At the forefront of marketing innovation, industry leaders gathered at the last Portada Live event in NYC (and virtual), to discuss the future of influencer marketing. During the panel ‘Marketing in 2024: Spotlight on Brand Growth Opportunities,’ Moises Leiferman, a senior marketer at Perfetti Van Melle, Diageo’s Nicola Heckles, and Wilson Santiago Soler at Rocket Mortgage, shared insights on influencer marketing effectiveness and the evolving role of influencers in the marketing and media mix.
At the beginning of the 2000s, the arrival of social networks like Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat enabled the emergence of influencers, who found a way to monetize their followers through corporate partnerships. During this time, influencers began to gain popularity, and brands started collaborating with them to promote products and services. Collaborations were typically straightforward and centered around sponsored posts.
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As social media grew, so did the cultural penetration of influencers, who became prominent figures with loyal audiences, leading to industry professionalization. Brands started investing more in influencer collaborations, and influencers began to diversify their platforms and types of content. Today, influencer marketing is an integral part of many digital marketing strategies. Understanding influencer marketing effectiveness is critical to evaluating the impact of influencer marketing campaigns and optimizing future efforts. Influencers have evolved from simple product spokespeople to content creators, profoundly affecting their followers’ purchasing decisions. (Albeit marketers like Match.com’s Julia Estacolchic told Portada that conversion rates from influencer marketing are declining.)
“Today, people trust influencers more than a hundred-year-old company.”
Brands increasingly seek long-term collaborations with influencers to build more authentic relationships with their audiences. Given this landscape, the valid question is how we can measure the effectiveness of influencer marketing campaigns.
Which is the Best Way to Assess Influencer Marketing Effectiveness?
In New York City, last September,, several prominent marketing experts gathered at the Portada Live event to discuss the current state and future of marketing. During the panel “Marketing in 2024: Spotlight on Brand Growth Opportunities,” Moises Leiferman, Sr. Manager Omni Channel at Perfetti Van Melle, posed this question to two of the most qualified voices in influencer marketing.
Leiferman asked “Often in the brand marketer community it is said ‘let’s do an influencer campaign as a catch-all solution’. Which is the best way to assess influencer effectiveness? What KPIs are used to assess influencer efficiency? Is engagement a driver of purchase intention?”
Influencer Marketing Effectiveness, “Sometimes it’s a Bit More Art than Science”
Nicola Heckles, Vice President of Marketing Global at Diageo, answered Leiferman’s questions: “Yes, 100%, I believe in influencers as part of your total mix. It is a good part of the mix. Having a megaphone to deliver the brand message is very important. It only works if the endorser/influencer and the brand share a shared value and mission. It can have exponential impact and pretty quickly. There are lots of ways to measure influencer marketing. Maybe sometimes it’s more art than science, but that is ok since you can feel it.”
“Yes, 100%, I believe in influencers as part of your total mix. It is a good part of the mix. Having a megaphone to deliver the brand message is very important.”
“It’s not Just the Creative”
Emphasizing that today, people trust influencers more than a hundred-year-old company, Wilson Santiago Soler, Senior Multicultural Campaign Manager at Rocket Mortgage, added that creativity in the campaign is not enough. You also need proper support for the influencer and a comprehensive approach in the strategy.
“In our last campaign called ‘Only with Rocket’/ “Solo con Rocket”, we worked with three influencers in the Hispanic, African American and general audience space. We looked for influencers that related with those groups. It’s not just the creative. You need to have the right support for the influencer and a 360 approach. Today people trust influencers more than a hundred years old company. People can relate more to them. It’s part of a changing world.”
“You need to have the right support for the influencer and a 360 approach.”
VIDEO: Watch the most recent edition of the Portada Live conference. The”Marketing in 2024: Spotlight on Brand Growth Opportunities” session, where the effectiveness of influencer marketing campaigns is debated starts at 32 minutes and 09 seconds.
Are you interested in influencer marketing effectiveness? You can also read: Influencer Platforms: TikTok, IG, lead in Paid Collaborations, Paid UGC Explodes.
