• Marketing Land
  • Sections
    • CMO
    • Social
    • SEM
    • SEO
    • Analytics
    • Display
    • Retail
    • MarTech
    • Resources
    • More
    • Home
  • Marketing Land
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Analytics
  • Display
  • Retail
  • MarTech
  • Resources
  • More
  • SUBSCRIBE

Marketing Land

Marketing Land
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Analytics
  • Display
  • Retail
  • MarTech
  • Resources
  • More
  • Home
  • Newsletters
  • Home
Social Media Marketing

Instagram influencers posting 150% more sponsored content than a year ago

Micro-influencers account for the majority of influencers posting on the platform.

Amy Gesenhues on May 6, 2019 at 2:22 pm
  • More

Once upon a time, influencer marketing was reserved for brands putting their products in the hands of high-profile public figures and celebrities, but social media — Instagram in particular — has changed the game. Now, the majority of Instagram influencers are “micro-influencers” with fewer than 10,000 followers according, to a new report from Socialbakers.

The report is based on activity by more than 12 million Instagram influencers between the first quarter of 2018 through the first quarter of this year and categorizes influencers into three categories: micro-influencers, macro-influencers who have anywhere from 10,000 to 50,000 followers, and celebrities who often have accounts with a million or more followers. During the past year, the combined amount of sponsored content on Instagram for all three categories of influencers in North America has jumped 150%.

Influencers, fashion and beauty. The majority of influencers work with fashion brands, however the beauty industry is seeing the highest number of mentions.

A total of 308,865 influencers connected to the fashion industry accounted for a combined 1.6 million mentions. The beauty industry, which has 257,218 influencers, saw three times the activity with more than 4.8 million mentions by influencers in 2018.

Mixing up formats. In 2017, 91% of influencer posts were single images. Now, they are posting more videos and carousel posts, with single image posts accounting for 71% of their content. Carousel posts, which can contain a mix of up to 10 images and videos, make up 18% of influencer posts. Videos still make up just 10% of influencer content.

Disclosures increasing. During the past year, more than a quarter of celebrity influencers with more than a million followers used the #Ad hashtag in their sponsored content, an increase of 133% from 2017. The report found that posts with #Ad hashtag disclosures saw similar engagement as posts without the hashtag.

Why we should care. Instagram has quickly become the primary social platform for influencer brand engagement — surpassing Facebook.

“When we look at engagement on an absolute level, Instagram has a lot more engagement for brands than Facebook, despite having a significantly smaller audience size,” said Socialbaker’s CEO Yuval Ben-Itzhak believes Ben-Itzhak.

The good news for SMBs and companies lacking the ad budgets of major brands is that influencer marketing relatively affordable, particularly when working with micro or niche influencers.

Socialbakers reports micro-influencers are not collaborating with the big brands or creating relationships across industry lines like celebrity influencers who can easily earn six-figures for one sponsored post. The trick is to know who the influencers are in your industry and connect with the ones whose style and voice — and followers — align with your brand and marketing objectives.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.



About The Author

Amy Gesenhues
Amy Gesenhues was a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land, Search Engine Land and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.

Related Topics

Channel: Social Media MarketingFacebookFacebook: Apps & App CenterFacebook: InstagramFacebook: MarketingSocial Media Marketing

We're listening.

Have something to say about this article? Share it with us on Facebook, Twitter or our LinkedIn Group.

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.
See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

MarTech 2021: March 16-17

MarTech 2021: Sept. 14-15

MarTech 2020: Watch On-Demand

×

Attend MarTech - Click Here


Learn More About Our MarTech Events

April 13, 2021: SMX Create

May 18-19, 2021: SMX London

June 8-9, 2021: SMX Paris

June 15-16, 2021: SMX Advanced

June 21-22, 2021: SMX Advanced Europe

August 17, 2021: SMX Convert

November 9-10, 2021: SMX Next

December 14, 2021: SMX Code

Available On-Demand: SMX

Available On-Demand: SMX Report

×


Learn More About Our SMX Events

White Papers

  • B2B Marketing Trends Shaping 2021
  • State of Email Marketing 2021 Report
  • Three Pillars of CRM Data Management
  • What Customer Experience Means in 2021
  • The 7 Phases of a Website Redesign
See More Whitepapers

Webinars

  • Crawl Your Way Towards Better Search Results With Dynamic Rendering
  • The AI Revolution Is Coming to Every Stage of Your Buyer’s Journey
  • The Fundamentals of Link Building for E-Commerce & Affiliate Sites in 2021
See More Webinars

Research Reports

  • Local Marketing Solutions for Multi-Location Businesses
  • Enterprise Digital Asset Management Platforms
  • Identity Resolution Platforms
  • Customer Data Platforms
  • B2B Marketing Automation Platforms
  • Call Analytics Platforms
See More Research

Attend SMX For Only $99

h
Receive daily marketing news & analysis.

Channels

  • MarTech
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Mobile
  • Analytics
  • Retail
  • Display

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • SMX

Resources

  • White Papers
  • Research
  • Webinars

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS
  • Youtube

© 2021 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.