In the age of social media marketing, digital influencers, whether bloggers or Instagram stars, can be a lucrative way for lesser known businesses or ailing brands to increase their presence. But how does using digital influencers compare to celebrity endorsement when it comes to brand marketing?

Digital influencers are the new celebrities, helping lesser known brands get the most from their sponsored social media posts. Since TV viewership and traditional ad spend is declining, there is less requirement for traditional celebrities than before. In fact, (according to results from eMarketer), annual growth rate for digital media in the US has remained at around 11.4% over the past five years, in comparison to print advertising for instance, which has shown an annual drop over the past five years of almost 17%. It’s also a much cheaper tactic for start ups to leverage, and has resulted in incredible success for smaller brands, particularly those in the health and beauty industry, who have made a name for themselves primarily on Instagram and Vine, simply by utilising influencers.

One of the other advantages of using digital personalities, is the way in which engagement and ROI is more measurable. In 2015 for instance, influencer marketing was shown to yield $6.85 for every $1 spent in paid media campaigns. Influencers are active on multiple social media accounts, and can explicitly and creatively promote a brand and its products on their own profiles, as well as interact with followers on a personal level about them- something that a celebrity might not do. Whereas having a celebrity brand ambassador can be a great asset for a company’s print ad campaigns or offline marketing, online influencers can often reach a greater audience digitally through their social channels. In this way, traction is measurable, with follower engagement by way of likes, shares, comments, link clicks, and subsequently site metrics easily monitored, something that cannot be guaranteed from a one time celebrity brand endorsement online, or even an ongoing offline partnership.

In some cases though, celebrity advertising can be more powerful. Take media publications and magazines for instance, who have benefitted from using notable personalities- something that wouldn’t necessarily work with a lesser known online influencer. For instance, when Paper Magazine featured Kim Kardashian on the front cover of its November 2014 issue, this catapulted the Indie publication into the mainstream consciousness. While Kim was the star of the issue which featured the memorable slogan, “Break the Internet”, Paper Magazine ensured they also backed the campaign with promotional support from digital influencers such as Instagram star, The Fat Jewish. This combination quickly caused social media to erupt with images, gaining even more attention for the brand, and resulting in Paper’s Instagram account increasing by a staggering 326%. Online traffic is now 10 times higher to papermag.com than it was one year ago, making their digital publication a more profitable revenue source than their offline magazine.

Soon though, we imagine we’ll start to see a shift, as social media stars gain even more credence, and become offline campaign stars in their own right. But for now, influencers are certainly the most valuable asset for small brands in the digital arena, and will continue to dominate. This will especially continue to rise when it comes to Instagram for instance, with algorithmic changes making influencers all the more important. For instance, lesser known brands with smaller audiences will likely only have their content reach a large viewership by leveraging Instagram influencers, who will be able to rack up a much higher amount of engagement, thus causing posts to be displayed nearer the top of a user’s feed. By choosing their influencers wisely, small brands will certainly benefit more than ever before from digital partnerships in future.

Which brands do you think have been given a much needed boost from celebrity endorsement? And which do you think have benefitted from using digital and social media influencers? We’d love to hear your thoughts as always, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital and share your comments on our Facebook page.