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Influencer Marketing in the United States

There has been a lot written and discussed around influencer marketing. It is probably one of the most important marketing strategies to engage, especially when going into new markets such as the United States, on a limited budget.  Spend time learning about influencer marketing,  locating, and reaching out to the key influencers in the US who can help you succeed.

What is an influencer?

Influencers are people that others pay attention to within an industry, social circle, entertainment, or other target group of people. They typically have access to a network of people through social media, mass media, digital media, universities, trade and consumer conferences, and events.  Often these influencers are well known within an industry or social group.

Influencers can mention, use, recommend and critique products and services within their vast influencer networks, and their influence can help promote and advocate for a brand, as well as hurt brands.  Especially powerful influencers that are really on-target can drive people to act on things above and beyond increasing awareness, such as influencing them to purchase a product or service.

Every market and group of people has influencers and the US is no different. On most subjects you can find a list of top bloggers, and depending on their subject matter, they will use different platforms to get their messages out. Within the last several years, industries with the most influence reach in the United States have been food (especially around healthy and varied eating habits), lifestyle, parenting, beauty, and DIY. As we’ll discuss further on, you’ll want to make sure that the influencers with whom you are cultivating a relationship will reach your target audience in the medium they are most likely to use.

What is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing is unique in that you develop a strategy to market directly to influencers that you’ve identified in relevant prospect groups instead of the markets themselves, with the goal of having the influencer market your brand to their audiences. It’s similar to “Word of Mouth” marketing except that it’s specifically targeted to people of influence. Influencer marketing is primarily accomplished through digital and social media, and at times, events.

Why does influencer marketing work?

As consumers, we naturally trust the opinions and recommendations from people we have a relationship with more than we trust brands. Influencers have worked hard on developing trust with their audiences and this loyalty then allows them to introduce people to new ideas, products, and services that they think are interesting.

The network effect of an influencer connecting with their audience as well as the friends and family members is powerful.

Another reason influencer marketing works is that most people have become blind to traditional advertising because they are bombarded with marketing messages and commercials. Because people choose to pay attention to influencers, they are then open to being exposed to brands in an indirect way.  And they are often better customers once they’ve found a product or service.

Quality of Customers Acquired Through Influencer Marketing in the US (2023): Insights from Tomoson

Tomoson, a leading influencer marketing platform, paints a positive picture of customer quality in the US for 2023. Here's a breakdown of their key findings:

High Customer Quality:

80%+ of marketers surveyed by Tomoson believe influencer marketing attracts higher-quality customers. This could be due to the personalized connections influencers foster with their audience, leading to more engaged and brand-loyal buyers.

$6.50 revenue for every $1 invested: This impressive ROI suggests that influencer-acquired customers not only convert but also spend more, contributing significantly to a brand's bottom line.

Reasons for High Quality

Personalized connections: Influencers build trust and rapport with their followers, creating a more receptive audience for brand messaging. This personalized touch can lead to deeper product understanding and appreciation, translating into loyal customers.

Targeted reach: Influencer marketing allows brands to reach specific demographics and niches, ensuring their message resonates with the right audience. This targeted approach attracts customers genuinely interested in the brand's offerings.

Authentic recommendations: Consumers are increasingly wary of traditional advertising, placing greater value on peer recommendations. Influencer marketing leverages this trust by featuring genuine product endorsements, attracting customers who believe in the brand's value proposition.

Synergies between influencer marketing and inbound marketing

Another very important modern marketing approach is “Inbound Marketing”. This is the strategy of creating content such as articles, webinars, podcasts, videos, infographics, and other desirable content that can be downloaded and viewed from your website. In order to gain access to the content, people are asked to provide their email address and at times some information about themselves. Distributing and promoting that desirable inbound marketing content via influencers with a much larger audience than yours will magnify the contacts you get from your content alone.

Who are your influencers in the United States?

When looking to identify influencers, the place to start is to identify your target customers and people you would like to influence. What types of media do they pay attention to? What social media platforms do they use? What blogs do they read, which Instagram and Twitter influencers do they follow? What are your competitors and others in your industry using to reach customers using influencer marketing?

Americans get their information about the US and the world most from TV news and second most from the internet. Their third most used source is friends and colleagues. Facebook has the largest share of visits of the social media platforms and is considered by marketing professionals to be the second most effective influencer marketing platform behind blogs.

Top Platforms for Influencer Marketing in the US (2023): Marketers' Perspective from Tomoson

As influencer marketing continues to dominate the digital landscape, understanding the most effective platforms is crucial for brands seeking success in the US market. According to Tomoson's 2023 State of Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report, marketers have clear favorites:

The Big Three:

1. Instagram: The undisputed champion, with 76.7% of marketers planning to leverage its visual prowess and engaged audience for influencer campaigns in 2023. This represents a 4.1% increase from 2022, solidifying its dominance.

2. YouTube: The video king holds strong at 44.2% usage, particularly for long-form content, product demonstrations, and in-depth storytelling. Marketers appreciate its ability to educate and build trust with viewers.

3. TikTok: The rising star, especially for Gen Z and millennial audiences. 18.5% of marketers are already using its short-form video format for trendy product placements and challenges, with projections indicating a significant rise to 25.5% by 2024.

While the top three platforms reign supreme, others hold niche potential:

• Facebook: Though usage dipped slightly to 40.4%, its powerful targeting capabilities and integration with Instagram make it relevant for specific demographics and campaign objectives.

