New report reveals social media users are tuning out of ‘influencers’
THEY supposedly have millions of people following their every move online — but using so-called social media “influencers” to advertise products has been likened to paying for ads on TV at 3am.
THEY supposedly have millions of people following their every move online — but using so-called social media “influencers” to advertise products has been likened to paying for ads on TV at 3am.
A new report conducted by data analysis company Lumio for The Daily Telegraph has exposed how the vast majority of followers of some of Australia’s top influencers are tuning out.
But for all those whose belief in themselves far exceeds their reach there are some who wield genuine influence, such as the inspirational Turia Pitt.
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The score used to rate the influencers — people who are paid to post photos to their huge social media flogging certain products and services — was calculated using an algorithm that analyses how often a user’s followers actually comment and like their posts.
And in some cases the report found those with more than one million followers had “engagement rates” of less than 2 per cent.
It also worked out how many nonactive or “ghost” followers they had and on average it was found just 42 per cent of the followers would be valuable to advertisers.
Australian influencers with the worst ratings, according to Lumio, included Sydney model Taleisha Bonora, whose recent sponsored posts include advertisements for women’s multi vitamin pills. While Ms Bonora had more than 1.3 million followers at the time of the survey, according to Lumio just 21 per cent of her fans are actually “engaged” in her content — and another 11 per cent were deemed “ghost accounts”.
Also on the low scoring list was Caringbah local and model Jade Kevin Foster, whose product promotions include deals with protein bar companies. While he has 1.1 million followers, Lumio found only 24 per cent engaged with his content.
On the flip side, top scoring accounts included Pitt, who has about 811,043 followers with about 52 per cent of them engaged. Also highly rated was environmental activist Bindi Irwin, who has 1.8 million followers, with 51 per cent. Just 2.5 per cent of the followers were suspected of being “ghost accounts”.
Lumio chief executive Dan Anisse said he had been inspired to create the database after noticing he wasn’t getting results with influencers when he hired them for sponsorships for his eCommerce company. Mr Anisse said they had now rated about one million influencers and the research had proved advertisers couldn’t rely on follower count when deciding which influencers to hire.
“What we use for our metric is a term called valuable followers who actually engage. A user can have 1.8 million followers but only a fraction of them really care about them,” Mr Anisse said. “There might be someone with much less followers but they are more useful to an advertiser because their followers are really tuning into their content.”
Mr Anisse said advertisers needed to do more research before hiring influencers for sponsored posts and look at more than just the follower count.
“We liken hiring an influencer with low engagement to putting an ad on TV at 3am,” Mr Anisse said.
“You’re still going to get people seeing that ad but it’s less likely to be relevant to them. “Influencers can charge anywhere between $2000 and $5000 for just one post so brands want to make sure they actually are getting access to a relevant audience.”
He said low engagement could indicate followers had been purchased but also could show they had lost interest in a once-popular influencer.
Mr Foster told The Daily Telegraph he was thankful for all of his followers.
“I have no control over my engagement but I’m thankful that people choose to interact and collaborate with me on a daily basis,” Mr Foster said.
“The people that follow me are all incredible and I truly appreciate the platform they’ve provided me with. I’m so thankful to be a part of the social media community and have no further comment at this point.”
Keira Rumble (@Krumble) who has 552,067 followers, 159,652 of which were deemed “valuable” by Lumio said her brand collaborations had been “rewarding” and positive.
“From my experience, brand collaborations have been rewarding and positive and as a result, I have had many brand partners return for ongoing partnerships. My concern with third party analytics is that it often requires a financial commitment to receive information that is already publicly available, free of charge,” Ms Rumble said in a statement to The Daily Telegraph.
“With third party analytics such as Lumio, it is often cited in their terms and conditions that they are unable to verify the accuracy of their data due to it not being exhaustive and due it coming from third party data sources. This is a strong indicator that programs such as these are flawed as they are not comprehensive.”
“As I have not been provided with any evidence supporting Lumio’s findings, I am unable to support it. The only analytic tool I trust and rely on is Instagram’s; in which I openly share with brand partners. In addition to this, I always recommend that brands perform their own internal due diligence prior to committing to partnerships. Doing so will provide the best possible outcome for everyone.”
A spokeswoman for Antoinette Maree (@Sydneyfashionblogger) who has 1.1m followers 360,065 of which were deemed valuable said clients saw advertising with her as a great investment.
“There has been such a huge shift in Instagram traction ever since the algorithm changed and the earlier users who have switched to business accounts have noticed the change vastly. Clearly now.. what we see is not always what we get with so many influencers purchasing and paying for pre-programmed likes/ comments on their posts,” the spokeswoman said.
“SFB as we all know was the first blogger of her kind in the country and the phenomenon that surrounded her for years plateaued about a year ago.”
“She has never bought followers, even now where it might suit her to engage in a purchased program she is adamant she will go organic.”
“Antoinette might have a lower visual engagement but her clients are still coming back and locking in posts and mostly big blocks.”
This is because whether it’s 10-30-100 people who view, they actual users and active shoppers and the client sees a great investment.”
Other influencers did not respond to questions from The Daily Telegraph.
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