State of

Influencer
Marketing
2023
 Table of Contents
01 Introduction 3 04 Pricing & Budget 31
Understanding The Data 4 Cost Per Engagement 32
This Year’s Key Findings 5 Influencer Marketing Budgets Are Still Increasing 35
How to Compensate Creators Fairly 38
02 The Current State of Influencer Marketing 6
Economic Uncertainty Shakes (But Doesn’t Break) 05 Campaign Production & Content 40
Influencer Marketing 7 Campaign Overview 41
The Future of Commerce Is Social 12 Influencer-Generated Content: A Goldmine 43
The Evolution of Influence 15
06 Looking Back & Moving Forward 46
03 Social Channel Trends 18 How Has Influencer Marketing Changed Over the
Which Channels are Brands Investing In? 19 Past 5 Years? 47
Average Engagement Rate By Follower Count 21 6 Influencer Marketing Best Practices to Keep In Mind 51
Average Engagement By Platform 23 Our 2023 Predictions 54
Content Growth By Channel 25 Getting Started 56

2
01

Introduction
Welcome to The State of Influencer Marketing 2023.
This year officially marks our 10th year operating
in the influencer marketing space, and we’re thrilled
to be back with fresh insights and new strategies
to uplevel your campaigns in 2023 and beyond.
 01. Introduction

Understanding The Data This year, we’re leveraging

We’re excited to bring back our annual industry benchmark
this data to dive deep into:
report, The State of Influencer Marketing, for the fifth
consecutive year.
Industry trends for 2023
This report uses statistics from Aspire’s internal data,
as well as surveys of over 700 marketers and creators,
Influencer pricing benchmarks
to reveal insights about the ever-evolving influencer
marketing industry.
Growing social media platforms
Through our partnerships with Meta, Pinterest, and TikTok,
we gain API access to deeper audience insights from our How influencer marketing has
creators across various platforms. Hundreds of thousands changed over the last 5 years
of opt-in creators also grant us access to performance
data from their official social accounts, which allows us And much more
to track real-time, first-party data so we can share our
learnings in reports such as this one.

4
 01. Introduction

This Year’s Key Findings

Don’t have time to dive into the full report right now? Here are
the top trends and must-know insights from this year’s report.

Instagram continues In the last 12 months,

to be the most popular
channel for influencer
marketing, with Long-term partnerships 70%
are key in 2023. of influencers have

Despite navigating a
challenging economic
87% Nano and micro- 70%
increased their rates to
fit their growing audience
and boosted engagement.
of marketers and 90%
climate, of creators planning to influencers consistently of creators say long- That being said,
increase their presence achieve the highest term campaigns are

68% on the platform in

2023. However, the
engagement rate across
all platforms, which is why
their favorite way to
work with brands and 83%
of influencers are willing
of brands plan to high engagement rates 52% of brands are
increase their influencer
marketing budgets
that YouTube and TikTok
creators achieve validate 69% already running brand
ambassador programs
to work with a brand
for just free products,
in 2023, indicating the that video presents of marketers today to build deeper, more as long as they love the
value and effectiveness a bigger opportunity are working with these genuine relationships brand or the product
of this channel. in the coming year. smaller creators. with creators. value is high.

5
02

The Current State

of Influencer Marketing
In this section, let’s discuss the most pressing elements affecting
the current state of influencer marketing: our challenging economic
climate, the growing importance of digital commerce, and the
evolving definition of ‘influence.’
 02. The Current State of Influencer Marketing

Economic
Uncertainty Shakes
(But Doesn’t Break)
Influencer Marketing
With surging costs for goods and increasing talks
of a recession, we’re starting to navigate a turbulent
economic climate. Companies are being forced to take
a second look at their marketing strategies to prepare
for our imminent reality, while consumers are shifting
their budgets and changing up their shopping habits
to buy fewer items from fewer brands — signaling not
only short-term impacts of economic uncertainty, but
also long-term consumer behavioral shifts towards
value and convenience.

7
 02. The Current State of Influencer Marketing

During a time when consumers are being

more economically conscious, marketing
is not optional — it’s essential.
Instead of eliminating your marketing budget
altogether, it’s been historically proven that the best
way to thrive during a recession is to reallocate
marketing spend towards budget-friendly and
purpose-driven channels.

