Two thirds of retailers want to work more closely with social media influencers
Research has found that two thirds of e-commerce retailers want to work more closely with social media influencers, with the majority believing that their brand appearing on influential social media accounts would ‘vastly improve’ their marketing efforts.
A survey has revealed that two thirds of retailers operating online are looking to use social media influencers in their future marketing campaigns, with influential British blogger Zoella and plus-sized model Tess Holliday voted as the dream influencers to work with.
The team at affilinet polled over 500 representatives of e-commerce retailers as part of the research conducted online. In order to be eligible for the study, all respondents stated that they considered themselves to be ‘decision-makers’ in their company.
Working with bloggers and influencers
Initially, all respondents were asked whether they had any experience working with bloggers or social media influencers, to which just under a quarter (24%) stated that they had. When the respondents were then asked about their future plans, more than half (51%) stated that they wanted to do more activity with bloggers, while 67% stated that they wanted to do more activity with social media influencers, described as having very popular accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest or other similar platforms.
All respondents who had already worked with social media influencers and bloggers were asked to reveal the most effective means of driving sales through these channels (selecting more than one answer if they wanted to), to which ‘offering exclusive discounts/vouchers’ was revealed as the most popular method (71%), while ‘indepth reviews’ came second (39%), followed by ‘giveaways and freebies’ (14%) and ‘competitions’ (11%).
Who would you like to work with?
The respondents who stated that they would like to work with bloggers and social media influencers in the future were asked who their dream partners would be; if the budget was unlimited. The top five dream influencers and bloggers according to online retailers were revealed below:
- Zoella – fashion and beauty vlogger – 21%
- Tess Holliday – plus size model – 19%
- Kayla Itsines – health and fitness advisor – 17%
- Sophie Hannah Richardson – beauty blogger – 15%
- Jessie Pavelka – fitness expert and television host – 14%
UK managing director at affilinet, Helen Southgate, said the following: “Retailers that are yet to start working with bloggers and other online influencers are missing out on an excellent marketing opportunity and one that could deliver a huge return. Providing that there is total transparency when retailers work with influencers, it’s certainly one of the best ways to generate a wider general awareness and help to increase sales. After all, bloggers aren’t referred to as influencers for no reason; they have huge sway on their audience’s opinions and buying habits.”
