Industry surveyInfluencer Strategists, 4 May 2026

Marketers using social listening for influencer selection are over 4 times more likely to use advanced influencer marketing tactics

Shortlisting creators

Capability	Marketers who use social listening (%)	Marketers who do not use social listening (%)
Report detailed tribe understanding	75%	38%
Have tribe identification technology	88%	21%
Evaluate content for tribe resonance	63%	17%
Track EMV per working spend	25%	4%

Influencer marketing capabilities: social listening (% of marketers)

Reader Note:: Social listening marks a whole different approach to influencer marketing.
Evidence:: Self-reported behaviour
Vendor interest:: Moderate — This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
Sample:: Survey of 41 senior influencer marketing practitioners; sample skewed toward agencies and consultants (63% combined), with minimal brand-side representation (2%).

Good for

A rough sense of size and direction, and deciding what to look at first.

Not for

Exact numbers, or saying that one thing caused another.
The source never says when this data was collected. It could be considerably older than the publication date suggests.
This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
The source says how much it looked at, but not how any of it was chosen.

Influencer selection is mainly based on engagement rate and audience demographics (94% and 88%), with only 25% using social listening on what consumers discuss

Share of marketers using each data input to select influencers, and what it measures
Data input	Usage (%)
Engagement rate (Influencer output)	94%
Audience demographics (age, gender, location) — Influencer audience	88%
Past campaign performance data (Influencer track record)	81%
Audience interest / affinity data (Influencer audience)	78%
Follower count and reach metrics (Influencer scale)	72%

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Sponsored posts got more engagement when influencers had either very low or very high ad loads, and did worst in the middle

In creator selection, brand fit mattered most and follower count mattered least

Most Important Factor Brands Use When Selecting New Creators to Work With
Selection factor	Brands (%)
Creator suitability or fit for brand	22%
Content performance	17%
Working with a diverse group of creators	14%
Brand affinity, or a history of posting about your client	12%
Follower audience demographics	10%

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People were about twice as likely to share the sponsored Instagram post when the influencer had low or high ad load instead of a middle one

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Marketers using social listening for influencer selection are over 4 times more likely to use advanced influencer marketing tactics

Good for

Not for

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