Bogotá — The boom of new technologies has brought with it new ways to be employed or generate income, and one such new ‘profession’ is to become a content creator on social networks, known as ‘influencers’.
But as in everything, as new business opportunities arise, an industry is being created, which both in Colombia and in Latin America as whole has been growing both in turnover and in the number of people involved.
In the Colombian case, Sebastián Jasminoy, CEO of Fluvip, a company engaged in the sector, told Bloomberg Línea that the influencer marketing segment moves more than $30 million a year.
“The market in Mexico is four times bigger, six times bigger in Brazil, and I would say Peru and Chile are similar to Colombia,” he said.
However, Jasminoy said that the value of the market varies a lot because the figures are based on data from private companies.
“These are figures that are not officially confirmed, we have references of data from the IAB and other markets, and we also have our own conclusions of things that we are analyzing in general.
He said that companies such Fluvip articulate influencers with brands to carry out advertising campaigns or content generation. “It varies from country to country and company to company, but companies keep around 20% of the revenues of each campaign,” while estimating that companies in Colombia are investing 20% of their digital budget in influencer marketing.
On average, a content creator can generate an income of $2,000 per month, “but there are influencers who say they earn $300 and others $1 million, so it can vary”.
In Colombia, there are approximately 1,000 content creators living off their business, but the number registered on the platform as an influencer could be as many as 30,000.
For those who are thinking of generating income through social networks, Fluvip’s CEO recommends that they train in the new technologies and formats offered by social networks, and provide quality content.
“For those who want to start, the biggest recommendation is to start in new social networks, because they have more capacity to grow than in older ones”.
Jasminoy also recommends being at the forefront of market trends, such as creating video content, defining a niche and doing live social selling, something that is mostly being seen in Asia, but which has potential in other markets and, as its name suggests, is about adapting the format for influencers to sell products through a live video.
“Today there are the main forms of income that content creators use: through the traffic they generate in their networks, and working in partnerships with companies that seek advertisers for the influencer and which is is responsible for creating the content,” he said.
“More than 90% of influencer marketing in Colombia in 2021 was on Instagram,” he added, but that this year it is estimated that Instagram’s market share will drop to 65%, while TikTok’s will rise, which is why it is key to be constantly informed of these figures and to adapt.
Finally, he pointed out that the important thing to bear in mind when entering this business is that it is about making decisions based on data.
“We use technologies to understand if an influencer is suitable for a brand, and if he/she is going to meet the brand’s expectations. Data is an important differential, when launching a campaign using technology we achieve up to 14 times more results than doing it without the use of data”.
