Over half (54%) of PR and marketing professionals involved with influencer marketing practices in the UK now follow the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) regulations, a study from Takumi has found. 

Marking a significant lift on the 37.5% who adhered to the rules in 2016, which require the clear signposting of sponsored content, this is a step forward for the influencer marketing channel becoming more regulated.

The co-founder and CEO of the micro-influencer platform, Mats Stigzelius, believes the results prove the growing importance of the channel as well as PR and marketing professionals becoming more “savvy” in collaborating with influencers. 

“Whereas before there was a certain amount of confusion with regards to the guidelines, the research has shown that there is a greater awareness on how to get the most out of influencer marketing and what the guidelines are,” he commented.

The research has been released amid the controversy regarding Fyre Festival where celebrities failed to disclose their paid association with the event. Most respondents (75%) agree that working with influencers and sponsored content requires full transparency.

Targeting young audiences

Takumi’s research on 600 individuals also shed some light on the state of influencer marketing today. In the UK, the channel is widely embraced by marketers and most (65%) of the surveyed work directly with influencers as part of their strategy. For almost half of the respondents, the channel is more effective in targeting young audiences than traditional advertising. 

The challenges preventing the remaining 35% from using influencer marketing are the difficulties in effective ROI measurement (33%) and failing to see the benefit of the strategy for their brands (17%). Conversely, 61.3% of the surveyed are confident they can accurately measure their return on influencer marketing investment.
 
“As more and more brands begin to educate themselves on how to effectively use influencers and are able to measure the results and the ROI, I think that we can expect to see an increase in the use of influencers as part of a more targeted approach for consumers particularly for millennial audiences,” concluded Stigzelius.

PerformanceIN conducted a survey on what readers consider to be the best way of measuring influencer marketing ROI. View the results here.