Talk:Influencer marketing

Wiki Education assignment: Criticism as Praxis

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 3 February 2022 and 23 April 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Sarvesh Nyachhyon (article contribs). Peer reviewers: AshlynkD, Cooper0014.

Semi-protected edit request on 28 July 2025

After the sentence ending "...enabling companies to track the progress, success, and engagement of social media marketing campaigns.", add:

According to Forbes, influencer marketing returns an average of US $6.50 for every US $1 spent; this figure is based on an analysis by InfluencerDB of the best‑performing influencer marketing campaigns of 2017. Apex Hawk (talk) 14:27, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

I don't see a sentence like that anywhere in the article; could you please be more specific about where your proposed addition should go? Day Creature (talk) 16:27, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

Thank you for your feedback. The new sentence goes in the Applications section of the main article.

1. Locate this line: “Success in influencer marketing is measured through earned media value, impressions, and cost per action.” [42]
2. Immediately after that sentence (before the next paragraph or heading), insert the Forbes/InfluencerDB ROI sentence.

Apex Hawk (talk) 19:43, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

 Not done This is not considered a reliable source per WP:FORBESCON (and I don't see the $6.50 number in the InfluencerDB link). meamemg (talk) 17:39, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

I suspect that the $6.50 number is a hallucination, given that the OP posted a blatantly AI-generated comment below (which I collapsed). SuperPianoMan9167 (talk) 20:18, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for raising the reliability question. WP:FORBESCON is really about cutting and pasting big chunks of Forbes text, not about reporting a single statistic. We're just summarizing one fact - "US $6.50 for every US $1 spent" - and giving a proper citation. If you scroll to the "Takeaways" bit on the InfluencerDB blog, it literally says: "Our internal analysis of 1 737 influencer campaigns in 2017 shows an average ROI of 6.5 : 1. In other words, for every US $1 spent on sponsored content brands generated an average of US $6.50 in earned media value."

Plus, Forbes, ZDNet and Marketing Week etc. all refer back to InfluencerDB’s methodology so I think it qualifies as a verifiable primary source for that figure. Apex Hawk (talk) 20:23, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

Thanks. I don't see where WP:FORBESCON references large blocks vs single data points.

More substantively, it's also taking "top campaigns" and applying their performance as "an average". Also, the InfluencerDB is a WP:Primary source, and I have no basis for concluding whether they are reliable in doing this sort of analysis. It's also 8 years old at this point.

You also should be careful how you make edits on the talk page. Your initial edit cut my comment in half, with your response in between. I've since restored it.

I'm not sure what ZDNET and Marketing Week sources you are referring to.

I'll leave the edit request open in case someone else feels comfortable making it. meamemg (talk) 20:26, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

I dug around for secondary mentions of the 6.5 : 1 ROI and about the $6.50 number. Several independent marketing sites quote the same figure and cite InfluencerDB’s study:

HubSpot - "Examples of Influencer Marketing Campaigns" - https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/examples-of-influencer-marketing-campaigns

AWIN - "Five Strategies to Win at Influencer Marketing" (2021) - https://www.awin.com/ca/news-and-events/tips-and-tricks/five-strategies-to-win-at-influencer-marketing

DesignRush - "Complete Instagram Marketing Guide" (2022) - https://www.designrush.com/agency/social-media-marketing/trends/complete-instagram-marketing-guide

MileIQ - "Forecast: Biggest Marketing Trends" - https://mileiq.com/blog/forecast-biggest-marketing-trends

These outlets aren’t academic journals but they're independent of InfluencerDB and show the number has been picked up more widely. Hope that’s enough to establish basic credibility. Just sharing what I found. Apex Hawk (talk) 21:35, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

I did a "CTRL-F" search on all four links for "InfluencerDB" and "6.5" but didn't find either on any of them. What am I missing? meamemg (talk) 13:58, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

Hi meamemg,

I should have been clearer: on those pages, the reference isn’t always in the visible paragraph text. In a couple of cases it’s in the link itself (the anchor or caption), not in the surrounding sentence. Here's what I'm seeing:

HubSpot - scroll to the H&M/Coachella example. The link text reads "influencer campaign" and the underlying URL is InfluencerDB’s 2017 study.