The good news is that the value of influencer

marketing is not limited to its ability to boost
brand awareness on social media. On the contrary,
influencer marketing can be a channel that provides
brands with a plethora of benefits from content
creation at scale, community building, sales, and
more. Given the uncertainty of the future, it’s
necessary to invest in marketing strategies that
contribute to a wide range of company goals.

8
 02. The Current State of Influencer Marketing

Here’s how integrating influencers into your 2023 strategies

can recession-proof your brand:

Influencers link brands with their

communities. Influencers act as thought starters
within their communities and have the ability to foster
1:1 connections that people crave. By leveraging
influencer relationships to build a sense of belonging
and community with other like-minded consumers,
brands can build and nurture customer relationships
and boost customer loyalty — which is more
important now than ever.

Influencers create content at scale without

a need for a studio. Not only does community-
generated content resonate more with consumers,
but for the cost of one in-house photoshoot, brands
can generate hundreds of pieces of diverse content
by leveraging influencers, as well as other members
of your brand community. Think of these creators as

9
 02. The Current State of Influencer Marketing

individual content creation studios — they’re often

skilled in photography, videography, editing, creative
directing, and much more. With proper content usage
rights, you can even repurpose influencer content
across all of your marketing channels. By doing so,
you’re able to stretch the impact of the content you
already own, lower customer acquisition costs (CAC),
and boost your return on ad spend (ROAS).

Influencers provide the social proof

that consumers demand. When consumers
are holding their wallets closer to their chest,
recommendations from people they trust hold more
weight than ever. Partnering with niche influencers
who are true fans of your brand resonates with
consumers and provides validation and trust. Social
proof from influential brand partners can help brands
acquire new customers, retain current ones, and
most importantly increase customer lifetime value.

10
 02. The Current State of Influencer Marketing

For all of these reasons and more, brands are planning

to invest more into influencer marketing in the coming
year, despite the current state of the economy. In fact, What percentage of your marketing budget
in 2022, brands allocated an average of 25% of their goes towards influencer marketing?
entire marketing budgets to influencer marketing. But
in 2023, this number is expected to lift as 68% of brands 0 25% 100

plan to increase their influencer marketing budgets.

Do you plan to increase or decrease your

influencer marketing budget in the coming year?

9% 23% 68%

11
 02. The Current State of Influencer Marketing

The Future of Social commerce:

Commerce Is Social
a subset of ecommerce
that entails selling
products directly on
social media, allowing
the entire shopping
There’s a revolution happening in the world of commerce.
experience — including
We saw the shift to ecommerce accelerate immensely
product discovery,
in 2020 as people started social distancing and moving
research, and checkout
away from visiting brick-and-mortar stores. With no signs
— to take place on a
of slowing down, the ecommerce market is estimated to
social media platform.
be worth a staggering $6.7 trillion by 2024.

To grab a piece of the ecommerce pie in this saturated

market, brands need to lean into social commerce to shopping is made into a collective experience. Online
keep touchpoints with consumers throughout the entire communities can engage in conversations around
buyer’s journey. a brand, share product feedback with other consumers,
and influence each other’s purchasing decisions.
Consumers have historically interacted with ecommerce
sites individually and independently from other So, how can brands start leveraging social commerce
customers. However, through social commerce, online as an effective sales-driving channel?

12
 02. The Current State of Influencer Marketing

Step 1: Step 2: Step 3: Step 4:

Find well-aligned Unlock the power of Keep a close eye Take advantage of the
creators who are the creator economy on the metrics in-app commerce tools
true brand fans. by activating these creators to determine the highest that social platforms have
Creators have dedicated to lead the conversation. performers. Depending on available and repurpose your
audiences, oftentimes in The partnership can take your goals, this may mean the highest-performing content
a specialty niche, that trust several forms: creators can influencer’s post garners the into shoppable ads — or even
their recommendations, showcase before-and-after most engagement on social, better, an allowlisted ad. That
opinions, and experiences. shots of using your product, or that the creator drove the way, you can target specific
provide an honest review or most clicks to your website. audiences with content that
testimonial about your brand, is engaging and native to the
walk through a tutorial of platform, and provide them
how they apply your product with a clear call-to-action
to their everyday life — the that seamlessly allows them
possibilities are endless. The to make purchases — all
point is to raise awareness without ever leaving the app.
about your brand and
educate your target audience
around your products.
13
 02. The Current State of Influencer Marketing

