SERMO, the first global network of communications agencies specialising in lifestyle and luxury, has published its Digital Influencer Index. Following last year's Blogger Index, the report updates the network partners' intelligence on working with digital influencers and identifies the most influential bloggers, vloggers, Instagrammers and other social stars in the luxury and lifestyle space. It also sets out how to effectively engage these influencers.

The report identifies the following:

• Bloggers and other social stars work in a multi-platform way to extend their influence and reach, each posting frequently to a minimum of two platforms. In many cases, bloggers’ readership figures have dwindled since their efforts are now more focused on platforms such as Instagram that have higher engagement levels
• The data shows that Instagram leads the way in all markets except Germany and Poland where blogs are still the most popular platform. Weibo dominates in China. Instagram now dwarfs both Facebook and Twitter as a social platform, and Instagram’s engagement rates is over 10 times higher for brands in the fashion and beauty space
• Health, fitness and food blogs have overtaken pure-play fashion blogs. And digital influencers are increasingly multidiscipline, or ‘lifestyle’ and showing followers ‘how to’ - Digital influencers, particularly vloggers, are now creating content in multiple languages to attract a larger and more global audience
• Beauty is a dominant subject online, particularly on Instagram
• In the luxury lifestyle arena, female commentators dominate – only two of the top 16 influencers are men
• Newer platforms such as Snapchat are starting to be used by brands
• Only 52 out of 160 digital influencers featured in this year’s Index, were included in the 2015 SERMO Blogger Index, showing how quickly the landscape’s changed - Many of these influencers have built fully-fledged businesses out of their commercialised online and social platforms; they make their money from a string of brand collaborations and affiliate sales. Some are charging upwards of £5,000 for a post featuring a product and £10,000 for a personal appearance
• Instagram and YouTube are a crucial channel for millennial marketing – they influence the purchasing decisions of 31% of millennials, particularly in the beauty category (WWD)

DIARY directory speaks to Tanya Hughes, President of SERMO Communications 

Instagram's Eva Chen mentioned that it's not a numbers game and that brands need to cultivate an individual over having a top generalised list of influencers, what are your thoughts on this?

I couldn’t agree more! Data is a blunt tool – you need to understand the fit between a brand and influencer and then tailor activity and expectations accordingly. Not every brand wants to or can afford Zoella.  

It's been said by Jane Cunningham, editor of BritishBeautyBlogger.com, that brands would benefit from nurturing smaller talent instead of trying to always hit the bigger influencers. What would be your approach / advice to brands as the most cost-effective strategy currently, particularly in light of the rising cost of influencers?

Big stars can be cost effective, if a brand’s smart about its investment. Media buying agencies are all over the big influencers for exactly that reason. But of course not everyone’s got huge budgets, so yes, be open to and flexible about working with and nurturing rising stars.  

The influencer market is becoming more and more saturated, how do you think this will change over the next five years and how should brands accommodate the changes? The good influencers will survive and prosper and there will always be newcomers snapping at their heels. The churn is healthy. It’s up to agencies to keep on top of who’s working well and who’s coming up.  

DIARY directory lists a variety of social talent and their agents, and from our experience, brands have had difficulty in communicating with them. Do you have any tips for brands?

Be realistic about expectations and work with digital influencers in the same way you’d work with traditional media – with respect and openness.  

Obviously digital media is continuing to grow year-on-year, how has it affected how brands now view coverage in print media?

There’s still a place for print media, it’s just that it’s now part of a portfolio of coverage. It’s up to brands to decide which media works for them – there’s not much point going for a spread in the Financial Times if your audience is millenials. Athough your board might like it!

"Working with bloggers, vloggers, social media stars - we call them digital influencers - is a mainstay of any communications strategy. Knowing who to work with requires not only mining reams of data but the judgement that comes with experience"

(SERMO Digital Influencer Index)

DIARY directory members can click through on any pink links below to find contact details within the social media influencer section of our database, in addition to hundreds of other influencers's details. If you are not yet a DIARY directory member - please get in touch to organise a free trial.

SERMO’s top 16 list of digital influencers worldwide include: Camila Coelho – Brazil Dagi Bee (Dagmar Nicole Ochmanczyk) – Germany Drea Chong (Andrea Chong) - Singapore Enjoy Phoenix (Marie Lopez) – France Fleur de Force (Fleur Bell) - UK Gogoboi (Ye Si) - China Elva Ni – Hong Kong Huda Beauty (Huda Kattan) - UAE Lauren Curtis – Australia Lovely Pepa (Alexandra Pereira) – Spain Maffashion (Julia Kuczynska) - Poland MDV Style (Mariano Di Vaio) – Italy Miss Malini (Malini Agarwal) – India Sasha Spilberg – Russia Song of Style (Aimee Song) – US So Sue Me (Suzanne Jackson) – Ireland SERMO’s rising social and digital stars (by country) include: Australia: Amanda Mabel, Eleanor Pendleton Brazil: Lele Saddi, 2Beauty (Marina Smith) China: ??_ (Wanwan Lei), ???EVE (Zhang Yi) France: Petits Beguins (Maia Putelat Canet), Souk and Pix (Sonia) Germany: Caro Daur, Ebba Zingmark Hong Kong: Xoxofei (Feiping Chang), SueChangg (Sue Chang) India: Merrylin Boro, Rasna Bhasin Ireland: Lauren Bejaoui, The Daily S'elf (Nadia El Ferdaoussi) Italy: Catherine Poulain, Ivano Marino Poland: Ekskluzywny Menel (Kamil Pawelski), Mr Vintage (Michal Kedziora) Russia: How to Green (Alexandra Novikova), Polina Rai (Polina Raiskaya) Singapore: Lennardy (Lennard Yeong), Tabitha Nauser Spain: MariaFrubies (Maria F-Rubíes Soler), MonicAnoz (Monica Anoz) UAE: Lebrasse (Kat Lebrasse), Style is Necessity (Samantha Francis) UK: Livia’s Kitchen (Olivia Wollenberg), We Are Twinset (Sarah Tankel Ellis & Philippa Bloom) US: Gal Meets Glam (Julia Engel), A Guy Named Patrick (Patrick Janelle)

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