There’s another “State of the Industry” report out this month. It actually came last week from Linqia, which is one of the enterprise influencer marketing software companies out there. These reports are always useful, so I like to report on them here on the show.
If you want to read the full report for yourself, which I encourage you to do, you go to their website and sign up and trade your email address for their research. You become a lead in their platform … that’s how B2B marketing often works. But it’s a fair trade and, who knows? Linqia might be just what your company needs. So, go do it. We’ll certainly share the link to do so in our show notes for this episode.
But Keith Bendes, who is the vice-president of strategy for Linqia is here today to dig into the highlights of the report with us. He is also the co-host of another great podcast, by the way. It’s called Creator Economy Live. So go check that out when you have a moment as well.
Keith knows the influencer space as well as anyone. And you know what that means … we just turned on the mics and cameras and had a fun conversation I think you’ll enjoy. We hit on plenty of the report insights as well, so you’ll be informed as much as or even more so entertained today on the show.
Here are some of the nuggets the report surfaces we’re going to touch on:
- Influencer Budgets are increasing. 75.5% of Linqia’s survey respondents either increased or remained unchanged from last year’s spending.
- Brands are using influencer content in more places. It’s no longer about organic posts with a few paid ads. Influencer creative is driving brand creative now.
- Paid amplification is bigger than you thought. More than half of brands are spending at least half their budgets on media amplification.
- But there are still challenges. ROI is still the big one.
- And of course, new topics like AI, Threads, and Creator Generated Content … which we’ll distinguish from User Generated Content makes its first appearance in the Linqia study.
We dig in more with Keith Bendes from Linqia today on the show.
This episode of Winfluence is presented by CIPIO.ai. We are helping brands transform their digital marketing with user-generated content videos and images at scale. Come see us at CIPIO.ai. If you want me to personally show you the platform and how we can solve your digital marketing performance problems with high-performing UGC, just go to jasonfalls.co/cipio … fill out that form and I’ll personally set up time to chat with you.
Find show notes for this episode at jasonfalls.co/keithbendes.
Links for this Episode
- Linqia’s The State of Influencer Marketing 2023: https://www.linqia.com/the-state-of-influencer-marketing-report-2023/
- Keith Bendes on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-bendes-b6aa5a8/
- Creator Economy Live on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5BuGSJ5OnOp6xnWNKqARcbScale UGC with CIPIO.ai: https://jasonfalls.co/cipio
Keith Bendes Episode Summary
In this episode of Winfluence – The Influence Marketing Podcast, host Jason Falls sits down with Keith Bendes, the vice-president of Strategy at Linqia, to discuss the findings from their State of Influencer Marketing 2023 report.
The conversation covers a range of fascinating topics, but let’s dive into the top three highlights:
- The Shifting Brand Needs:
According to the report, brands are now focusing more on reach rather than the size of a creator’s following when it comes to influencer-generated content. This shift is opening up opportunities for creators with smaller followings but who produce high-quality content. These creators often have professional backgrounds in production, making them a cost-efficient and faster option for brands. It’s an exciting development that is set to change the influencer marketing landscape. - The Rise of Creator-Generated Content:
Another interesting finding from the report is that brands are conducting tests on different types of content, including business as usual (BAU) content, influencer creator content, and a combination of both. Surprisingly, the combination of BAU and influencer creator content is yielding excellent results, leading to a potential shift away from heavily relying on professional production for new creative content. This trend highlights the increasing importance of collaborating with influencers to generate content specifically for owned and paid channels. - The Healthy and Growing Industry:
Bendes and Falls both agree that the influencer marketing industry is healthy and steadily growing. While there are challenges and hiccups along the way, the increasing budgets allocated to influencer marketing demonstrate its importance and effectiveness. They encourage listeners to explore the detailed State of Influencer Marketing 2023 report mentioned in the episode, as it covers a wide range of interesting topics and results.
These are just a few of the many insightful discussions covered in this episode.
Overall, this episode offers a wealth of valuable insights into the ever-evolving world of influencer marketing, backed by authoritative data and expert analysis. It’s a must-listen for anyone interested in staying ahead of the curve in this exciting industry.