Benefits of Influencer Marketing [Data + Expert Insight]

The creator economy is built around influencers and their audiences.

As audiences put a significant amount of trust in their favorite influencers, it makes sense that marketers would want to pay more attention to influencer marketing than before.

This post will go over the data-backed benefits of using influencer marketing, along with insight from a HubSpot social media expert.

7 Benefits of Influencer Marketing

1. Influencer marketing has high ROI.

1 in 4 marketers that currently leverage influencer marketing report that it offers the second highest ROI of any marketing trend, so your investments in influencer marketing won’t go to waste.

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2. Influencers help you save money.

We’ve mentioned above that influencer marketing has a high ROI, so your marketing budgets are worth something.

You also have the potential to optimize your campaign budgets and see high ROI, especially when partnering with smaller micro-influencers (those with under 100k followers/subscribers).

In fact, of marketers that work with both large and small influencers, 44% say that the biggest benefit of working with small influencers is that it is less expensive.

3. Influencers are more trusted than friends and family for Gen Zers.

Gen Zers say that influencer recommendations are more important and impactful than those from friends and family. This means that the weight of influencer recommendations is much more powerful than before, as past trends have shown friends, family, or reviews from other consumers being the most impactful when making purchases.

Annabelle Nyst, Senior Content Manager, Brand Social, says about influencers, “Their followers pay attention to their guidance just as they would that from friends or family. That is far more powerful than some advertising copy.”

4. Influencers help you establish social proof and build awareness.

According to HubSpot’s 2022 Marketing Industry Trends Report, influencer marketing is the most popular and effective trend (with the highest ROI) in generating authentic content for your business, establishing social proof, and building brand awareness.

Nyst says, “Influencer marketing can be a really impactful tool for building brand awareness for your company and trust for your products or services. The power of influencer marketing lies in word-of-mouth marketing.”

They add, “Think of it this way: on the one hand, you have a brand telling you how cool it is and how its product is far superior to anything else on the market. On the other hand, you [audiences] have an individual who you’re already familiar with and whose opinions you trust and respect, telling you they love this brand’s product. Which are you more likely to trust?”

5. Influencers inspire purchases.

33% of Gen Zers have bought a product based on an influencer's recommendation in the past three months, so influencers have the unique ability to drive purchases for your business, especially among your younger audiences.

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6. You can establish long-term relationships.

Marketers say that a benefit to partnering with smaller influencers and creators is being able to develop long-term partnerships.

Long-term relationships are beneficial because they increase credibility with an influencer audience when their followers see that they continue to work with you, use your products and services, and trust that what they use serves them well.

7. Influencers help you share authentic content in a human way.

Nyst says, “Influencer marketing doesn’t just get you in front of the audience you’re trying to reach — it gets you there in a way that feels authentic and human.” They add that influencer messaging comes through as a recommendation or mention from a real person who has built a dedicated community based on trust.

As consumers have moved away from sales to drive leads-type ads and more humanized content, a recommendation from a trusted influencer helps you inspire sales by building upon a pre-existing relationship.

P.S. If you need help creating an influencer marketing strategy, we've got you covered there, too. 

Over to You

As the creator economy grows, influencer marketing will only become more popular and necessary. The stats and insight in this post show that investing in it will help your business.