Our survey revealed that brands that are already

leaning into this strategy attribute 29% of their
sales to social commerce. That’s nearly a third What percentage of your sales
of all of their sales! comes from social commerce?
0 29% 100

14
 02. The Current State of Influencer Marketing

The Evolution of Influence

For the last couple of years, we’ve seen the influencer
marketing industry grow to be more inclusive — not just in
terms of brands keeping diversity top of mind, but also by
expanding their definition of ‘influence.’

It started with brands working with smaller creators, like nano-

and micro-influencers (those with less than 60,000 followers),
to leverage their highly engaged audiences and lower cost-
per-engagement. Now, the definition of ‘influence’ is evolving
even more to include not only those that fall into the category
of social media influencers, but also loyal customers, industry
experts, and more. Particularly with the rise of TikTok, we’ve
seen more and more “regular” people driving awareness and
sales for brands through their organic content.

That’s why brands have started leveraging these 6 other

personas to form more authentic partnerships, build trust
with consumers, and drive real impact.

15
 02. The Current State of Influencer Marketing

The 6 Influential Personas to to Engage With in 2022

Beyond traditional social media influencers, brands can activate 6 other members of their community.

Brand Industry Loyal customers:

ambassadors: professionals: Individuals who
Long-term advocates Affiliates: Individuals with Creatives: purchase a brand’s Employees:
who consistently Brand partners legitimate credentials People working in goods and love the Company insiders
promote the who earn a and specialized the arts, such as brand’s products, who work in
companies they commission knowledge, who photographers, enough to leave corporate offices
represent, educate for promoting brands work with to graphic designers, raving reviews online and brick-and-
their audiences products and build consumer trust, and creative and spread word-of- mortar stores
about the brands bringing in leads provide transparency, directors, who mouth buzz. to drive growth
they endorse, and that ideally turn and establish create unique and profit for the
implement products into sales. credibility. content and bring business everyday.
seamlessly into their new perspectives
lifestyles. to products.

16
 02. The Current State of Influencer Marketing

In 2023, we predict brands will open their partnership

doors to even more individuals outside of social media
influencers. In fact, brands are already leveraging the
talents of creatives, long-term brand ambassadors,
loyal customers, and more.

58%
Creatives 52% 46%
Who else have Affiliates Brand
ambassadors
44%
Customers
39%
Industry

you worked with professionals

28%
Employees

besides social media

influencers this year?

17
03

Social Channel Trends

There are 8 social media channels that form the core of
influencer marketing — Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube,
Pinterest, Snapchat, and blogs. Let’s dive deeper into the trends
we’re seeing pertaining to each of these channels.
 03. Social Channel Trends

Which Channels are Which channels do you plan

Brands Investing In? to utilize the most in 2023?

Based on the active campaigns on our 87% 68% 45% 41%

platform in 2022, the most popular
channel for influencer marketing among
brands is Instagram, with 60% of all
campaigns on Aspire being on Instagram.
This is followed by TikTok, with 26% of brands
running influencer campaigns on the short-form
video platform.
28% 22% 18% 4%
This will continue to be the trend in 2023, with the
majority of brands saying they’ll invest more into
Instagram and TikTok in the coming year.

Our survey found that brands plan to increase

their presence on these channels in 2023:

19
 03. Social Channel Trends

On the other hand, brands plan to decrease

their presence on the following channels in
Which channels do you plan
the next year:
to utilize the least in 2023?

73% 58% 43% 30%

26% 21% 17% 9%

20
 03. Social Channel Trends
Average engagement rate
Average by follower count:
Engagement Rate Nano Micro Mid-tier Macro
By Follower Count Instagram 6% 3% 2% 1%
Influencers can come in all sizes — from nano to
macro. Whether they’re a social media megastar Facebook 2% 1% 0% 0%
with 10 million followers on TikTok or a loyal
customer with 10 close friends, the growth of social TikTok 59% 8% 2% 2%
media and evolving algorithms have given anyone
the chance to share their passions, chronicle their YouTube 67% 64% 24% 57%
experiences, and sway the purchasing decisions of
those around them.

