An Evaluation of Brand Influencer Partnerships

We are very excited to announce that we have published An Evaluation of Brand Influencer Partnerships: Understanding Motivations, Challenges and Aligning Goals. This is a new market research study into exactly how brand-influencer partnerships work as told by the influencers and brands themselves. Included in this report are lots of key stats around what motives brand and influencers to work together, what outcomes they are seeking to achieve and where the disconnect lies between what brands are offering and what influencers are looking for.

KEY CONTRIBUTORS:

We were very fortunate to have a number of top influencers and brand marketers contribute to this report including:

Dr Dave Chaffey – Co-founder and Content Director at SmartInsights
Neal Schaffer – CEO at PDCA Social
Mark Schaefer – Keynote speaker, marketing consultant, author of KNOWN, executive branding coach
Spiros K. Margaris – V.C & Advisor at Margaris Ventures. #1 FinTech Influencer as ranked by Onalytica
Lee Odden – CEO at TopRank Marketing
Joel Backaler – Global Marketing Strategist, International Keynote, Best-Selling Author of Digital Influence
Christopher Penn – Co-Founder and Chief Innovator at Trust Insights
Darian Sims – B2B Marketing Excellence Director at Canon EMEA
Marsha Collier – President at The Collier Company
Tamara McCleary – CEO at Thulium
Konstanze Alex – Head of Influencer Relations at Dell
Tim Williams – CEO at Onalytica
Brian Solis – Brian Solis – Best selling Author Principal Analyst and Futurist at Altimeter, a Prophet company

WHY DOES THE INDUSTRY NEED THIS MARKET RESEARCH?

Despite the hype over the past 3 years, Influencer Marketing in 2018 is still an emerging category with brands and influencers both figuring out how to best work together for mutual benefit in an environment without any rules and regulations. PR, Politics and Advertising have all developed into practices where there are guidelines, expected ways of communicating and standardised measurements of success. Influencer Marketing by comparison still feels like the wild west. Influencer Marketing is not a complex model, but it is the motivations, values and communication styles of both the brand and influencers that, if not aligned, will lead to disappointing results.

There is a distinct lack of research into the partnerships brands have with influencers. The research that does exist is mainly focused on the sponsored posts, pay-to-play side of influencer marketing. There has been no research to date that explores the organic side of influencer marketing focusing on building credible long-term relationships with influencers to promote brand advocacy in an authentic way. So we decided to survey over 500 brand marketers and industry influencers, making this the largest B2B / organic influencer marketing survey of its kind.

WHAT DOES THIS REPORT COVER?

This report will provide you with a deep understanding of how brand-influencer partnerships work, and will answer questions such as:

• What motivates brands and influencers to works together?
• What outcomes are they seeking to achieve?
• How are influencers make themselves known to brands?
• What channels brands and influencers communicating on?
• What activities are brands and influencers partnering on?
• Are brands offering influencers the right incentives?
• How effective are brands at sustaining relationships with influencers?
• How satisfied are brands and influencers with the partnerships they have had?
• What are the main challenges brands and influencers have had when working together?
• What positive outcomes have brands and influencers seen from working together?

WHAT ARE THE KEY STATS?

• 58% of brands have seen improved brand awareness and perception from working with influencers
• 54% of brands have seen an increase in leads / revenue generated
• 70% of brands have seen greater social media engagement
• Only 14% of influencers feel that being paid well is the most important reason for partnering with a brand
• 61% of influencers are happy to engage with a brand organically – organic is alive and well
• 52% of influencers said that growing their influence on key topics is the most important reason for partnering with a brand

This is just a few of the key stats and findings, there are many more in the report itself.

Download the Full Report

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