Influencer marketing seems to be unstoppable. Valued at $21.1 billion, the industry has grown by 1,135.29% since 2016, according to Influencer Marketing Hub’s 2023 Benchmark Report. This global trend also applies to Central Florida, where companies and organizations of all sizes — including our tourism board and small retail businesses — have tapped into the marketing method that was once considered an outlier.
When the first influencer marketing agency in the world opened up shop in downtown Orlando in 2006, marketers wondered how Izea Worldwide Inc. would fare. Typically, marketers like to control messages about the brands they represent. Conversely, influencer marketing gives power to spokespeople outside an organization’s control. Would it flop?
“Influencer marketing is incredibly effective at driving consumer engagement, awareness, and action,” Ted Murphy, IZEA chairman and CEO, said in a prepared statement. “Our research shows that half of U.S. consumers have purchased a product after seeing it used by a social media influencer.”
Orlando Business Journal asked Alexander Maurice, an independent consultant from Kissimmee who works with area businesses and influencers to optimize their content campaigns, about what businesses need to know regarding influencer marketing to make the most of it.
What should businesses look for when choosing influencers to work with?
Find TikTok, Instagram and YouTube creators who already have an audience that would find your product or service appealing, and check out the other content they have made. It should feel like a fit for the message you want to deliver.
Which businesses in the area are doing a good job with their influencer marketing efforts?
To make a full assessment of a campaign, you’ve got to look at the data and know how many conversions you had. That can mean products sold or tickets purchased. The data tells the success story.
Even without that information, we can look at a campaign from a distance and talk about its qualities. Visit Orlando was looking to reach a more diverse audience, so this year it partnered with creators Kellee Edwards and Fernanda Romero to roll out the welcome mat to their audiences for an Orlando vacation. These influencers are pretty well known — it would be great to see the return on investment for those campaigns. To track that, businesses can use certain analytics platforms or a shopping code that’s entered during checkout. That way you know which purchases resulted from a campaign.
What is the difference between influencer marketing and a user-generated content campaign?
A small business in Icon Park on International Drive, Breathe Wellness Oxygen Bar, has a TikTok account with user-generated content (UGC) that hits the mark. UGC is when a content creator makes content and a brand buys it and posts it to their own social media pages. Audiences tend to trust recommendations when the content feels authentic and not too produced or contrived.
Influencer marketing, on the other hand, is when a content creator makes content and posts it on their own social media accounts. That content can be authentic, too. The main difference is where the content is shared.
Is UGC ever contracted in advance?
Yes. A business can reach out to a creator and make an offer by defining the scope of work and the amount it is willing to pay. The creator will make the content and send it to the business.
But there’s another way to do it. You can search social media channels for content that creators have made about your brand. Keep in mind that TikTok is the primary search tool for Generation Z. They don’t use Google the way older generations do. So search TikTok for your brand and see what content comes up. If you like what you find, reach out to those creators and make an offer for the content.
I searched Give Kids the World — that’s a nonprofit in Kissimmee — and found tons of good UGC. If Give Kids the World is ever looking for content to share on their channels, it already exists. All they have to do is establish a budget, reach out and ask for it.
What are the going rates for influencer content and UGC?
When you contract with social media influencers for content they will post on their own accounts, you’re paying for their creativity plus access to their audiences. The rates vary depending on which platforms they are on and how many followers they have. A following of 100,000 on YouTube is worth a lot more than a following of 100,000 on TikTok, for example. There’s more to it than that. Some people deal with it subjectively and others like it’s a science. Factors that weigh in can be how niche an audience is, how affluent, how local and other things.
With UGC, the rates tend to be lower, with an average of $200 per video. Creators set their rates based on what they’ve gotten before and what they think they can get in the future. There’s no harm in guestimating and reaching out with an offer. The worst they can do is say no.
Going rates for influencer marketing content
- 1,000-9,999 followers: $10-$100 per post
- 10,000-49,999 followers: $100-$500 per post
- 50,000-499,999 followers: $500-$5,000 per post
- 500,000-999,999 followers: $5,000-$10,000 per post
- 1,000,000-plus followers: $10,000-plus per post
TikTok
- 1,000-9,999 followers: $800 per post
- 10,000-49,999 followers: $1,500 per post
- 50,000-499,999 followers: $3,000 per post
- 500,000-999,999 followers: $5,000 per post
- 1,000,000-plus followers: $7,000-plus per post
YouTube
- 50,000 to 99,999 channel subscribers: $500 to $1,000 per video
- 100,000 to 499,999 channel subscribers: $1,000 to $3,000 per video
- 500,000-plus channel subscribers: $3,000 to 5,000-plus per video
- 1,000,000-plus channel subscribers: $20,000-plus per video
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