Today, follower count takes a back seat in defining

who’s truly influential. In fact, our internal data Nano (less than 10,000 followers)
revealed that nano-influencers consistently achieve Micro (10,000-60,000 followers)
the highest engagement rate across all platforms. Mid-tier (60,000-200,000 followers)
Macro (more than 200,000 followers)
21
 03. Social Channel Trends

Brands are now working with more nano and

micro-influencers — or those with less than 60,000
followers — to leverage their highly engaged
audiences and lower cost-per-engagement (CPE).
Our survey revealed that 69% of marketers today
are working with these smaller creators.

40%
What is the average Micro
10,000-60,000 29%
following of the
followers
Nano 24%
less than 10,000 Mid-tier
followers
60,000-200,000

influencers you followers

7%
Macro

work with? +200,000

followers

22
 03. Social Channel Trends
Average number of engagements:
Average Engagement
By Platform
68 852 198
Based on thousands of posts analyzed through likes and likes and comments post clicks,
comments closeups,
our platform, we aggregated the average number and favorites
of engagements that influencers received across
all channels.

6,289 245 78,519

likes, comments, likes and views, likes,
and shares comments comments,
and shares

23
 03. Social Channel Trends

As for engagement rate, YouTube and In fact, a whopping 94% of

TikTok are leading the charge, validating brands plan to invest more
that video presents a bigger opportunity. into video content in 2023.

Average engagement
rate per platform:
What kind of content will you invest
more into in the coming year?

50% Videos 94%

3% 2% Still images 43%

Written
content
26%

24
 03. Social Channel Trends

Content Growth
By Channel Content Growth on Instagram
Instagram Makes Instagram Story Instagram Feed Post Instagram Reel

Headway with Reels 800k

Instagram continues to reign king as the 600k

platform of choice for both brands and
influencers. Our survey shows that 87% of
400k
brands and 90% of creators plan to utilize
the platform more in the coming year.
200k
In the past 12 months, brands
and creators have been utilizing
0
Instagram Stories the most by January March May July September November

far — indicating the importance of 2022

storytelling in influencer marketing.

25
 03. Social Channel Trends

That being said, a growing number of brands

and influencers have been embracing Reels
# of Instagram Reels more this year.
Partnerships in 2022 Last year, our internal data showed that
video posts made up just 5% of the content
Instagram Reel
posted by Instagram creators. But when
80k
we take a closer look at the number of
Instagram Reels campaigns this year, we
60k
can see that the short-form video format
has grown significantly more popular
40k among brands and influencers. It’s a smart
move, with Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri
20k
repeatedly noting that video engagement
is growing and that video content will likely
dominate users’ Instagram feeds over time.
0
January March May July September November

2022

26
 03. Social Channel Trends

#TikTokMadeMeBuyIt: The
Sales-Driving Magic of TikTok
# of TikTok Partnerships in 2022
TikTok videos
Today, TikTok isn’t just for entertainment — 1800
it’s also one of the best channels to drive
ecommerce sales. Since the beginning, TikTok 1600
has been transforming how brands connect
with their audiences, drive purchases, and 1400

find success. In fact, 80% of TikTok users

say the platform helps them get ideas about 1200

new products and brands. It’s no wonder

we’re seeing more brands choose to run their 1000

campaigns on the short-form video app.

800
In addition to short comedy sketches and
dance videos, TikTok creators also post 0
try-on hauls, before-and-after product January March May July September November

shots, and their honest reviews on certain 2022

products or brands.

