During the last 20 years, the marketing landscape has seen tremendous change. One such technique that has evolved so astronomically is influencer marketing in the UK. As experts in this field, we have been around to see this shift.
In today’s blog post, we explore how influencer marketing has evolved and how it can benefit your business.
What is an Influencer?
An influencer is described as an influential figure on social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok. They usually specialise in a particular niche, for example gaming, beauty, or fashion, and have built up a close-knit community because of this.
There are several different categories of influencers. These include:
- Nano Influencers: 1-10k Followers
- Micro Influencers: 10-100k Followers
- Macro Influencers: 100k-1m Followers
- Mega Influencers: 1m+ Followers
What is Influencer Marketing in the UK?
Influencer marketing utilises these creators and the trust they’ve built with their audience to promote a brand and their products/services. Businesses can set up agreements with relevant influencers, allowing them to reach new audiences in a more organic, less invasive way.
There are a few different types of collaborations. These include:
- Gifting: This is the cheapest form of influencer marketing and involves brands gifting products/services to relevant creators. There is often an informal agreement in place for them to share your brand on their profile in some capacity or another (grid posts, stories etc.) For this type of collaboration, depending on the value of the gifted item, you would usually attract influencers with a smaller following.
- Paid Collaborations: A paid partnership is the same as gifting, but with an added fee to pay to the influencer. With this type of collaboration, it’s advised that you have a formal agreement in place with regards to sharing your brand on their platform. Paid collaborations allow you to target larger influencers. This has the added benefit of a greater reach. The bigger the influencer, typically, the more you will have to pay for the collaboration.
- Brand Ambassadorships: Brand ambassadorships are longer-term collaborations with influencers. In these instances, the creator becomes a spokesperson for your brand and is contracted to speak about and endorse your brand and products on a regular, ongoing basis.
- User Generated Content: A cheaper alternative to paid collaborations and brand ambassadorships is User Generated Content (UGC). This is where you pay a creator to produce content for you promoting or reviewing your brand. This may not be added to their own feeds, but instead can be used throughout your own marketing campaigns, such as for social media ads. This allows brands to capitalise on familiar faces and drive sales.
Where it All Started
A good way to look at and understand influencer marketing in the UK is to compare it to celebrity endorsement. Think of this as the modernisation of this technique.
Whilst celebrity endorsement is still a technique that many brands utilise and benefit from (eg. Wellwoman with Tess Daly), this has evolved into influencer marketing which is now more widely used. This route can often be more cost effective and allows you to broaden your reach if you choose to utilise multiple creators within your campaign.
Some would say that YouTube was the beginning of influencer marketing, with creators on this platform able to earn money through their AdSense scheme. In order for people to earn a commission in this way, they must have at least 1,000 followers and over 4,000 watch hours per year.
The way creators earn AdSense is through YouTube displaying ads during and in the middle of their videos, just like you would see on the TV. In addition, soon after, influencers begun being gifted products by brands to promote in their videos and ‘PR unboxings’ became a hugely popular video trend.
Gifted collabs soon turned into paid opportunities when the industry saw how lucrative this marketing channel had become for brands. What’s more, YouTube then pathed the way for businesses to later begin collaborating with influencers on the likes of Instagram and TikTok.
How Can Influencer Marketing in the UK Help My Brand?
Influencer marketing is a highly successful marketing technique with a multitude of different benefits. These include:
- Boosted credibility and authority
- Improved brand awareness
- Increased levels of word of mouth
- Vast reach
- Easily trackable with affiliate linking
Success Stories
One particular success story that really stands out is Gymshark. Established in 2012, this gym wear brand has always put a lot of time and effort into influencer marketing in the UK and further afield. They even have a whole host of brand ambassadors on their books, which they call ‘Gymshark Athletes’.
Fast forward to 2024 and in just 12 years, Gymshark is now valued at a whopping $1.45 billion thanks to their marketing efforts. What’s more, in 2016, Gymshark was labelled as the UK’s fastest growing company by The Sunday Times.
Get in Touch
Interested in harnessing the power of influencer marketing in the UK to transform your business? Our team can help! For more information about working with us, get in touch by clicking here.