30 Influencer Marketing Stats for 2021

It’s true - we now live in a world where 70% of teens trust influencers more than they do traditional celebrities. (Ok, maybe not the superstars in the main image wearing the Beambox t-shirts!)

Surprised? Don’t be. Influencer marketing is far more than a passing craze. It could have been just that, but over the last few years, the rise of the influencer has been simply meteoric.

It’s why there are an estimated 37 million channels on YouTube, thousands of which have over one million subscribers.

That’s just one platform, though. If you bring Instagram, TikTok and Twitter into the mix, you have billions of people hanging on the words and recommendations of influencers.

The best news is that influencer marketing is available for every brand, no matter the size of their marketing budget or the industry within which they sit. Influencers aren’t all on the PewDiePie scale; there are many thousands who operate in small niches and who need you as much as you need them.

But is it all really worth it? As always, the numbers do the talking.

30 influencer marketing stats that might surprise you

Before we look at the most important influencer marketing statistics by category, let’s look at some numbers which are likely to immediately grab your attention.

1. Consumers are five times more likely to increase their purchase intent after exposure to an influencer tweet. (source)

2. Influencer marketing campaigns are capable of earning $6.50 for every dollar spent. (source)

3. 67% of marketers are planning on increasing their budgets as a result of influencer marketing. (source)

4. It’s thought that 43% of internet users across the globe use ad-blocking software, thus providing even more opportunities for influencers to grab their attention. (source)

5. Around two-thirds of marketers are now actively engaging with influencers. (source)

Despite the undoubtedly impressive figures above, you might still have one overriding question.

👇🏻 Here’s an influencer campaign we prepared earlier! (Ok, so there may have been a little GCI magic…)

Is influencer marketing right for my business?

Although influencer marketing is making waves across virtually every industry, it isn’t for every business.

Alas, this is the same for any form of marketing. What benefits one brand may not benefit another. But there are some industries that benefit more wholesomely from influencer marketing.

According to research, these are the top 5 industries that get the most from influencer marketing.

• Food
• Lifestyle
• Parenting
• Beauty
• DIY

However, if you’re not in that list, don’t discount it just yet. Let’s look at a few more questions that might be on your mind and reveal the statistics behind the answers.

How effective is influencer marketing?

We learned earlier that consumers are increasingly trusting influencers more than they do celebrities or traditional adverts.

This stands to reason; for many people, influencers feel like friends. They watch all of their content, indulge in their social feeds and eagerly await whatever gets published next. But how effective is all of the attention that’s directed towards influencers?

1. For most influencers, a following of between 2,000 to 100,000 is the ideal sized audience for marketers (source)

2. Over 90% of the businesses using influencer marketing suggest that it is effective (source)

3. Most marketers say that the leads they gain from influencer marketing are of higher quality than those from other channels (source)

4. Over 10% of marketers suggest that influencer content is their most successful in terms of engagement (source)

5. Swedish watchmaker, Daniel Wellington, has grown to a multi-million-dollar brand almost solely via influencer marketing, from a $15,000 start-up (source)

Ready to give it a go? Read our guide: How to Find Influencers to Promote Your Venue

What platforms are most used in influencer marketing?

One of the most exciting things about influencer marketing is that it spans many different platforms.

The only downside of this is the fact that it can be a bit confusing where to direct your attention and budget. Thankfully, the statistics are beginning to reveal which platform are most useful for influencers.

1. Instagram is a clear winner for most influencers, with 9 out of 10 campaigns heading out via that platform (source)

2. The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a surge in TikTok usage, with nearly a quarter of users saying they’re sharing more influencer posts (source)

3. Despite the rise of Instagram and TikTok, influencers are still most active on Facebook with an average of 0.86 posts per day (source)

4. Engagement rates on TikTok remain the highest for influencer content, averaging around 7.7% (source)

5. Engagement rates on other platforms are 1.67% for Instagram, 0.15% on Facebook and only 0.043% on Twitter (source)

What budgets need to be set for influencer marketing?

This is one of the hardest elements of influencer marketing to get right. How much should you pay these people? How should you pay them (is a free product enough)?

The intricacies of influencer remuneration can be saved for another guide, but when it comes to budget setting, it’s a good idea to learn from what others are doing.

1. Nearly four in five businesses now create a dedicated influencer marketing budget (source)

2. 65% of businesses are planning to increase how much they spend on influencers (source)

3. Industry analysis suggests that businesses should allocate at least 25% of their total marketing budget to influencer marketing (source)

4. Worldwide spend on Instagram influencer marketing is thought to be around $8 billion (source)

What type of content works best for influencers?

This is where it gets exciting. The type of content created by influencers is so varied and it has the ability to draw a massive audience towards your brand with little to no effort on your part.

What other form of marketing can achieve that?

1. Photos still generate the most influencer engagement with the interaction rate on Instagram at around 1.8% (source)

2. Video is another highly engaging form of influencer content, with nearly 32% of marketers saying it is their preferred medium (source)

3. Challenges work brilliantly for influencers; in 2019, the #10yearchallenge gave Instagram influencers a 500% uplift in average engagement (source)

4. The most common types of content for influencer collabs are product launches, content promotion and event promos (source)

5. Most brands prefer influencers to create their own, original content from a brief (source)

How is the influencer industry performing?

With influencer marketing now firmly in the mainstream, it’s now an industry in its own right.

But how is it performing overall?

1. Large businesses are now using three times more micro-influencers than they were before (source)

2. 660 million creators work on collaborations with brands every year (source)

3. Over half of brands now engage with influencer agencies for their influencer marketing needs (source)

4. By the end of 2022, influencer marketing is expected to be worth $15 billion (source)

5. In the B2B sector, 34% of firms are now publishing content via influencers (source)

6. In the B2C world, nearly 40% of businesses use influencers to distribute content (source)

Conclusion

There are some impressive success stories for influencer marketing. Take the Canadian clothing brand, tentree, for instance, which leveraged Earth Week 2019 and the power of influencer marketing to generate 15.5 million likes and over 400,000 new followers.

That might seem out of your reach or entirely at odds with what you can achieve. But that really isn’t the point. As we’ve demonstrated today, influencer marketing is generating impressive numbers for businesses big and small.

It’s all relative, and influencer marketing is available for anyone who wants to explore one of the most cost-effective, high-ROI-driving forms of brand promotion available.