Measuring success is the biggest challenge in influencer campaigns

New studies and insights are constantly being added internationally. But what is the situation in the Swiss influencer market? To find out, the influencer marketing agency Go Mood surveyed brands and companies operating in Switzerland. What goals are they pursuing? What are their biggest challenges and how much budget are they planning to invest in 2021?

Raising awareness is the most common goal

When it comes to collaborations between brands and influencers, increasing brand awareness is the most common goal at around 65%. It is interesting to note that only 4% of industry experts aim for the direct sale of products and services as the primary goal of influencer campaigns.

Measuring success is the biggest challenge

For the vast majority of marketers surveyed, measuring the success (approx. 70%) of influencer campaigns is the biggest challenge. Obviously, marketers seem to have difficulties in setting the right parameters for assessing their influencer activities.

At around 70%, the selection of suitable influencers is also seen as critical. Developing an original concept (30%), obtaining sufficient budget from the company (27%) and managing ongoing influencer campaigns are further pain points for respondents, while 19 percent of respondents find it difficult to contact social media influencers. On the other hand, incalculable risks (11%) appear to be comparatively unproblematic.

Influencer marketing budget

27% of marketing managers will spend more, 58% the same and 15% less on influencer campaigns in Switzerland this year than in the previous year. This result is in line with international estimates, which are forecasting growth of 10 to 15 percent again for 2021 after the declining coronavirus year of 2020.

How can the experts' views be interpreted?

In general, the call for industry guidelines is increasing. Marketing specialists also want reliable and transparent key figures from influencer profiles so that they can select influencers based on data on the one hand and better assess campaign performance on the other.

Higher advertising budgets will increase competition, which will lead to creative and original concepts becoming more important. This trend will drive advertising with new formats, such as podcasts and new social media channels like TikTok. Long-term collaborations between influencers and brands will also become increasingly important.

Great optimization potential

In addition to the top dogs, there are also a large number of undiscovered influencer gems with great potential in Switzerland. For example, influencers with small communities, so-called micro-influencers, offer many advantages. They are authentic and have a close relationship with their fans, which makes recommendations almost like coming from family members. Apart from that, there are many more of them, which increases the opportunity for the best possible brand fit.

With regard to the key figures for measuring success, companies should first set the right targets, as the key figures depend on the desired goal. Only those who know where they want to go can steer the course.

Aim of the Influencer marketing survey by Go Mood was to find out what the most important challenges brands face with influencer marketing campaigns in Switzerland, what goals they want to achieve with them and whether spending is also increasing in this country. 

To this end, 30 marketing experts from large, medium-sized and small Swiss companies were randomly selected and asked about their experience and knowledge via an online survey. The online questionnaire allowed both predefined and open response options in order to be able to capture unexpected findings.

The full report from Go Mood is available at Gomood.ch.