Chinese, US and UK brands generate two-thirds of total influencer ad spending

The influencer advertising industry has skyrocketed by a massive 330% over the past five years, becoming one of the leading online marketing channels.

With budgets growing fast and marketers seeing strong returns, the entire market is expected to increase by another 17% year-over-year and hit a $30.8bn value in 2023. Most of that value will come from only countries.

According to data presented by OnlyAccounts.io, Chinese, US, and UK brands will generate around $22.7bn or...

1 June 2023 | Advertising

Retailers feel there are too many channels to effectively sell through

A TV remote control.

Online shopping has never been more convenient for consumers, who have access to a plethora of channels through which to engage with their favourite brands.

However, this same variety is confounding retailers, with 47% saying there are simply too many channels for them to effectively deliver the best sales experience.

This is according to Wunderman Thompson Commerce & Technology’s “Brands don’t fail... eRetail!” report, which found nearly all (94%) retail...

19 April 2023 | Content Marketing

David Shadpour, Social Native: Why brands should focus on authentic content creation

Social Native's founder and CEO urges brands around the world to build an army of creators, and embrace user generated content.

For anyone who doesn’t know about Social Native, what's the company all about?

The name itself, Social Native, has some depth to it. In the early print days, you'd hire a big agency, they would do a photo shoot and they'd print it for you and put it in a magazine. 

Then television came out and you had to do sight and sound. You hire a big...

15 September 2022 | Advertising

Room Unlocked, Alex Payne: Authenticity and purpose in influencer marketing

Alex Payne, Room Unlocked's co-founder, discusses the future of influencer marketing and how it can successfully form part of an overall marketing strategy.

Could you tell us a little bit about what the company does?

Well, several of our clients have described us as a cross between Tinder and LinkedIn, which we quite like. Room Unlocked facilitates partnerships between interesting brands and celebrities and influencers - but our point of difference is that it is all mutually...

12 September 2022 | Advertising

Influencer endorsement makes consumer engagement far more likely

A camera and bottle of perfume next to a smartphone.

As influencer marketing budgets across social media continue to grow to the tune of billions of dollars – with Instagram leading the way, and TikTok rapidly growing – it is clear that influencers and digitally native content creators now form a cornerstone of many consumers’ lives.

From Love Island winners getting major brand deals to a former factory worker becoming the most followed TikTok account, the content creator’s influence spreads far and wide.

And...

30 August 2022 | Customer Experience

Serena Williams’ venture fund invests seven figures In British martech platform

Serena Williams at a press conference.

OpenSponsorship (OS), a sports marketing tech start-up founded in New York by British entrepreneur Ishveen Jolly, has secured a seven-figure investment from Serena Ventures to help the business expand into the UK.

OpenSponsorship has partnered athletes with campaigns from brands such as Walmart, Foot Locker and Levi’s, was launched in the USA in 2015 after Ishveen – who was then a sports agent – realised and then grew frustrated with the obtuse and restrictive way in which...

20 April 2022 | Branding

More than half of social media influencers participate in the metaverse

A man wearing a virtual reality headset.

As many as 56% of social media influencers are working in the metaverse with 60% of influencers viewing themselves as creators in virtual worlds.

This is according to a study by IZEA Worldwide, a provider of influencer marketing technology, data, and services for brands. The study, which polled 1,034 US internet users ages 18 to 60-plus examined how social media influencers are leading the way into virtual worlds.

The report is the first in a series of research studies...

17 January 2022 | Influencer Marketing

Majority of marketers more likely to use influencers in campaigns since pandemic

An influencer's photos on Instagram app.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, seven out of 10 marketers (70%) are now more likely to use creators in brand campaigns, while a similar figure (69%) agree that influencer marketing budgets represent a larger proportion of their overall marketing budget.

This is according to research from global influencer marketing agency, TAKUMI. The firm recently published its annual industry trends analysis, ‘Influencer marketing in the pandemic era’, comparing the viewpoints of more than...

16 December 2021 | Influencer Marketing

Just 6% of consumers believe they are swayed by influencers

Artwork depciting a social media influencer.

Despite influencer marketing continuing to dominate across both online and increasingly offline channels, only 6% of consumers globally are swayed by influencers or celebrity endorsements when choosing which retail channel to use when making a purchase.

This is according the latest OpSec Security Consumer Barometer trust index, which found that even among 18- to 24-year-olds, the so-called ‘digital generation,’ influencers only make their mark on 12% of consumers, with the...

22 November 2021 | Influencer Marketing

76% of Instagram influencers hide advertisement disclosure in their posts

Someone using Instagram on their smartphone.

More than three quarters of influencer adverts on Instagram have the disclosure hidden somewhere in the post, whether that be in the middle, at the end or in a comment.

This is according to research undertaken by the team behind global affiliate network Awin.com as part of a wider look into disclosure in affiliate marketing.

For the study, the top 100 posts for each disclosure hashtag were analysed to see whether the hashtag was visible in the original post, or needed...

4 October 2021 | Influencer Marketing