According to a survey done by BPG Orange and YouGov, 71% of the people sampled said that their purchasing decisions are affected by the content posted by influencers. Another study done by them revealed that 94% in-house marketers in the UAE believed that social media marketing is very significant.
Despite this, influencers have managed to attract mixed sentiments regionally and globally, with credibility being one of the key words in question.
Quoting an example, Anthony Permal said, “There’s one very well known influencer and content creator who in general creates great content on his own. He was hired by one of the cellphone companies to do a promotional campaign and he was so out of place in that as that’s not his style. He was paid good money but in the end it was a laughing stock online”.
Another problem with influencer marketing today is that 47% of influencers charge in terms of freebies and another 47% charge per post/video uploaded. From a followers standpoint, they are left wondering if the content posted is genuine virtual word of mouth or if the influencers they followed are just acting as marketing tools for a particular brand or company, especially when they fail to mention if a post is sponsored or not.
For a brand, one of the key issues here is measurability. “Measurement is one of the most difficult part of influencer marketing. But there are ways like a redeemable coupon, if your business is online then you can locate the URL link that measures the click-throughs, acquisitions and so on”, said Taghreed Oraibi.
However Permal argues that a discount is not something that a customer in the region is used to asking. They are, in fact used to demanding it using apps like the Entertainer, Zomato Gold etc. which they purchased.
“We have a very high disposable income in the region and people usually tend to spend money on things that will make them look good. You don’t expect a lot of people to say, here’s my coupon I want to get a discount. They will instead use an app like an entertainer for discounts”, he said.
However, Permal and Oraibi both agree that the way influencers charge and are paid by brands i.e. through freebies and by payments per post is wrong. Less than 30% influencers charge for any legitimate action taken by their followers to support the reach and sales of the subject they are marketing.
Only 29% charge per click and 6% charge per acquisition. “The way we pay now in the industry is based on outputs and not outcomes. And this has to change. When I charge an influencer, micro or macro, based on acquisition or cost per click or an action, this makes more sense to me.”
Oversaturation of the influencer market in the UAE was also addressed during the debate, after an audience member asked the question. “It seems there are a lot of influencers per capita in the region. Is there such a thing called being over-influencered?”, asked Bernd Debusmann.
“I think the industry is definitely saturated but it goes back to the definition of influencer. We put bloggers, instagrammers, youtubers under the term influencer. Not all of them are. So this needs to change”, replied Oraibi.
