The media is now irrelevant to the vast majority of Generation Z members. According to Reuters, 40% of 18-24-year-olds use TikTok weekly, and 15% use it to read, comment or share news. In this new use of communication channels, if one group stands out above all, it is influencers. They are the opinion leaders in almost all subjects and sectors, not just for the youngest. Their influence now spans all ages, genders and social backgrounds.
Influencers are the most followed accounts by social network users in Spain, only behind profiles from their immediate environment, such as friends and family, according to the latest edition of IAB Spain’s Social Networks report, with Instagram being the social network where these opinion leaders are most followed.
According to this AIB study, 51% of social network users in Spain follow influencers, a penetration that continues to grow every year. The profiles that most follow this type of account are women (56%), and the youngest users between 12-17 years old (82%) and between 18-24 years old 73%.
Instagram has become the ideal place for influencer marketing for brands. This social network is the one that receives the most investment from advertisers, although some recent reports are already beginning to show TikTok as the winner. According to The Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report 2023, TikTok (used by 56% of brands using influencer marketing) is now the most popular influencer marketing channel, leaping ahead of Instagram (51%) for the first time, and well ahead of Facebook (42%) and YouTube (38%).
Advertising spend on influencer marketing continues to rise
In the last five years, influencer marketing has increased by more than 50% on platforms such as Instagram and YouTube, and according to McKinsey, the influencer marketing economy will reach $16.4 billion by 2023.
According to data from Insider Intelligence, spending on influencer marketing campaigns in 2023 will be close to 5,000 million dollars, and the figure seems to continue growing. Specifically in Spain, according to the Study of Advertising Investment in Digital Media 2023, conducted by IAB Spain and INFOADEX in collaboration with PwC, investment in influencer marketing reached 63.9 million euros of advertising investment in Spain during 2022, representing an increase of 22.8% over the previous year.
APPLE TREE’s science of influence
Our approach to influencer marketing is that, when done well, it is a strategic pillar for achieving business results and building more relevant brands. As a strategic agency, APPLE TREE integrates our core strengths when working with influencers. As a creative agency, we devise campaigns from scratch, collaborate with content creators to co-create campaigns and help produce the necessary materials tailored to different platforms. As an influencer marketing agency, we know how to optimise budgets and amplification plans to increase the return through influencers. As a strategic PR consultancy, we know how to foster long-term relationships with opinion leaders to whom we provide value and content of interest based on the brands we collaborate with.
As a result of this constant search for innovation, APPLE TREE has signed a collaboration agreement with the influencer marketing agency Keeper. In this way, we want to reinforce our offer of integrated services, which implies an exchange of shares between both organisations. Thanks to this agreement, we will offer comprehensive advice on concept, strategy, talent selection and content creation, distribution and reporting.
APPLE TREE has been a pioneer in influencer marketing with some of the world’s most iconic brands, developing innovative actions and strategic campaigns with content creators for over ten years. Thanks to this approach, we have positioned ourselves in Spain’s top 10 influencer marketing agencies. For its part, Keeper has positioned itself in the market as one of the most important influencer marketing and representation agencies in Spain thanks to its experience, quality of service, creativity, talent pool – including Carolina Iglesias, Xuso Jones and Henar Álvarez, among many others – and its focus on generating content for different networks and formats, such as podcasts.
