Brazil has more influencers than dentists

Resourceful people in front of the cameras, most of the time charismatic, who have at least 10,000 followers on their profile on social networks. They are the influencers, who already number more than 500 thousand in Brazil alone, according to the research multinational Nielsen.

Despite not representing a regulated profession, the contingent of influencers already exceeds the number of dentists trained in the country: 374 thousand, according to the CFO (Federal Council of Dentistry). They are also more than double the number of architects (212,000), exceed the total number of civil engineers (455,000) and tie with the number of doctors (502,000).

Behind the influencers, there is a market of agencies that develop these professionals and associate their image with product and service brands.

The value of social media campaigns – especially on Instagram, but also on YouTube and TikTok – varies infinitely depending on the number of followers, the level of audience engagement and even the region where the influencer lives. But according to agencies and professionals interviewed by the Sheet ranges from BRL 1,000 to BRL 600,000. The average per campaign of an already recognized influencer is BRL 18,000. The agency keeps about 20% of that amount.

Far from the glamor of those who already accumulate millions of followers after gaining fame on TV, such as global actors and actresses, presenters or former participants of reality shows like the BBB, for example, the vast majority of influencers are made up of ordinary people talking to us common, on specific subjects or telling your routine.

Success is exactly that: creating empathy in a matter of seconds, to the point of making you believe that you are chatting with a childhood friend, a co-worker or a dear cousin. It is someone who literally enters your network of relationships, but in a virtual way. Hence, it is easy to associate your image with the brand of a product or service that makes sense within the influencer’s reality.

“The public wants to see real people on social networks, who face problems, dilemmas, perrengues, just like each one of us”, says Ana Beatriz, influencer marketing manager at Méliuz, a fintech specializing in discount coupons and cashbacks.

The company created a sector within its marketing department just to take care of the relationship with influencers. “We’ve already campaigned for Méliuz using 300 influencers at once, on the same day, at the same time, to mess with the Instagram algorithm,” says Mariana Hargreaves, chief marketing executive at M4S (Media For Stars), an advertising agency. influencer marketing.

Social networks already attract advertising budget of R$ 1.5 billion

According to a survey by CENP (Executive Council for Standard Norms), which brings together advertisers, advertising agencies and communication vehicles, social networks received BRL 1.43 billion in advertising investment in 2021.

This is more than last year’s investment in radio, newspaper, magazine and cinema. This total includes posts from the companies themselves on social networks and the hiring of influencers through advertising agencies.

Ana Paula Passarelli created in 2019 an influencer marketing agency, Brunch, to serve influencers in search of professionalization and sponsorship. Subsequently, she created Toast, to advise brands that are looking for influencers – who may or may not be in the Brunch casting.

“We created different companies to avoid conflicts of interest”, says Ana Paula. “The important thing is that there is consistency in the work of the influencer, it cannot be forced, he really needs to believe in the product or service he presents on his network.”

Ana Paula is against selection only by number of followers. “There are click farms, which can inflate this number”, she says, referring to the practice of hiring people to follow influencers, already detailed by Sheet. “What counts is the authenticity of the influencer’s message and the level of engagement they achieve, which go beyond likes and include comments and shares.”

Influencer indicates brand in the post to be noticed by advertiser

In order for an influencer’s success not to be ephemeral, it must be relevant to the community in which it is inserted. “The influencer doesn’t support himself if he doesn’t have relevant content”, says Ana Paula. To select influencers, Brunch follows the career of the professional and analyzes how much their posts, reels, stories and videos have actually won over the public.

BR Media Group, an influencer marketing agency, created Farol seven months ago, which brings together a casting of influencers. “It is common that in a campaign we mix influencers with different ranges, from the ‘hero’, who has more than 2 million followers, to the micro-influencer, who adds up to 100 thousand followers”, says Luiz Jerônimo Stamboni, partner at BR Average.

According to Alexandra Avelar, Brazil director at Emplifi, a platform that manages the customer experience on social networks, some advertisers have even worked with nano influencers – who have less than 10,000 followers, to reach specific audiences.

But the opposite way also occurs: many influencers create content and tag companies in posts or videos, in order to be noticed by them, he says. “It’s a common practice even among big influencers: if they like a brand, leave the hashtag or at the post. At some point, that advertiser can get in touch.”

Algorithm can lead to writer’s block

According to Stamboni, from BR Media, an agency is important to help influencers keep their content relevant on the network, given the constant changes in algorithms on each platform. “On their own, many cannot keep up with the changes. The advisory helps to assess whether the content he is creating is relevant to the audience of that social network”.

Agencies point out that it is very common for influencers to feel pressured to create viral content and face a creative block.

“The influencer wants to talk about A, but only B goes viral, he has to deal with the pressure that comes from the algorithm”, says Mariana Hargreaves, from M4S. “Our job is to help the influencer understand the algorithm, we use tools to map what is attracting an audience, but at the same time encourage them to produce content their way.”

Mariana gives as an example a Christian influencer, who didn’t want to do the funk dance that bombs in the networks for going against her values. “But she can adapt the melody to a message from her. The algorithm will understand that she’s using a song that’s on the rise.”

M4S recently promoted a campaign for Méliuz with the influencer Bianca Andrade, known as Boca Rosa, who participated in the 2020 edition of the BBB and has almost 18 million followers on Instagram.

“She is a glamorous character, focused on the world of beauty, makeup, who also has an entrepreneurial profile. But the first video she sent did not convince, it was very scripted”, he says.

After asking the influencer to be as natural as possible, Bianca created a fun video with the song that was on the rise – “Everybody”, a 1997 hit by the Backstreet Boys that went viral on TikTok. It received 142,000 likes and over 5,000 comments. “The influencer’s role is to guarantee the click on the sponsor’s link. The conversion into sales depends on other factors”, says Mariana.

Women are the ones who follow the most, but don’t buy

Nielsen research, carried out between February and March of this year, reveals that, although very popular, especially with the female audience, influencers are not sales determinants. According to the survey, 45% of women always accompany influencers, against 24% of men. But 58% of them and 76% of them have never purchased products or services advertised by influencers.

When questioned, the majority of the public (66%) reported that they did not buy because they did not feel confident in what was presented. The Nielsen survey was carried out with a thousand people, aged between 18 and 55, of both sexes, from all regions of the country, with income between 1 and 15 minimum wages.

“The advertiser needs to make their content resonate with the community served by that influencer”, says Sabrina Balhes, measurement leader at Nielsen Brasil. “The influencer speaks in a customized way to the audience, something impossible for a big brand, but the message has to be relevant.”

Usually, the influencer’s post has much more relevance to the audience than the one made by the brand, says Alexandra Avelar, from Emplifi. “The influencer who wears the fashion retailer’s jacket in her posts counts a lot more than the retailer herself advertising the product.”

at the request of SheetEmplifi carried out a survey of Instagram influencers who, in the first quarter of the year, made more brand recommendations in their posts – which may or may not have been paid.

Influencers who cited the most brands in the 1st quarter

The survey also indicated the brands most mentioned by influencers in the period. In these cases, the posts may also have been paid or spontaneous.

Brands most mentioned by influencers in Q1

“To find out if that influencer action converted into sales, it is common for brands to distribute coupons: the follower will use that purchase code when they reach the advertiser’s page”, says Alexandra.