The Evolution of Influencers: From Organic Posts to Strong Paid Performance

In today’s rapidly evolving social media landscape, influencer marketing is transforming from a purely organic tactic into a highly effective paid media strategy. Influencers have the opportunity to have an effect on consumer behavior and perception, impacting everything from purchase decisions to brand affinity. Their authentic connection with followers, cultivated through engaging content and targeted messaging, makes them invaluable partners for brands seeking to cut through the digital noise. 

Organic Reach and Algorithmic Amplification 

Influencer content often finds its way into consumers’ organic feeds, with the help of algorithms. We’ve transitioned from a world where we actively chose the content we consumed, to one where algorithms anticipate our preferences and curate our feeds accordingly.  

As a result, we’re organically exposed to a diverse range of influencers, even those we don’t actively follow, expanding our horizons and introducing us to brands and products we might otherwise miss. This organic reach, amplified by algorithmic curation, creates a powerful opportunity for brands to tell their stories through trusted influencer voices. 

Reaching a specific target audience is becoming increasingly complex as consumers grow more aware and concerned about data privacy. Social media platforms, in response, are encouraging brands to develop sharper, more engaging creatives that allow their algorithms to effectively identify and target the right audiences. This presents a challenge for many companies, particularly those with limited resources for creating differentiated social media content. 

Redefining Influencer Marketing as a Paid Media Channel 

Goat, the GroupM Nexus influencer team, offers a solution to the challenge of influencer marketing by enabling brands to integrate influencers into their paid media strategy, moving beyond simply “boosting” organic posts, which often only serve as a minor addition to broader marketing strategies. 

While Goat leverages data-driven insights to identify influencers based on proven performance, the key to maximizing the effectiveness of these campaigns lies in the strategic partnership with the GroupM Nexus Paid Social team. Nexus provides the strategic foundation for these influencer campaigns, incorporating paid social best practices and ensuring that influencer selection aligns with overall marketing objectives.  

This collaboration combines Goat’s data-driven influencer identification with Nexus’ strategic expertise, resulting in highly targeted and effective influencer campaigns that perform on par with other established paid media channels. 

Maximizing Content and Amplifying Results 

GroupM’s Goat team elevates influencer marketing by not only facilitating influencer selection and campaign execution but also by acquiring the rights to the content, thereby maximizing its potential impact. This strategic move, driven by the GroupM Nexus Paid Social team, allows brands to maximize their investment.  

The Nexus Paid Social team integrates the influencer-generated content seamlessly into existing social media strategies and broader marketing initiatives, extending its reach and impact across multiple channels. This approach transforms influencer marketing from a standalone tactic to a fully integrated component of a comprehensive marketing ecosystem, amplifying brand messaging and maximizing ROI. 

As we have seen in a previous insight article (link to article), a campaign for LOOP fitness integrated this approach, and delivered impressive results, such as:  

• 72% longer view time, demonstrating higher engagement 

• 54% lower CPC, proving influencer marketing as more efficient 

• 9% lower CPA, showing more cost-effective acquisition 

By combining the authenticity and engagement of influencer content with the precision and targeting of paid media strategies, brands can achieve exceptional results, taking performance marketing to new heights. The success stories emerging from this approach demonstrate the power of native influencer content within a well-defined social strategy. 

Want to know more about paid social influencer posts? Get in touch with Christina Gaarde, Social & Content Strategy Specialist, at [email protected], and Maria Heitmann, Paid Social Specialist / Senior Specialist, [email protected].