• Twitter: At 25.5%, Twitter's real-time conversations and thought leadership focus attract marketers targeting B2B audiences and fostering brand discussions.

• Snapchat: Embraced by 14.4% of marketers, Snapchat's disappearing content and Gen Z-heavy user base offer unique opportunities for interactive and immersive brand experiences.

Emerging Players:

• Long-form platforms: Blogs, podcasts, and newsletters are experiencing a resurgence, particularly for B2B and thought leadership campaigns.

• Metaverse platforms: As the metaverse evolves, brands are cautiously exploring its potential for influencer marketing, particularly in the fashion and gaming industries.

Relevance

The US influencer marketing landscape is dynamic, with established platforms like Instagram and YouTube leading the charge and new contenders like TikTok emerging rapidly. Understanding marketer preferences and platform strengths is crucial for navigating this ever-changing ecosystem and maximizing campaign impact. 

While marketers favor specific platforms, there is emphasis on the importance of aligning platform choice with target audience and campaign goals. A shoe brand might thrive on TikTok, while a software company might find success on LinkedIn.

Relevant context is everything. Even though someone is influential, that doesn’t mean that they will influence the people you want to influence. A lot of celebrities have large audiences but they may not be a great fit for a B2B software company looking to reach businesses that will test their software.

Reach

Not only does relevance of the audience matter, the size of an audience also matters. Larger influencers typically have very structured ways such as tiered advertising and paid sponsorship to allow access to their audiences. Their influence strength may also be diluted because their audience size doesn’t allow them to develop a deep relationship. Sometimes the smaller and mid-sized influencers have the best relationships with their audiences and are more flexible in testing out products, promoting your brand, and often have a variety of different pricing options.  

Keep in mind when working with influencers that they are very selective in which brands they will promote and you will not have control over what an influencer says about your product or service once they know about it.

Defining your influencer strategy for the United States

As with everything in marketing, being intentional and strategic in identifying and planning to connect with influencers is the best approach.

Don’t put influencers in the US all into one bucket. Separate them by the following and develop a strategy for reaching each group:
 

• Influencer type: blogger, Facebook influencer, Instagram influencer, Twitter influencer, different social groups, and market types
   
• Topic of interest and what they talk about: technology, food, parenting, etc.
   
• Size of audience: larger professional bloggers, smaller non-professional bloggers, customer prospects, etc.
   
• Priority: audience size, openness to working together, cost to access audience, relevance, context, and level of influence
   

How to find influencers in the US

There are several ways to find influencers, all of them are helpful in narrowing down the right ones to help you reach your target markets.  

• Globig Connect: Globig has identified and listed key influencers in the United States in a variety of niches that can help you with your influencer strategy. You can find them in Globig Connect.
   
• Google Alerts: By setting up alerts for the different topics relevant for you, you can monitor the bloggers that write about the topics as well as social media influencers that discuss those same topics.
   
• Blog searching ‘Best-of’s, Top 10’s’: Searching for reviews of the top blogs by country is a great way to get a list of possible blog contenders such as the best fashion blogs in the USA, top software blogs in United States, and other descriptive searches will help you get started. Once you have a couple of blogs you like, you can then search using comparison sites such as http://www.similarsites.com/ to find other blogs in the same genre.
   
• Social media influencer tools: To identify social media influencers, there are several excellent free tools available to use such as Followerwonk.com by Moz, BuzzSumo.com, and Kred. These allow you to search primarily Twitter but also other social sites to identify top influencers by keywords.
   
• Social media monitoring tools: There are many free social media monitoring tools which allow you to monitor conversations and topics of interest within different social sites. Each tool has its unique pro’s and con’s. Some of the more popular tools are SocialMention.com, Hootsuite, Addictomatic, and so many more. A great way to monitor social conversations is by relevant #hashtags since those are very focused on topics of conversations.

How do you reach out to influencers in the US?

Some of the ways you can engage with influencers are to appreciate and reward them by following them, commenting on their blog posts, discussing topics in forums and communities, commenting on Facebook posts, re-tweeting their tweets, giving them shout outs on your own social media, and quoting them in articles you write.  Again, you are building a mutually beneficial relationship with them and making it more likely that they will notice and engage with you.
 

Notes: Data reflects October 2023 trends and can change rapidly.Other platforms like TikTok have significant global presence but are not included in this table due to unavailable US-specific data.

You can send US influencers, especially bloggers, samples to try and free product as well as interesting content to share with their audiences. Free product does not guarantee the influencer will use or talk about your product, but it’s often an effective strategy. You can also offer to give away or discount a set amount of product to their audience as a part of a contest or game.
 

For some influencers in the US, you can ask if you can compensate them financially. After you have confirmed that they reach your targeted audience, that they are a legitimate, well-respected influencer, and ideally you have established a relationship with them, this is another viable approach. For very targeted influencers that are interested in your product, perhaps there is some sort of revenue share or commission relationship that makes sense.

The key to a strong influencer marketing strategy in the United States  is to consider a variety of the tactics mentioned throughout this page to see which work best for you. Influencer marketing is a great companion to your other marketing efforts as they will support each other. 

 

Tomoson's State of Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report 2023

Social Media Statcounter

Leading social media websites in the United States as of August 2023, based on share of visits