What are the most effective channels for influencer marketing?

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From YouTube to Snapchat, the biggest social influencers usually have a presence across all social media channels.

But what are the most effective?

As the below tweet from high-profile influencer, Tanya Burr, shows – it’s no longer a case of the more the better.

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Here are a few key takeaways from Econsultancy’s Voice of the Influencer report, in association with Fashion and Beauty Monitor, highlighting where influencers are choosing to focus and why.

Instagram is key for fashion and beauty influencers

Now reaching the 500m user milestone, Instagram has seen phenomenal growth over the past few years.

Unsurprisingly, it is now seen as the most influential channel, specifically for influencers within the fashion and beauty industries.

While it is one of the least established, with just 16% of respondents saying they’ve been active on it for five years, 74% say it is the most important.

With its high-impact visual nature, it is loved by brands looking to create ready-made sharable ‘moments’.

Pressure to expand video channels

Despite just 16% of the influencers in our study citing YouTube as their most influential channel, it is interesting to note that channels with video functionality are rising in importance.

With the introduction of Instagram Stories and the continued popularity of Snapchat and Facebook Video, we can see that this medium is becoming a bigger focus.

Consequently, many of the influencers surveyed in the report cited a pressure to expand in this area.

Sponsored posts are the most common method of getting paid

When it comes to getting paid, sponsored blogs or posts were cited as the most common activities for producing monetary returns.

Interestingly, this contradicts findings from our Rise of Influencers report published earlier this year, whereby brands cited content promotion and distribution as having the biggest earning potential.

However, 69% of brands agreed that sponsored posts are “critical” or “very important”.

With sponsored posts being particularly profitable for influencers with a ‘small but strong and emerging social media following’ as well as a ‘strong online network with a wide audience and high reach’ – this type of activity appears to be popular across the board.

Email is most effective for communication between influencers and brands

Lastly, what about the channels that are most effective for creating and strengthening partnerships?

This appears to be email, with 83% of influencers citing this as the most oft-used channel for communication.

On the other end of the scale, agents and publicists are the least common, used by just 17%.

With a desire for autonomy and control over their own image, many are shunning third-party input.