The 2024 Edition of the InSIdE Observatory confirms consumers’ affection for influencers and the strength of this channel on purchases
Since 2021, Eumetra and Pulse Advertising have been conducting the InSIdE Observatory (Influencers Stories Identity Evolution), focusing on the relationship between influencer marketing and consumers. It’s a strong relationship, with 29 million people (half of the Italian population) actively following an influencer.
The Observatory offers three key insights for companies looking to develop or already running influencer marketing programmes.
- Content is king.
- Influencers are their own personal conversion index Awareness/Following.
- When consumers buy products in certain categories, they do not exclude others.
Content is King
In the 2024 edition of the InSIdE Observatory, an interesting evolution is observed in a relationship that remains healthy and affectionate: the role of the “character” is relativized, and content is more highly valued.
The Observatory continuously records three main reasons why consumers follow an influencer:
1. Person-related reasons: “I follow because I like them”, “because they attract me”, “because I’m curious about their life”. These motivations are still the most mentioned, but show a decreasing trend (-2% year on year).
2. Product-related reasons: “They offer opportunities, discounts on products that interest me”, “They help me discover products of my interest”. These motivations are on the rise (+3% year on year, from 43% to 46%).
3. Content-related reasons: “I find what they say interesting”, “They entertain me, make me laugh”. These are also increasing (+3% from 41% to 44%).
While trust is still the main reason for following an influencer (people trust people), “what is published” is growing in importance.
It’s no coincidence that the primary reason for unfollowing an influencer is “boredom” (27%), followed by “too much advertising, sponsorships” (22%), “sharing fake, overly constructed content” (21%, +4% compared to last year). Essentially, they don’t talk about “my passions, what interests me”. For the more news-conscious: scandals and similar issues matter little or nothing (9%).
Here is an important first insight: an influencer (or rather a team, as a single influencer is an ambassador) should not be chosen simply because she/he is a particular person (more or less well-known, more or less followed) but because her/his editorial plan and audience align with us. Relatability is the key to successful influencer campaigns.
An Internal Conversion Index
The intrinsic weakness of purely social metrics is well-known: a fan base doesn’t imply engagement, and pure engagement is often achieved with means rarely related to our communication (children, animals, elderly people, grandparents, assertive and provocative stances get more likes than ADV posts).
Focusing on branded content might help, but it’s a solution for content choice, not influencer team selection.
Excluding “obvious” reasons (availability, not working for the competition, agency can engage them, liked by the boss or – worse – the boss’s daughter), there are two ways to identify potential creators:
1. Verify the attention our audience might give.
2. Use indices that mix social and non-social performance.
On this point, the InSIdE Observatory has defined a conversion index of Awareness: out of 100 people who spontaneously mention an influencer, it calculates how many actively follow them. For instance, Benedetta Rossi has a conversion rate of 94% (almost all who mention her follow her), and the collective Geopop has 90%, while the well-known Chiara Ferragni is followed by only 44% of those who know her.
Second insight: the concepts of mega or micro influencers are conveniently defined by the number of followers, but they are partial and sometimes misleading. How well an influencer converts to “active” following is perhaps a question to consider when starting a collaboration.
Predicting the Impact of Influencer Marketing on Categories
In the early days of influencer marketing (forgive us, we’re talking about a few years ago, but in the digital world a few years is an “era”), the set of themes a person focused on was very limited: food blogger, gamer, traveller were classifications often used because they allowed for choosing an influencer based on the product category to be promoted.
Secondly, precise metrics calculate the conversion activation of influencer marketing campaigns.
One of the worst mistakes would be seeing these two facts as static. When asked, “Which products have you considered in the last 30 days because you saw them narrated by an influencer?” macro categories like beauty, fashion, and food are mentioned.
But if we ask, “In which of these sectors could influencer-promoted content push you to purchase something in the next year?” other categories emerge: travel, tech, entertainment.
Third and final insight: consumers are always aware. During the Cambridge Analytica era, they knew their data was the currency for accessing an ocean of content and relational opportunities (those surprised belonged to a class of thought that considers people incompetent and uninformed). Today, they know very well that creators are paid by brands and live off creating content to promote, tell stories about, and push products. They expect this promotion to increase, diversify, and change… remember? Boredom is always lurking.
Allow us one final insight: like any communication action, knowledge is the basis of effective decisions. Only by understanding the consumer can informed and effective decisions be made.
The InSIdE Observatory is a study conceived and promoted by Eumetra and Pulse Advertising, based on a sample of 2000 cases of Italians over 15 years old. It is part of Eumetra’s suite of insight-based consultancy solutions called “New Brand and Media Checker.” For the next edition of the Observatory, we are considering expanding the investigation of influencer marketing to the European market as a whole.
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