasingly dense and complex digital machine.

At the beginning of the digitalization of brands and industries, the strategy was focused on ensuring a presence on the network. A bit like having a stand at a fair or opening a shop in a busy hub, a way to have your “foot in the door.” 

A New Paradigm

In recent years we have witnessed a process that leaves behind many of the analogies linked to the physical world. As digital reality built its rules and defined new operating processes, it has impacted how brands and companies view the world’s digital capabilities.

The advent of large-scale social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram has reversed the “alias” and anonymity paradigm on the internet. Instead social media prompts people to take on an online presence that reflects their own identity and personality. From this point on, it became possible to trace the behavior of both individuals and social groups. In addition, technological developments, such as smartphones and the mobile internet, created an outlet for digital human interactions and relationships. This exponentially increases the amount of data provided by users through their involvement in various online networks.

Opportunities and Challenges

The Social Media phenomenon has created the need and opportunity for brands to start listening to consumers and keep up with their online public activity. What initially began as a collection of data, referred to as “social-media monitoring”, it quickly evolved into “social-media listening.” This means user data is now analyzed to help advance businesses based on the users information and interests.

We have reached a point where digital reality increasingly affects the reality of the physical world. One of the areas most affected by this phenomenon is the production of content, both informative and advertising.

There is a decline of investment in traditional advertising, such as print ads, billboards, and television ads. Advertising shifted from eminently metaphorical and heavily encoded messages to a communication paradigm where real people build factual stories around products, services, and experiences.

The Power of Influencers

The use of characters and personalities in marketing and communication is not a new concept. However, the difference in is that the hierarchy of visibility used to be from top to bottom. At the moment it is seen on the contrary, ordinary people have a lot of influence on the behavior of consumers because they identify more with a common customer.

The increase in influence became a focus of interest and quickly attracted the attention of companies, brands and advertisers. They saw this as an opportunity to utilize a new medium for the delivery of brand messages and the promotion of products.

Quickly after, the business market realized the value in influencers and ordinary people became much more recognizable and more utilized. The rise of influence marketing displays how capable the digital world is of distorting the classical boundaries of the marketing and advertising production process.

If you work with influencers to promote your brand, bare in mind that they are also the ones listening to their followers – your consumers.

Sérgio Abreu

Create Lasting Relationships

I believe that influence marketing is the logical evolution of the aforementioned process of “social-media listening”. The true power of influencers lies not only in the promotion of messages and products but in the relationship they build with their followers. Even the semantic difference is important in this case. While the audience hears and has a static behavior, followers choose to connect with other people and interact with them on a very personal level, sharing values ​​and feelings.

Creating a lasting relationship with influencers goes beyond the logic of digital marketing, based on metrics such as CPC, CPM, likes and views. The relationship enables business to collect essential information through privileged translators, such as Primetag.

Listening to consumers allows brands that to build a close, human relationship with them. The businesses able to embrace this process will be the ones most apt to grow and seize the opportunities of a fast-changing world.

The post Listening to Consumers: The Importance to Brands and the Role of Influencers in the Process appeared first on Primetag Blog.