Influencer Marketing Statistics 2022

Not so long ago the most lucrative form of advertising was TV commercials and website pop-ups. Now, with the prevalence of streaming sites, the use of ad blockers, and the deterioration of print media, influencer marketing has taken the advertising world by storm. 

When a brand partners with an influencer and sponsors a post that includes their product, this is called influencer marketing. It’s using social media influencers and bloggers to promote products and services and to create brand awareness. In 2022, this is one of the most popular and profitable forms of advertising! 

This provides a great opportunity for your blog. Doing brand collaborations with companies looking to partner with influencers will allow you to monetize your blog. It will take you from blogging as a hobby to blogging as a business. And, that’s the dream, right? 

But, it’s not just your search engine optimized blog that will get marketers’ attention. You need a strong social media presence. Having a loyal following on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or other social media platform will increase your web traffic, allow you to connect with your audience, and grab the attention of large marketing firms looking for influencers! 

At InfluencerSEO, we get it. Making any big move with your blog is no easy decision. So, we’ve compiled a list of statistics that will help you understand why you should be marketing. We’ll also go over some key facts about the process to help you better understand what you’re getting into. Here we go:

Influencer Marketing Statistics 2022

Brands will spend an estimated 15 billion dollars on influencer marketing this year. 

The influencer marketing industry is booming. Because it’s clearly the best way to reach consumers in 2022, marketers everywhere are increasing their digital marketing budgets for content creators. This year, brands will spend a collective 15 billion dollars on influencer marketing, which is up nearly 1 billion from 2021. 

This is important to understand, because influencer marketing is not a fad! This industry will continue to grow, which makes it a good long-term plan for blog monetization and sustainability. 

Content marketing generates approximately 3 times more leads than traditional marketing.

Per dollar spent, content marketing through blogs produces 3 times as many leads as traditional forms of marketing. These other forms of marketing include website banners, TV advertisements, and billboards. Marketing in these ways isn’t captivating to consumers any longer!

Instead, consumers want trusted, high-quality content surrounding a potential product. They want detailed and thoughtful assessment of the product from people they trust before they consider buying. So, your sponsored blog post will be very lucrative for the business you partner with and your own brand! This is content potential customers are searching for. 

80% of US Internet users interact with social media sites and blogs.

The world wide web is a vast community of various types of content. People use the Internet for a lot of reasons. But, almost everyone uses it to browse social media channels and blogs. This is great news for brands and marketing firms. They can access millions of future customers in just a few places. 

There is no store or street corner in the country that gets 80% of 5 billion people traveling through. This is one reason that influencer marketing through social channels and blogs is so profitable.

92% of Millennials trust social media influencers more than traditional celebrities. 

In the days of commercial ads and magazine spreads, it was big celebrities that endorsed the brands we chose from. Now, though, both Millennials and Gen Z trust a social media influencer’s recommendation over a celebrity endorsement. 

Influencers like you feel more authentic and trustworthy to consumers. So, many marketers flock first to influencers to spend their digital marketing budget, rather than going to well-known celebrities. 

So, if you’re worried about not having enough followers or not having a huge brand, don’t be! Marketing firms are looking for influencers like you with a smaller but mightier audience. And, of course, a more credible voice than the celebrities we see on TV! 

Large firms are using micro-influencers more every year. 

Like we mentioned above, consumers have decided influencers like you are more authentic than many famous celebrities. But, did you know that your status as a micro-influencer will be favored by marketers over other influencers with millions of followers? It’s true!

Large firms are using micro-influencers more every year, because your posts actually receive better engagement rates. Micro-influencers’ engagement rate sits at 3.86%, whereas macro and mega influencers only have a rate of 1.21%. 

This is because you have captured your target audience in a way that’s inspiring and genuine. Every one of your followers gets to connect with you in some way on a personal level. Whether it’s because you reply to their comments, live stream with them, or do frequent giveaways. 

Because you’re more connected with your followers, more of them engage more often with your content. So, your sponsored posts will garner better engagement and sales than other much larger influencers. How cool is that? See? Your status as a micro-influencer isn’t a bad thing. In fact, for monetization purposes, it can be a GREAT thing.

53% of women make purchases because of influencer posts.

Over half of female social media users say influencers have motivated their purchasing decisions. This means your opinions matter to your followers! They trust your guidance and want to capture your niche in the same way you have. 

If you are a fashion influencer, your followers want to be fashionable like you. If you host a parenting blog, your followers want to raise their kids like you. And, if you are a home decor brand, your followers want to design their home like you. Whatever it is, your audience cares about what you think, and they’ll buy based on your recommendations and advice. Know your influence. And, don’t be afraid to guide your followers to products you genuinely endorse.  

61% of people trust recommendations from friends, family, and influencers on social platforms. Only 38% trust recommendations from a brand. 

According to Influencer Marketing Hub, social media users trust recommendations from people they know and influencers they follow more than brands themselves. So, seeing a sponsored ad through a brand’s own social channel won’t elicit the same response as a post on an influencer profile. 

Brand partnerships are not only a great way for you to grab your audience’s attention, but they’re a great way for companies to sell their products. And often, companies aren’t asking you for overly stylized and fake ads. They too want genuine, quality content. Why? Because it’s why your followers listen to you in the first place! 

So, don’t think that sponsoring blog articles and social media posts is selling out. As long as you’re only recommending products you really believe in, it’s just more of the same quality content you put out every day. This content will just get you paid, too!

70% of people would rather learn about a company through blog posts over advertisements.

Most of the country has grown a distaste for traditional advertisements. Often, they’re considered untrustworthy and hyperbolic. As we’ve explored previously, consumers trust the recommendations of their friends and influencers. 