27
 03. Social Channel Trends

Because of the authentic UGC TikTok is also unveiling new features to rival
accumulating on the app, a recent other platforms. In October, the platform
introduced Photo Mode, which allows users
study by Google found that younger
to post still images in a slideshow, similar to
users now prefer to utilize TikTok
Instagram carousel posts. Creators can add
for discovery purposes over Google.
music or sound effects in the background,
TikTok has become such a powerful and viewers can swipe through the photos
commerce tool that it’s now common for at their own pace. While TikTok is a video-
products that go viral on TikTok to sell out centric platform, users have been quick
both online and in brick-and-mortar stores to embrace Photo Mode and there have
— ever heard of the “TikTok made me buy it” already been several trends popping up
trend? leveraging the new feature.

Now, TikTok is leaning further into its role As TikTok continues to grow, 68%
as a discovery platform with the launch of of marketers and 80% of creators
longer captions. With up to 2,200 characters plan to utilize the platform more
in the captions — as opposed to 300
in 2023.
characters — users are empowered to
post more detailed video descriptions and
leverage keywords for SEO.

28
 03. Social Channel Trends

YouTube’s Long-Form Video

Is Met With High Engagement
In the era of short-form video, YouTube’s
longer format is still incredibly popular among
marketers, creators, and viewers alike. In fact,
our internal data shows that YouTube creators
achieve a whopping 50% engagement rate,
which is well above engagement metrics on
other platforms. And a recent study revealed
that YouTube is still the number one platform
for watching and sharing video content.

That being said, YouTube is ramping up its

efforts to capture the attention of short-
form video lovers. Since the global launch of
YouTube Shorts in July 2021, the company has
been building an array of tools to encourage
users to embrace Shorts. In September 2022,
YouTube announced that Shorts will be eligible

29
 03. Social Channel Trends

for monetization in early 2023, and creators With these new and exciting adaptations on the
will keep 45% of the revenue generated from platform, it’s no surprise that 45% of brands
viewership. and 34% of creators plan to invest more into
YouTube in 2023.
Additionally, YouTube recently rolled out a
redesign that now splits video content into
three different tabs on creators’ channels —
one for YouTube’s traditional long-form videos,
another specifically for YouTube Shorts, and a
final one for Live videos. Prior to the redesign,
Shorts were not at the forefront of a creator’s
channel, which made them easier to get lost
and buried under the creator’s primary long-
form content. Now, this change allows viewers
to easily navigate and find the kinds of content
they’re most interested in when exploring a
creator’s page.

30
04

Pricing & Budget

It’s the age-old question: how much do you pay
an influencer? In this section, we’ll uncover the
average cost-per-engagement for each social
channel, and discuss how brands’ influencer
marketing budgets will change in the coming year.
 04. Pricing & Budget

Cost per
Cost Per engagement $37.82
Engagement per channel:
Across all social channels, there are a multitude
of factors that determine how much brands pay
an influencer. However, these are the average
cost-per-engagement (CPE) metrics, based on the
thousands of paid partnerships on Aspire in 2022.
$5.51
$2.63
$0.04* $0.21 $0.56

To figure out a base rate using CPE, use this formula:

Price per post = Recent average engagements x CPE * Because viewing a YouTube video is an explicit action taken
by users, YouTube’s cost-per-engagement metric takes into
account the number of views, as well as likes, comments, and
EXAMPLE: shares. It’s imperative to keep views in mind when calculating
Price per Instagram post = Recent average engagements x $0.56 price per post on YouTube.

32
 04. Pricing & Budget

We also took a closer look at the average

cost-per-engagement per follower count CPE by follower count:
for the most popular channels for influencer
marketing: Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Nano Micro Mid-tier Macro
Here’s what we found:

$0.59 $1.43 $1.37 $0.95

$0.06 $2.00 $1.25 $0.48

$0.25 $0.15 $0.11 $0.11

33
 04. Pricing & Budget

From this base rate, brands typically pay

a higher rate based on these factors:

Engagement

Reach

Quality of content

Post requirements

Verified checks and agents

Value of free product provided

Industry and experience*

Joint work history

* A creator’s experience on one particular social platform may

affect pricing across other platforms. For example, some
creators with smaller followings on TikTok may still charge a
higher rate due to their large audience base on Instagram or
YouTube, as this represents their recognizable personal brand
and popularity in the industry.