AWIN - https://www.awin.com/ca/news-and-events/tips-and-tricks/five-strategies-to-win-at-influencer-marketing under the "Win at influencer marketing" tips, there’s a sentence that links the words "InfluencerDB" straight to the same report.

DesignRush - https://www.designrush.com/agency/social-media-marketing/trends/complete-instagram-marketing-guide in the section on fashion brands, they note H&M’s 31 % follower jump that percentage is hyper‑linked to InfluencerDB's analysis.

MileIQ - https://mileiq.com/blog/forecast-biggest-marketing-trends their 2020 trends piece uses the phrase "influencer campaign" as a link to the report as well.

Medium - https://medium.com/the-mission/how-to-measure-what-an-instagram-post-is-worth-ffb38e91a9dd the article on valuing Instagram posts links the text "InfluencerDB.com" directly to the study.

Buffer - https://buffer.com/resources/influencer-marketing-cost/ their long‑form guide "How Much Does Influencer Marketing Cost?" uses the words "InfluencerDB" as the link to the 2017 ROI report.

Entrepreneur - https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/4-ways-to-build-your-brand-ambassador-dream-team/300633 in "4 Ways to Build Your Brand‑Ambassador Dream Team" the phrase "like follower ratio" is hyper‑linked to the same report.

These are just the ones that popped up on the first couple of result pages there are literally hundreds (probably thousands) of trade and business articles that link back to the study - so if none of the items we've discussed feels ideal for Wikipedia, I can keep digging until we hit a source that checks every box.

Let me know whether either of these works better, or if you'd like me to keep hunting.

So if you hit Ctrl + F for "InfluencerDB" or "6.5" you won’t always see a match in the plain text you'd need to view the hyperlink or hover over it. All five outlets are independently pointing back to the same InfluencerDB ROI figure.

Hope that clears up where the citations are hiding. If you’d still prefer something with the number spelled out in the body copy, let me know and I’ll keep digging. Apex Hawk (talk) 16:59, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

None of these are a reliable source for the claim that there was an average return of 6.5:1 on influencer marketing. Just because someone linked to the article (likely for SEO reasons, if I had to bet) doesn't mean they are sources for the claim. And most of those are blogs or other similar sources that aren't generally considered reliable.

I'm going to mark the edit request as closed, but feel free to try to establish consensus for this edit. I'm bowing out of this conversation at this point. meamemg (talk) 20:25, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

This LLM-generated text has been collapsed and should be excluded from assessments of consensus.

The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

Thank you for your feedback. A few clarifications:

• WP:FORBESCON cautions against copying large blocks of text from Forbes, but **summarizing a single data point** (the “US $6.50 for every US $1” ROI) is allowed when properly cited—no extensive prose is being reproduced.

• The **6.5 : 1 ROI** appears _directly_ on InfluencerDB’s blog, in the “Takeaways” section:

• “InfluencerDB’s analysis of 1 737 influencer campaigns in 2017 shows an average ROI of 6.5 : 1. In other words, for every US $1 spent on sponsored content, brands generated an average of US $6.50 in earned media value.”

• InfluencerDB’s earned‑media‑value methodology is regularly **cited by Forbes, ZDNet, Marketing Week**, etc., making it a verifiable primary source for this statistic.

—Apex Hawk (talk) 20:00, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

@Apex Hawk, please do not use large language models or "AI chatbots" to generate talk page comments. (I could tell because your latest comment used Markdown formatting instead of wikitext.) All comments on talk pages must be in your own words, so I collapsed your comment. SuperPianoMan9167 (talk) 20:13, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

Sorry for that. I’m here because I want to help improve the article and make meaningful edits, not cause extra work for everyone. From now on I’ll write every talk‑page comment myself in proper wikitext and with my own words. Thanks for your patience and for keeping me honest. Apex Hawk (talk) 20:47, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for engaging with us. And welcome to Wikipedia! I hope this doesn't turn you off from contributing. In general, most pages are open to anyone to edit. The ones that aren't, like this one, tend to be the more controversial ones. I recommend starting off with editing unprotected pages until you get more familiar with Wikipedia's policies. meamemg (talk) 21:00, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

 Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the {{Edit semi-protected}} template. meamemg (talk) 20:25, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

References

Semi-protected edit request on 27 August 2025

There is a spelling error in the opening paragraphs. It should say "satisfied" not "statisfied". Dommac99 (talk) 22:15, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

"However, fans increased their engagement after the disclosure, statisfied they were landing such deals." Dommac99 (talk) 22:17, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

 Done PianoDan (talk) 22:40, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: TikTok and Social Media

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 4 September 2025 and 12 November 2025. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): DaVinci44 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by DaVinci44 (talk) 19:41, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 12 December 2025

Influencer marketing refers to placement, promotion or endorsement of products across social media networks and platforms for example Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube or other online shrunk platforms. (https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/influencer-marketing-guide) ‘An influencer is a person who has the power to affect the purchasing decisions of others because of their authority, knowledge, position or relationship with their audience.’

However, in recent years there has been a larger shift from celebrity endorsement to partnerships with smaller scaled influencers, who have been shown in recent data surveys to generate higher engagement rates Influencer marketing has become the new strategy for brands looking to expand their reach. Using this technique allows brands to be able to boost awareness and conversions. Statistics shows a whopping 93% of marketers now practice influencer marketing in 2025. Influencer marketing has proven to be so effective for companies that in 2024 69% of markets plan to increase their budget for influencer marketing

The rise of Digital Influencer Marketing Influencer marketing is a concept that has existed for many years and eventually it has led to the creation of digital influencer marketing. It is thought to have arisen from mothers who were online blogging. For over 10 years blogging that had been created from mothers on social media platforms were one of the main factors that influenced these changes today on modern day marketing and advertising. Mothers who were online blogging were recruited to help increase recognition of products and services by using different forms of advertising methods

Over the last decade there has been a constant growth in the number of influencers. Especially after the pandemic which led to a drastic increase in the number of influencers which contributed to the changes in tactics in modern advertising. Influencer Marketing has undergone some significant changes Covid-19 shifted marketing strategies leading toa 4.2% decline in global ad spending however an 8% growth in digital media, which accounted for 59% of ad spend in 2020. However, some business declined rapidly in the pandemic however influencer marketing boomed of the pandemic due to the high consumption in content and promoting online content such as authentic content.

Influencer Marketing strategies Adopted by Brands In the early 2010s, celebrity approbation was the main strategy used in influencer marketing. Brands paid large sums of money for celebrities to have their names associated with products to help drive sales and increase following. However, as the vast increase in the use of social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube increased, it created a gap allowing micro influencers market with a smaller following but closer connections with their audience to offer a more targeted form of influencer marketing to their following.

Brands discovered from data they had been collecting that influencer marketing was generating a higher engagement with their products which caused a positive increase in both the demand for their products and brand awareness. 

As brands started seeing this increase in brand recognition it caused the emergence of tracking and monitoring tools, that were used to capture and analyse data captured measurable results generated from conversions, sales and long term customer loyalty, this enabled brands to have a more tailored approach to influencer marketing and therefor generated the idea that it isn't specifically about the product it is about the people you are targeting, the platform you are using to promote the product and the time FrostedLogic396 (talk) 21:21, 12 December 2025 (UTC)

What do you actually want changed? Also, was this edit request written using AI? — Rtrb (talk) (contribs) 21:35, 12 December 2025 (UTC)

no this was not written using Ai, I used sources and turned them into my own words FrostedLogic396 (talk) 21:04, 13 December 2025 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want made. Please detail the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Nobody wants to read that wall of text. --pro-anti-air ––>(talk)<–– 23:24, 12 December 2025 (UTC)

I dont want really to change anything I just want to add to the page FrostedLogic396 (talk) 21:06, 13 December 2025 (UTC)

Add what? --pro-anti-air ––>(talk)<–– 21:52, 13 December 2025 (UTC)

add some recently updated information on this page about influencer marketing. FrostedLogic396 (talk) 22:40, 13 December 2025 (UTC)