The Read
Finding Goldilocks Influencers: How Follower Count Drives Social Media Engagement (Simone Wies, Alexander Bleier, and Alexander Edeling, Journal of Marketing 2022)
The research from this study finds an inverted U-shape relationship between the number of Instagram followers an influencer has and the performance of influencer-based marketing campaigns.
The inflection point for post engagements is around 1mn followers in an influencer marketing campaign – although this doesn’t include cost structure as a factor. (Story engagement is lower than post engagement.)
In other words, more followers is only better up to a point. Optimizing for follower count is more important than simply signing influencers with the highest number of followers, balancing the reach of the influencer (follower count) and the strength of their relationships with their followers (engagement).
Customization of the content and the audience’s familiarity with your brand flattens the shape of the curve — the optimization becomes less important so you don’t have to worry as much about the “right” number of followers and you reduce the risk of overpaying for performance.
Why It’s Interesting
Knowing that this is an optimization problem rather than assuming a linear relationship between follower count and performance will allow startups to better plan effective influencer marketing campaigns; know also that you need to tailor content for your audience (duh, hopefully) and be aware of the audience’s existing familiarity of your brand (are your marketing for awareness or for conversion; set expectations accordingly).
Further reading
- Linkedin post from Prof Wies announcing the paper
- Interview with Prof Wies about the paper on Tod Mafin’s pocast
- The Ten Equations That Rule the World: And How You Can Use Them Too, Chapter 5, “The Influencer Equation” by David Sumpter
What I’m Reading is my regular posting about news, science, and technology that is relevant for business, startups, and entrepreneurship, plus a brief analysis of why it’s interesting. Follow me on LinkedIn for more.
Share this
Ellen excels at product and UX.