34
 04. Pricing & Budget

Influencer
Marketing Budgets Has your rate increased, decreased,
or stayed the same over the last year?
Are Still Increasing 2% 28% 70%

While we are navigating a challenging

economic climate, both brands and creators
see immense value in continuing to invest in
influencer marketing.

In the last 12 months, 70% of

influencers have increased their
rates to fit their growing audience
and boosted engagement. 68% of
brands have followed suit, planning
to increase their influencer
marketing budgets in 2023.

35
 04. Pricing & Budget
Would you work with a brand
for just free products?
That being said, 83% of influencers are willing to
work with a brand for just free products, as long 17% 29% 54%
as they love the brand or the product value is high.
No Yes, if I love the brand Yes, if the product value is high
But remember, your collaboration proposals are
more likely to be accepted when you’re offering
payment.

We asked influencers to share their thoughts

on product-only versus paid campaigns. While
many creators see the benefits of receiving free
products, a wide majority of them echoed that
Paid campaigns: Product-only campaigns:
they prefer paid campaigns, as it shows them
the brand values their work. When it comes to Influencers receive free products Influencers receive free products
product-only campaigns, influencers want the and monetary compensation, in and sign a contract to produce

deliverables to be optional or flexible, and for the exchange for content that follows content for the brand, but are
brand guidelines and terms. not paid monetarily. Influencers
brand’s expectations to align with the value of
usually only agree to these
the free products they’re gifting. So, don’t send
Product seeding campaigns: campaigns when they receive high-
influencers a $20 phone case and expect 10
Influencers receive free products value products (i.e. high-quality
Instagram feed posts and 5 Reels in return if you’re
from brands, with no contractual jewelry, expensive furniture, etc.)
not compensating them with additional payment.
obligation to post. Think PR packages. or genuinely love the brand.

36
 04. Pricing & Budget

Product-only campaigns should offer high Product-only is acceptable if: (1) I want to try
value items. Paid campaigns place value the product and heard great things (2) if it’s
on the work of content creators. Creating of high value and I really want the product (3)
good quality content takes time and effort if deliverables are reasonable or my choice.
and creators, whether micro or macro, Paid campaigns are means for us creators
should be compensated.” to work ‘harder.’”

I feel as though brands that offer product- I prefer paid campaigns due to the fact that
only or gifted campaigns don’t value content creation takes a lot of work and we
creators. Content creation takes time, as content creators also have bills to pay that
creativity, and expertise.” unfortunately cannot be paid using products.”

I think product-only campaigns (especially Paid campaigns are way better. Products
from big brands) take advantage of the are not compensation for our time, it is only
influencer, especially when they want video, a means of creating the content. Brands are
photo, and a certain level of quality.” unwilling to compensate us for our creativity
and time if they don’t engage in paid
campaigns and only product ones.”

37
 04. Pricing & Budget

How to Compensate
Creators Fairly

Don’t be fooled by seemingly effortless Instagram

posts. When it comes to brand partnerships,
creators spend hours crafting up creative campaign
ideas, shooting and editing content, and building
a story around your brand that they know will
resonate with their audience.

Plus, whether it’s their full-time job or a side hustle,

influencers spend a lot of time engaging and building
relationships with their audience — relationships
that your brand benefits from in terms of brand
awareness and sales.

38
 04. Pricing & Budget

All that to say, creators deserve to be There are several ways to pay influencers:
compensated fairly.
One-off payments:
While short-term product seeding campaigns Brands pay one-time monetary rewards to
are a great way to create initial touchpoints and influencers each time they publish a sponsored
get your products in the hands of influencers feed post, Story, Reel, and the like.
you really want to work with, avoiding influencer
payment in the long-term is unethical and can Performance-based/affiliate payments:
tarnish your brand’s reputation. It’s not uncommon Brands pay creators based on the conversions
for brands to be publicly called out if they’re not or engagements they create, tracked through a
compensating influencers fairly. unique link or promo code specific to each creator.

Equity or stock:
Brands give influencers a share in the company.
This new compensation model entails that the
influencer isn’t just a spokesperson or the “face”
of the brand anymore. They’re treated more
like traditional investors and are expected to
contribute to the brand’s goals, provide feedback
on products, and have co-branded collaborations.