Sponsored blog posts that don’t come directly from the brand selling feel the most credible and accurate! Your content will be valuable to readers and the brand alike. The potential buyer will know they’ve been given an honest review, while the brand generates tons of new sales. This is how your audience wants to learn about new products and services! 

Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube are the biggest influencer marketing channels. 

Your blog needs presence on a social media platform to gain significant traffic. Your website, your social media, and your blog will work together to build an audience and hold their attention. Plus, social media channels will get you to monetization faster. But, what social channels should you prioritize? 

For brand collaborations, Instagram and TikTok have the most social media influence. Most demographics are present on these platforms, and often users are looking to buy. Instagram posts, reels, and stories remain the most lucrative forms of influencer marketing. 

90% of influencer campaigns involve Instagram. 

That’s right, 90% of marketing firm influencer campaigns involve Instagram. Even if the campaign is centered on your curated blog posts, likely the firm will also ask for Instagram posts. 

These posts will refer ‌to the blog posts and further sponsor the same product or service, but they will request a social media presence to some extent. And, they’ll likely request that presence be on Instagram! 

Women are most likely to buy something based on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest whereas men most often buy based off of YouTube and Twitter.

Your target audience matters. Not only does your target audience matter to you, but it matters to marketing firms. This is because when a firm hires you, they want your audience. They want to capture whatever small portion of the market you’ve gained. But, in order for either of you to acquire your target audience, you’ll need to be on the right social networks. 

Women are most often on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Men are usually on YouTube and Twitter. If we zoom in even further, you can find specific niches on each platform as well. Artists, designers, and fashion influencers are usually on Instagram. Moms love to hang out on Facebook. Pinterest is for recipes, DIY, and home decor ideas. For YouTube, you’ll find lots of video game, home repair, and general how-to content. Twitter is full of tech nerds and the cryptoworld. 

The point is, know where your audience is, because that’s where a brand’s influencer marketing budget will go. Do a quick audit of your social channels. Make sure you’re on the right ones to cast the widest net and gain the most followers. When marketing firms go searching for content creators, they’ll find you in the right spot for their promotion!

60% of consumers have been influenced by a blog or social media post when shopping in store. 

Either before shopping or during shopping, 60% of consumers search social media and blogs for information about a product. This is a big deal for brands. If a woman is shopping for a new purse, and she searches “best trendy handbags,” the company will want their handbags to show up first! 

And, because consumers tend not to trust big companies, they’ll scroll past the brands promoting their own products, and instead find a fashion blogger with a list of her favorite on trend purses. She’ll make her decision on what to buy from there. This, of course, is why marketing firms want to use bloggers like you to promote their products. 

It’s likely that the percentage of people researching products via blogs and social media will continue to increase. So, marketing firms will keep pushing their marketing budget towards influencers like you that hold an important niche within their target audience. 

Increasing brand awareness is the primary goal for 86% of marketers when executing an influencer marketing campaign. 

If you’re worried about being too salesy with your social media campaigns, don’t be. Most of the time, a brand’s goal for their influencer marketing campaigns is to increase brand awareness. This means the sole expectation is not to sell products and services. You won’t feel like a fourth grader going door-to-door begging your neighbors to buy magazines, so the school can buy new books. No way! 

You simply create the same high quality content you always do. You just create it around a product or service. Unlike affiliate marketing, your income is not based on sales or clicks. Hopefully, this takes some of the pressure off! Just remember, the brand hired you to be you. So, don’t feel the need to push too hard. Just let your followers know how much you love this brand! 

Rates for influencer posts reached an all-time-high in 2021. 

Influencer marketing is not only lucrative for brands, it’s lucrative for you! In 2021, rates were at an all-time-high for influencers at all levels (including nano and micro!). On average, an Instagram story makes $906, an Instagram post makes $1,170, and a Pinterest post makes $2,114 (Remember, Pinterest posts have the longest lifespan.) This makes influencer marketing a great choice for monetization to make your blog your full-time job! 

96% of marketers consider credibility, transparency, and follower quality as the most important factors when choosing an influencer. 

We’ve already learned that follower count isn’t everything when brands are finding influencers. Not at all! In fact, when finding influencers, marketing firms look for authenticity and super engaged followers. We bet you’ve already got this! (If not, you’re well on your way.) 

Brands working with influencers often find the customers gained from influencer campaigns are better than customers gained elsewhere. Better how? They’re more loyal and engaged! They’ll buy more products, promote more often, and boost the brand’s overall social media presence. This makes the return on investment for influencer marketing substantial! 

Of course, this is great news for your blog. You are already following the three ranking principles and providing quality, trustworthy, and relevant content to your audience. So, the likelihood of a brand choosing you as a representative of their product is very good if you are credible, transparent, and manage a stellar community. 

Brands are spending more of their marketing budget every year on influencers like you! 

Being a micro-influencer isn’t less than being a mega-influencer. Your standing as a micro-influencer makes your blog attractive to digital marketing firms. And, it will open up doors for brand collaborations that will help you monetize your blog and propel you toward your influencer dreams. 

Continue making quality and relatable content and don’t be afraid to reach out to brands for partnerships. You’re more than ready and they’ll be more than willing to join forces with you and capture your niche. Your audience and voice are valuable to marketers. They need your brand! So, don’t be afraid to shoot for the moon and begin your first brand partnership. 

If you’re looking for more information on how to develop brand collaborations or build your blog, check out our blog! We’ve got all the information you’ll need to gain followers, rank high on search engine results pages, and turn your blogging goals into reality. Let’s do this together!