Influencers and effectiveness - moving the debate on

Sabrina Francis: Are we over-indulging on influencers?

We need to rebalance the role of influencers in the media diet.

Influencers have evolved from campaign extras to cultural powerhouses – shaping brand decisions, commanding budget, and driving creative strategy. But are we handing over too much of the media plan before their true value is properly measured?

That was the case I made recently at Adweek Europe in front of a packed room of marketers – and plenty of creators (tough crowd!) But this debate wasn’t about cutting them out. It was about balance, context, and not letting one ingredient dominate the entire dish.

Influence ≠ Effectiveness

There’s no denying that creators play a vital role in today’s fragmented media world. In a landscape where attention is a scarce commodity, they help brands stay relevant and visible. But relevance isn’t the same as results.

Influencers have evolved from campaign extras to cultural powerhouses — shaping brand decisions, commanding budget, and driving creative strategy. But are we handing over too much of the media plan before their true value is properly measured?

At the Grow 25 conference this year, marketing effectiveness expert Professor Felipe Thomasz of Oxford University presented an analysis of media channels, revealing that traditional platforms like TV, print, and outdoor advertising still outperform influencer marketing in driving consumer behaviour change.

The issue isn’t that influencers don’t work – it’s that we may be diverting spend from proven, measurable channels before we fully understand where influencers fit in the mix.

Measurement needs a glow up

Influencer activity is notoriously difficult to track. Fragmented platforms, micro-scale creators and overlapping channel impact make clean measurement complex. As a result, many brands rely on superficial metrics – likes, comments, sentiment analysis, or one-off brand uplift studies.

To grow influencer marketing’s role responsibly, we need a more sophisticated, structured approach. At the7stars, we believe that means:

1. More clarity

Identify the KPIs and organise by their respective role for measurement and optimisation.

2. Build around a robust framework

Our 7IGNAL system is a dynamic, future-focused decision architecture. It blends today’s measurement tools with the practical realities of how brands plan and trade; teams manage, optimise and report effectiveness at all levels.

3. Standardise influencer data for more effective comparisons

Influencer campaigns aren't widely included in marketing mix models because the data is often too bespoke and inconsistent across platforms. Without standardised, proactive data capture and formatting, it’s difficult to benchmark, integrate, or compare influencer activity with other media channels.

4. Capture multi-dimensional impact

Effective measurement must account for dual influence pathways:

• Direct conversions via promo codes or tracked links
• Indirect impact from exposure that leads to conversion through other touchpoints

Don’t unfollow, just rebalance

Influencers absolutely deserve a seat at the table. But we need to be careful what we’re pushing off the plate to make room.

The goal is to have smarter influencer spend, supported by proper measurement and perspective.

If we start pushing out trusted, regulated and proven channels to make space, we risk building something that’s exciting but unstable and not built to last.

Sabrina Francis is Strategy Partner at The7Stars

Thomas Walters: Influencer effectiveness – from metrics to meaningful measurement

There’s never been a more exciting time for influencer marketing. But there’s also never been a more confusing one. According to WARC, 72% of marketers say measurement is their number one challenge.

That’s no surprise. As brands increase investment in creator-led campaigns, the pressure to prove impact rises. In return, marketers face a flood of metrics – likes, views, shares, EMV (Earned Media Value) – plus a growing toolkit of measurement platforms. The problem isn’t a lack of data. It’s connecting that data to the commercial outcomes that matter.

And the opportunity lies not in adding more KPIs but in refining the ones that prove value, build confidence, and guide smarter investment.

Start with the brand goal, not the platform metric

Influencer campaigns are still too often judged by surface-level stats. But popularity isn’t the same as performance. To treat influencer marketing as a serious, strategic channel, we need to evaluate it against brand and business outcomes – not just engagement rates.

As brands increase investment in creator-led campaigns, the pressure to prove impact rises. In return, marketers face a flood of metrics – likes, views, shares, EMV – plus a growing toolkit of measurement platforms. The problem isn’t a lack of data. It’s connecting that data to the commercial outcomes that matter.

In a recent campaign for a health and wellness client, we moved beyond likes and reach to measure brand lift and matched-market sales. The result? A 9% increase in unaided awareness and a 6:1 ROI – clear evidence of influencer impact when tied to real business objectives.

Understand the full chain of effects

Influencer marketing is full funnel. Creators don’t just entertain; they educate, inspire and convert. To reflect that impact, we need to go deeper than post-campaign reports and ask: why did the work succeed?

That’s why we use creative diagnostics and emotional attention tracking tools to test influencer content across recall, resonance and sentiment. For one global beauty brand, emotionally resonant content drove 3x stronger results in brand preference and intent. Crucially, we shared this data with the creators, turning insight into a creative feedback loop – not just a scorecard.

Understanding this full chain – from content to conversion – is how we move influencer marketing into a more mature, measurable discipline.

Measure the long-term impact, not just the immediate reaction

Influencer marketing is often viewed as a short-term activation tool. But the long-term impact is real – and measurable.

In econometric modelling that we conducted for a major UK supermarket, influencer marketing was the highest ROI performer in the media mix. It also delivered halo effects across paid social and in-store sales. This modelling helped us answer the questions that really matter to clients: how much to invest, where, and for what return.

Influencer marketing isn’t ineffective. We simply need better frameworks to prove it in a way that makes sense to CMOs and CFOs.

A shift in practice and mindset

To scale these gains, the industry must evolve. Platforms need to standardise and open up data. Agencies must link creator work to wider brand strategy from the outset. And we need industry-wide frameworks – something bodies like the IPA, ISBA and WFA are well placed to lead.

Influencer marketing isn’t a bolt-on. It’s a strategic lever. But we must move from vanity to validity – connecting what happens on social to what matters in the boardroom.

Thomas Walters is Europe CEO and co-founder of Billion Dollar Boy

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The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and were submitted in accordance with the IPA terms and conditions regarding the uploading and contribution of content to the IPA newsletters, IPA website, or other IPA media, and should not be interpreted as representing the opinion of the IPA.