The term ‘influencer’ has become quite common among today’s social media users. It is a tag that many people are happy to attach to themselves because of the returns that come with it. When people think about influencers, they think of popular social media users who get famous and earn from creating witty or funny content which generates endless likes and translates into a large number of followers. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case, and knowing these things, even applying them to the latter doesn’t guarantee to reach influencer status.
Countless times, the Nigerian online community has witnessed people on the strict mission of becoming influencers doing all they can to gather a following, only to get some semblance of popularity without the influence bit coming through.
The first thing a lot of social media users need to understand is that while a large following is a key part of the influencer marketing business, it isn’t the only part, definitely not the most important and targeting it alone might do more harm than good.
Although Nigerian brands seem to be focusing more of their influencer spending on getting awareness and visibility, more of them are switching to focus more on engagement, and people in the space know that large follower numbers don’t immediately translate to high engagement. This is why marketing professionals and brand managers have started to pay closer attention to events within the growing influencer marketing space in Nigeria to ensure it doesn’t remain business as usual.
Before now, the perception people had about the influencer marketing space in Nigeria was that it was a goldmine for anyone who could get their foot through the door, but Plaqad’s recent Influencer Compensation Report shows things as they really are and provides a blueprint for anyone who wants to win in the Nigerian influencer space.
The first thing the report does is to solidify the claim that influencer marketing is growing in Nigeria, by showing that more brands now trust social media influencers over traditional celebrities. The fact that 60% of Nigerian brands now want something to do with influencers proves that there is a viable market for people who become influencers. Unfortunately, not everyone will benefit from this, which makes the report’s breakdown of remuneration structure a key guide to success.
As with many creative industries, pricing is a headache in the influencer marketing space. Many people come into the field with the expectation that they will immediately start earning top dollar, but this is not the case, as the report shows that 80% of influencers in Nigeria earned less than $2000 in 2019. This figure is despite almost 67% of brands spending between 10 – 50 million naira and above on influencer marketing.
A closer look at this shows that not all remuneration is cash-based, which means that new influencers can expect to be paid in products or trips sometimes. Currently, 18% of existing influencers prefer products to cash rewards, a 5% rise from what the number was when Plaqad first did their remuneration survey in 2019. Many of the influencers who pick product rewards do so because they would either naturally patronize the brand or are getting a product that is exclusive or equal in value to what they would have charged. Working with brands they have relationships with is also a point where this comes in, as that relationship makes it possible for products to fill in for cash.
Another interesting angle to influencer earnings is in the timelines. Given the way space is portrayed, people reckon that influencers receive credit alerts every day, or at least every time they make a post. Yes, a good number of influencers still charge per post, but the higher percentage, 59% to be precise, either charge a flat fee or are paid depending on the campaign duration.
Speaking about duration, most current influencers actually want to earn monthly and prefer a 7 – 30-day campaign window, as this creates some form of stable or structured payment plan monthly. This in turn also affects how brands plan their payment schedules to be able to meet their needs, and understanding this will definitely help new influencers manage expectations.
The most revealing thing about the influencer marketing space is that most of the deals still happen through agencies. Only 30% of brands contact and manage influencers in-house, the rest do so through agencies, which implies that aligning with an agency might be a good move for influencers, as these agencies would definitely have a say in fixing earnings as well.
Coming into the influencer marketing space armed with these insights will definitely ensure that an influencer makes fewer mistakes, and is able to build the right systems from the start. While they might not earn big from the get-go, having the right structure most definitely means a greater chance at long-term success.