theirtrueaudienceis,”Averion
says.“Soif theyhave100,000fol-
lowersbutonly50%ofthataudi-
enceis withinAustraliaI willonly
reallywanttopayforthat50%.”
Reachislookingtohaveits
returntothespotlight,withfoodie
inf luencerSallyO’Neil,whohas
morethan90,000followerson
Instagram,agreeingengagement
haslostitssheenafternoticinga
declineinherengagementrate
sincejoiningtheplatformin2012,
largely due to the change in
Instagram’salgorithm.
“My content has improved
vastlyandI nowworkasa com-
mercialphotographerofftheback
ofwhatI’velearntfromshooting
forInstagram.SowhenI shootfor
clientsthey’reactuallyreceiving
commercial-quality grade pho-
tographythatcouldgoona bill-
board,”O’Neilsays.
“Soit’s interestingthatmy
engagementratehasgonedown.
But what hasn’t gone done is
myreach.”
Researchbacksthe trendof
decliningengagementon social
media.Onebydatascienceconsult-
ingfirmTrustInsightslooksat fash-
ioninf luencerdatafromJanuaryto
June this year. It shows a decline ofYouTube.Outsideoftheplatformthere’salsoa longlistofthird-party
tools– – Tribe,Vamp,Hyetap,TheRightFitandFluency– – whichprovide
theirownreporting.
CalGuyllwhoheadsuptherecently-launchedMSLFluency,whichis
runbyPublicis’PRarmMSL,saysnewtechnology,suchasAI,hasplayed
a bigroleinimprovingreporting.
Likemostthird-partytools,Fluencyisend-to-end.Ithelpsmatch
brandswithinf luencersandprovidesmarketerswithreal-timecampaign
reporting.Fluencyhasmorethan165,000inf luencersinAustraliaand
NewZealand.
“Marketersareusedtohavinglarge-scalemediaspendwithdata
availabletotheminreal-time,”Guyllsays.
“Theycanmakereallysmart,fast-paceddecisions.Butinf luencer
marketingit’snotassimple.Marketersarerelyingondatathatcomes
froma third-partysource,i.e.theinf luencer,andtherecanbeallsorts
ofreasonswhythatdatais unavailableatthetime.Theycouldbeaway,
unresponsive,busy,etc.”
Thesethird-partytoolsalsohelptodetectfraudulentactivities,such
asfakeengagementandbotswhichinf latea person’sfollowercountand
diminishestrustinsocialmedia.AccordingtoAMAA’s 2018 MediaTrust
Study,socialmediahasnoweclipsedevenprogrammatictradingasthe
channelthatneedsthemostoversight,with63%oftheindustrysaying
it needsmore.Thisiscomparedto56%forprogrammatictradingand
45%foronlinevideo.Thestudyspoketo 407 marketersandmediaagency
professionals,withanevenmixbetweenclient-sidemarketersand
mediaagencyprofessionals– 41%wereC-level/seniorleveland59%
middle/juniorlevels.
Butwhilethestudyshoweda greaterneedforoversightforsocial
mediacomparedtolastyear,mediabuyersarepleasedwiththeimprove-
mentsfromthird-partytools,sayingit willhelpstrengtheninf luencer
marketingspendinthelong-term.
“Aspeoplebecomemoreaufaitwiththeprocessofevaluatingthem
effectivelyandtherearemoretrustedthird-partieslikeTheRightFitor
Tribe,I’dexpectsolidandconsistentgrowthinspendoninf luencers,”
Ogilvy’sHeadofSocialAlexWattssays.
“Nottheexplosionofthepastcoupleyears,butmoreconstantgrowth
yearonyear.”
Wattsalsosaysthespacehasreacheda levelofgrowththatmeanshe
expectsconsolidation.“Whilegrowing,themarketiscluttered,and
there’sonlysomuchspacefordifferentiation,”hesays.
Butwhiletransparencyaroundreportinghascomea longwaydueto
thesethird-partyentrants,wecanexpecttoseetheissue continue to
rearitsheadwhilethesectorcontinues to develop.
Understandingmetrics
ThenoisecreatedafterInstagramrevealedAustraliaisoneofseven
countriestrialingtheremovalofthelikescountshowedthelevelofmis-
understandingaroundwhatbrandsactuallylookforwhentheylookat
inf luencers’metric.
Likeshasalreadyfallenawayasa significantmeasuringtools,both
becauseit doesn’tnecessarilymeanbusinessresults,andbecausepeople
aresimplyengaginglessonsocialmedia.
“Previouslyyouwouldhavesaidgettinga millionlikesona postis
greatbutrealistically,whatdoesthebusinesswanttodrive?”saysGuyll
ofMSLFluency.
“Nowbrandshavetoconsiderif it wantslikesona post,todrivepeople
tothebrand’swebsitetomakepurchases,ormakepeoplefallinlove
withthebrand.”
SpeakingwithTheRightFit’sTarynWilliams,BerniceAverion,growth
marketeratKoala.comsaysshedoesn’tlookatengagement rate
when searching for inf luencers to partner with to grow the
mattressbusiness.
“Engagement rate doesn’t really matter to me, it’s really about what
Previouslyyou
wouldhavesaid
gettinga million
likesona post
isgreat,but
realistically,what
doesthebusiness
wanttodrive?
CalGuyll,
MSL Fluencyhttp://www.adnews.com.au| September 2019 31