39
05

Campaign Production
& Content
What does the average influencer marketing campaign look like?
We gathered insights from every campaign run through Aspire
in 2022 to give you an inside look at how brands are running
their campaigns and producing high-quality content.
 05. Campaign Production & Content

Campaign Overview

This year, 46 233,783 $2,085

the average Creators Engagements Spent per creator
per campaign

campaign had: 188 $49,594

Posts Spent per campaign

In comparison, the average campaign last year had 20

creators, 43 posts, and 116,344 engagements. The jump
in this year’s numbers once again confirms the increasing
value that brands see in influencer marketing.

41
 05. Campaign Production & Content

But brands aren’t just working with creators on

transactional, one-off campaigns. Our survey
revealed that 52% of brands are building long-term
relationships with creators and turning them into
brand ambassadors. It’s a smart move, as 70% of
creators say long-term campaigns are their favorite
way to work with brands.

What is your Long-term campaigns

(post multiple times over a long period) 70%

favorite way One-off campaigns

(post once for a brand) 23%
to work with Affiliate campaigns
(paid based on conversions or sales) 3%
brands? Other 4%

42
 05. Campaign Production & Content

Influencer-Generated Do you repurpose influencer content

on the other marketing channels?
Content: A Goldmine If so, which ones?
In addition to boosting brand awareness, engagement,
and sales, a major perk of running influencer Branded social channels 63%
campaigns is stockpiling lots of engaging, high-quality
content for use across all of your marketing channels. Paid ads 56%
Influencer-generated content (IGC) is a powerful tool
that can benefit brands in many different ways.
Website/product pages 50%
Instead of running professional photoshoots, we’re
seeing more brands leverage influencer influencer
content by repurposing it on:
Email 43%
Out-of-home activations
Their own social Out-of-home (i.e. billboards, product 9%
channels activations packaging, etc.)

We do not repurpose
Paid ads Emails influencer content 18%
Website

43
 05. Campaign Production & Content

On average, brands have saved 23% on their How much have you saved on content
content creation costs by repurposing influencer-
creation costs by repurposing influencer
generated content, according to our survey.
content on other channels?

0 23% 100

Average

44
 Studio-shot creative Influencer-generated content

Long turnaround time Quick to source

Expensive Cost-effective (or even free, in some cases)

Planning-intensive On demand

Time consuming Authentic

Batched photos High volume

Low volume Diverse subjects and locations

Similar subjects and locations Optimized for digital and social channels

Rarely optimized for mobile or paid Built-in audience

social channels
Always relevant
No built-in audience
Adds social proof

45
06

Looking Back
& Moving Forward
To close out our fifth annual influencer marketing
benchmark report, The State of Influencer Marketing,
let’s travel back in time to see how the industry has
changed over the past several years, and discuss best
practices and predictions for 2023.
 06. Looking Back & Moving Forward

How Has Influencer

Influencer marketing spending
Marketing Changed
in the U.S. from 2019 to 2023
Over the Past 5 Years?
5
As the creator economy has boomed, influencer
4
marketing spend has also seen an upward trend.
3
According to Statista, influencer
2
marketing spend in the US is predicted to
reach $4.6 billion in 2023 — nearly double 1

what was spent just five years ago. 0

2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

47
 06. Looking Back & Moving Forward

On a cost-per-engagement basis, we’re also seeing

influencer pricing grow steadily year-over-year. As seen
below, CPE on Instagram has continuously increased over
the past 5 years.

CPE on Instagram:

$0.54 $0.56

$0.32
$0.26

$0.10

2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

48
 06. Looking Back & Moving Forward
Campaign average
(year-over-year)

Average # of creators Average # of posts Average # of engagements

per campaign per campaign per campaign
Campaign health is trending upward, too.
1000000
In general, the average number of
creators, posts, and engagements
100000
per campaign have increased
year-over-year.
10000
The only outlier was in 2021, when we saw
a slight decline from the year prior as the
industry recovered from the effects of 1000

the pandemic. This year, we’re seeing an

all-time high in every category, confirming 100
the increasing value that brands see in
influencer marketing.
10

