Half of your Influencer budget is wasted.
(You just don’t know which half)
Confession: I wasn’t always a fan of influencers. But I have come around, because people trust them.
Influencers have moved from the fringes of marketing to its front lines, yet they still sit awkwardly between channels. Are they PR? Digital? Word of mouth? The answer is yes. They’re the new distribution system for social proof. Marketing frameworks I grew up on named the big five drivers as: advertising, PR, direct mail, sponsorships/events, and digital. Today, we should add Word of Mouth and Experiences/Community. Influencers live where those three overlap: credibility, scalability, and conversation.
When (and When Not) to Use Them
They work best when you need relevance fast, demonstration, or borrowed trust, like food, beauty, or tech tutorials. They struggle when the category is low-interest or heavily regulated. One FMCG marketer said:
“An influencer is repeatable word of mouth. You’re paying to make it happen on Tuesday, not hoping it happens in six months.”
In B2B, it’s the same idea, just slower: credibility beats reach. Think respected experts, not entertainers.
Macro, Micro, and the Mix (in T&T numbers)
Macros (25K+) bring signal and speed. Micros (10–25K) bring engagement and local relevance. Nanos (<10K) bring authenticity. The strongest programmes blend all three, visibility, believability, and community.
How to Choose
Start with fit, not followers:
1. Audience match
2. Content style and tone
3. Engagement quality (real comments)
4. Brand safety – keep an eye on posts for language, values, or partnerships that could clash with your brand’s image
5. Performance history
As one brand manager put it:
“Will our brand look like an invited guest on their feed or an interruption?” or alternatively, “are they over promoting, trying too hard, people spot fake love”
How to Use and Measure
Think in programmes, not one-offs. Combine:
– Campaign activations (launches, holidays)
– Evergreen creator content
– Community collabs (lives, cook-alongs, events)
– Measure both outputs (reach, engagement, saves, clicks) and outcomes (traffic lift, redemptions, search volume). Compare influencer CPMs or cost-per-engaged view to your paid media benchmarks.
Where AI Fits In
AI already underpins discovery (fake-follower checks), briefing (auto-generated creator guides), and analytics. Some brands test virtual influencers, but the real power is hybrid, AI for scale, humans for trust.
AI helps us spot the patterns, “AI can tell you who performs best on paper, but it still takes human judgement to know who people will genuinely listen to,” said one agency director.
Influencers: where PR meets the group chat.
Influencers are a way to humanize and distribute every other channel. When chosen and measured wisely, they help brands do what every marketer is now asked to do: achieve more, with less.
