Current Events > I've always loved this article on the value of "influencers"

(+) Yeah! (+)

• Only 20% of your audience will actually see the post. So the starting number is 20k.
• Of those 20k people, let's say 95% are really just thirsty dudes here to fap to your pics. So we're down to 5k.
• Of those 5k people, how many are somewhere the brand ships to, are actually interested in shopping, within the brand's image? We could throw a dart at the wall and say you're left with 1k at best.
• Of those 1k, how many will click on the website, add an item to their shopping cart and actually buy it? Like...2%, being extremely generous?
• So 20 people bought a t shirt.
• Your t-shirts cost $50. You make $20 profit on that. You made $600 on an advertising cost of $1500. Derp.

Of those 20k people, let's say 95% are really just thirsty dudes here to fap to your pics. So we're down to 5k.

Might want to check your work on that.

Of those 20k people, let's say 95% are really just thirsty dudes here to fap to your pics.

There's a lot of assumptions in the OP that are not universal. Also some awful math.

Why would it be 95%? Are you just using arbitrary numbers?

An Instagram babe can "get it" by definition so they must know trends

I'll see if I can find it, but there was another article about an influencer who had 2million followers who launched a fashion brand and sold 6 t shirts. There was a big disconnect between what her page was for (hot pics of me) and the intent of what she was trying to create (aspirational fashion).

there was another article about an influencer who had 2million followers who launched a fashion brand and sold 6 t shirts

Yes - without having any real data on the demographic you have to some assumptions on the intent of the audience.

So then your point is kinda worthless because it could also be far less than that.

Awful maths aside (and unsure why you'd argue this point anyway, because the real maths is even less generous), the point is that when someone gives you a soft offer you have to do some back of the envelope maths to see if it's worth it.

Because even being generous about it, the figures are appaling.

I'm being super generous here because my time in digital marketing tells me that you can take so many of these figures and half them to get closer to the true picture.

I mean... they've been using social media influencers to push product for years, now. If it wasn't generating a profit, I doubt they'd still be doing it so feverishly.

It's not a stretch of the imagination to think that the main demographic for an instagrammer who's main brand offering is nudity is not gonna be people looking for fashion inspiration

I mean... they've been using social media influencers to push product for years, now. If it wasn't generating a profit, I doubt they'd still be doing it so feverishly.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It can work when the audience and brand offering actually line up (for example, say you follow a chef on instagram because he gives good kitchenware product reviews, and the chef advertises some affordable chef's knives).

It doesn't work when the audience and brand offering are at complete odds. Take the same example but the chef starts advertising sun dresses.

The point the article makes is that influencers tend to not sell themselves very well. If you're looking for an advertising channel, google etc. gives you literally all of the big and small data you could hope to ask for to make an informed decision.

Your 95% figure is a big assumption itself. It's kind of irrelevant that if your math was correct the numbers would be worse, because it sounds like that number isn't based on any sort of research.

Just some background here, since I didn't give a great example. I used to work in digital marketing as a campaign manager, and like the guy in the original article, I had influencers like this sending me offers daily. I had to weigh up the pros and cons vs other marketing channels to decide if X amount of dollars (in the thousands or tens of thousands usually) was gonna be worth it. From a risk perspective alone, influencers provide few strong arguments most of the time.

I mean... they've been using social media influencers to push product for years, now. If it wasn't generating a profit, I doubt they'd still be doing it so feverishly.