Plug in your headphones and pump up the volume because it’s time to tune into IZEA’s brand new podcast, ShareWorthy! ShareWorthy is an offshoot of the IZEA Content and Influencer Marketing Blog that features exclusive interviews with industry experts, groundbreaking research, and marketing insider tips, tricks, and commentary you won’t find anywhere else.
The first episode of ShareWorthy features many of the surprising findings from the 2017 State of the Creator Economy ebook, available for download here. You can also find ShareWorthy on iTunes and Stitcher.
A full podcast transcript can be found below. Happy listening!
Full podcast transcript from ShareWorthy, Episode 1: Findings from the 2017 State of the Creator Economy
You are listening to ShareWorthy, the Influencer and Content Marketing podcast brought to you by IZEA, the industry’s leader in developing technology that helps marketers and creators connect.
Hey, everybody, Katie here. Welcome to ShareWorthy, IZEA’s Influencer and Content Marketing podcast. Show notes can be found at I-Z-E-A-dot-com and feel free to add the podcast to your favorite RSS feed or iTunes. You can also follow IZEA on Twitter @I-Z-E-A and Facebook at Facebook-DOT-COM-SLASH-IZEA-I-N-C. All links are in the show notes.
Welcome to episode 1—the first of what we hope will be many snackable and share-worthy podcasts to come. Today we’re talking about the State of the Creator Economy in 2017. Each year IZEA partners with consumer research groups to create comprehensive studies on the landscape of Influencer and Content Marketing. Previously known as “The State of Sponsored Social”, this annual study is now in its seventh year. Over the years, it’s become the industry’s leading independent view of content and influencer marketing from the vantage points of creators, consumers, and marketers.
This year we used the help of research firms The Right Brain Consumer Consulting, Halverson Group, Lightspeed GMI, and Research Now to investigate Marketer, Creator, and Consumer perspectives on the influencer and content marketing effectiveness versus other marketing mediums.
We also broadened the geography of the study to include marketers and consumers in both the U-S and Canada. The 2017 State of the Creator Economy has proven to be the most in-depth study of the industry to date and yielded some pretty surprising results.
Now let’s get into it.
When it comes to effectiveness, we found that Influencer and Content Marketing continue to drive the most value for brands and agencies compared to all other forms of marketing and advertising investments. And they both achieved chart-topping Effectiveness Ratings among client and agency marketers with year-on-year perceptual gains. Wow.
We also found a FULL THIRD of Marketers surveyed are now dedicating over five-hundred-thousand-dollars — that’s half of a million dollars — per year for influencer marketing. That top budget is up twenty-five percent from last year’s study. And over half of Marketers surveyed have stand-alone budgets for content marketing, with twenty-nine percent investing the same budget of over five-hundred-thousand-dollars per year.
Now get this – across the popular news dominating today’s feeds, the average U.S. consumer reads 207 articles and visits 398 websites per month. That represents over 20 opportunities for content marketing engagement per day. Given all of this opportunity, it makes sense that we found marketers’ prefer Influencer and Content Marketing that leans toward “snackable” and visual content like infographics, gifs, and short videos. The study even showed this preference increased from last year as more marketers realize the value here.
But one of the most surprising findings from the study is there is still an industry issue with proper disclosure of compensated content. And it’s not what you think. Influencers cite that improper disclosure is often requested by clients who continue to pressure for omission. Nearly three in 10 creators indicated that they have received a direct request from a client to not disclose they were paid – that’s a violation of Federal Trade Commission and Advertising Standards of Canada policies. Not good.
Stay strong, creators. And marketers, know the laws.
After all, participating consumers cited their perception of trustworthy and credible creators has the most influence on the content’s impact—not whether or not the post was sponsored.
Furthermore, consumers find influencer and content marketing just as, if not more, effective than traditional advertising. Of the forty-one types of marketing messages rated by consumers in the study, only online product ratings, online reviews, and TV commercials scored as highly as influencer marketing.
Here’s what IZEA’s CEO Ted Murphy had to say:
“The three-year trends show steady perceptual gains for Influencer Marketing, while at the same time, traditional advertising approaches show a continued flat line or downward effectiveness trend line. We believe this demonstrates an incredible opportunity for brands and creators alike to connect with consumers by developing engaging, shareable content in the years ahead. Content is what is driving results for Marketers.”
Thanks, Ted! We couldn’t agree more. Data gathered over the past few years has certainly demonstrated how powerful influencers and content can be for today’s marketers. And the best part is, it can work for anyone. Big name brands like Nike and Coca-Cola and small mom-and-pops can achieve similar success just by empowering influential creators to share their content.
To learn more about the 2017 State of the Creator Economy, a full version of the study is available for free download on the Resources section of IZEA’ website, w-w-w-dot-izea-dot-com-slash-resources.
That’s all the ShareWorthy knowledge for now. Stay tuned for future episodes and remember to always champion the creators. Thanks for listening, catch you next time!
