The ANA announced the creation of the Influencer Marketing Advisory Board, a leadership community of senior-level marketers dedicated to helping ANA members and the industry at large optimize influencer marketing.

The board’s top priority is the establishment of industry-wide standardized measurement definitions to address the variance across platforms and the inconsistent usage and reporting by different partners in the social media ecosystem.

The Board also will seek to increase trust and transparency in influencer marketing by reducing fraud, improving measurement, and spearheading industry commitments to advancing and improving the discipline.

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The goal will channel top influencer marketing leaders’ insights, connections, and resources towards marketers’ greatest growth challenges while fostering collaboration between key players and driving industry action. It will also offer direction on new ANA thought leadership and research while providing a forum for senior leaders to collaborate with and learn from their peers.

“The role that influencers play in the overall marketing mix is clearly growing, but it’s exact impact remains to be seen,” said ANA CEO Bob Liodice.  “The new ANA Advisory Board will help marketers meet the challenges this important discipline presents, especially in the area of establishing solid metrics to help them maximize their investments.”

The Board’s immediate priorities include:

• Measurement: Establishment of industry-wide standardized measurement definitions and guidelines.

• Representation: Develop guidelines to better amplify diverse voices, establish equitable pay systems, and ensure supplier and partner diversity across all facets of influencer marketing.

The board is an invitation-only initiative and is chaired by Casey DePalma McCartney, Sr. Director / Head of Public Relations, Digital Engagement, Unilever.  Other members include senior marketing leaders from Cigna, Hilton, Mastercard, Procter & Gamble, PUMA, Nationwide, Reckitt Benckiser, SAP, Sephora, and Target.

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The establishment of the Board follows a recent ANA survey that showed measurement and ROI as the top challenges with influencer marketing.  Additionally, 34 percent of marketers believe influencer marketing performs better than other marketing disciplines, but 39 percent say they are unsure of influencer marketing’s impact due to a lack of accurate measurement.

The report, “The State of Influence,” a new study from the ANA that also revealed that despite concerns over measurement limitations, respondents indicated strong satisfaction with the overall results of influencer marketing: 71 percent said they were satisfied with the results and only 6 percent reported dissatisfaction.

The report also revealed the following:

• Sixty-five percent of ANA marketers said they have used influencer marketing in the past 12 months.
• Fifty-one percent of respondents said they were increasing their influencer marketing budgets prior to the pandemic, while only 5 percent reported spending less.
• Respondents identified the top benefits of influencer marketing as reaching new and different audiences (93 percent), greater brand awareness (91 percent), and authenticity (86 percent).

The ANA defines influencer marketing as “marketing that identifies and activates individuals who can sway brand preferences, buying decisions, and the loyalty of the broader population using their own opinions, beliefs, and/or marketing channels.”