0
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

49
 06. Looking Back & Moving Forward
% of brands planning to invest
more into each channel
(year-over-year)
As for the popularity of social
100%
channels, both marketers and
creators have always prioritized Instagram
Instagram over the years. 80%

While this remains true this year, we’re

TikTok
seeing more brands embrace TikTok, with
60%
68% of them planning to increase their
presence on the short-form video platform
in the coming year. This is a stark contrast YouTube
40% Facebook
to just 4 years ago, when just 12% of
marketers planned to utilize TikTok more.
Blogs

Pinterest
20%
Twitter

Snapchat
0
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

50
 06. Looking Back & Moving Forward

6 Influencer 1 2

Marketing Best
Practices to
Define your #1 Find creators who
Keep In Mind business objective. are real brand fans,
What is your company’s main goal for whether they be traditional
As the influencer marketing
influencer marketing? Whether it’s to social media influencers, industry
industry evolves, so should brand
increase brand awareness or sales, professionals, or customers.
strategies. Here are 6 best
setting goals is key to figuring out Remember that a customer who
practices to incorporate in 2023.
the right strategies and metrics to writes a glowing review can also
accurately track return on investment influence purchases. As can an
once your campaign is over. in-store employee who shows
a shopper their favorite picks.
Focus on authenticity, rather than
follower count.

51
 3 4

Build long-term Diversify your

relationships. channels.
Since 70% of creators say long- Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
term campaigns are their favorite by depending on any single channel.
way to work with brands, marketers While Instagram remains the top
need to focus on cultivating priority for brands, video-centric
deeper relationships with their channels like TikTok and YouTube
brand partners and turn them present bigger opportunities. Run
into ambassadors. This will elevate campaigns on multiple channels to
not only your brand’s relationship create various touchpoints with
with your creators, but also their your target audience and source a
relationships with their audience diverse array of influencer content.
— allowing partnerships to be
perceived as much more authentic.

52
 5 6

Invest in
an influencer
Repurpose marketing
content. platform.
Influencer-generated content is Solutions like Aspire automate
generally comparable to the quality the difficult parts of influencer
of studio-shot content — and it’s discovery, vetting, negotiation,
typically more engaging and diverse. content creation, payments, and
By repurposing IGC, you’re able to analytics. The more brands invest
save drastically on content creation into influencer marketing, both
costs. in strategy and tools, the more
output they’ll see in terms of ROI
and brand lift.

53
 06. Looking Back & Moving Forward

Our 2023 The creator There’s an increased focus on

Predictions economy is compensating creators fairly, and 68%

of brands are increasing their influencer
only growing marketing budgets in 2023 to meet the
increasing value that they see in creators.
stronger. As the creator economy grows, brands
may shift more of their budget from
content marketing to influencer marketing.

Creators of With a heavier focus on proving ROI, creators

will focus more heavily on clearly outlining
all sizes are the impact they have on brands — whether
more data- it’s through data points around social media
engagements or number of sales driven. We
driven. also see brands leveraging a mix of micro- and
macro-influencers: micro-influencers for cost-
effective and high quality content, and macro-
influencers for maximum brand awareness.

54
 06. Looking Back & Moving Forward

Social Brands already attribute nearly a third of

their sales, on average, to social commerce.
commerce is But as consumers rely more on their
here to stay. peers’ recommendations and social media
platforms build more in-app shopping
capabilities, we predict brands will lean
further into social commerce.

Video content 94% of brands are planning to invest more

into video content in the coming year.
will be a non- And thanks to popular formats like TikTok,
negotiable Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts, we
predict that short-form, vertical video will
must-have. especially thrive in 2023.

55
 Getting Started Our software includes:
To elevate your influencer marketing Influencer discovery tools, both inbound and outbound
program, invest in a smart solution like
Aspire. Aspire is the leading influencer Customizable campaign workflows
marketing platform empowering
ecommerce brands to build and cultivate Creator relationship management system
influential communities.
Ecommerce integrations with Shopify and WooCommerce

ROI measurement and analytics suite

Searchable content library

And much more!

To learn more about how Aspire helps

brands achieve success, visit Aspire.io.
56
 Thank you!

IRE THEM EMPOWERING BRANDS AND THE PEOPLE WHO INSPIRE THEM