We are currently living in the era of the impact economy, with consumers running out of patience with the deluge of paid advertising.

The report noted that ad blocking, commercial skipping and cookie filtering were at an all-time high, while trust in major publishers and tech giants was at an all-time low.

He said that brands that still pay to get users' attention have almost no chance of reaching people's hearts, because getting the public's trust and interest is done through real people that consumers choose to follow on social media.

He commented that this is not surprising, as we have already been listening to real people for a while, and are no longer fed with the same tired promotional jargon that we have all heard before.

He added that we now live in a world where individual influencers wield enormous influence, the largest reach of broadcasting is online rather than on television, and new influencer brands are generating 9-figure revenue at unprecedented speed, which is putting pressure on traditional brands.

New game with new rules

The report notes that succeeding in an economy of influence is not easy.

In fact, the typical brand experiences a failure of over 90% in influencer collaboration to generate positive ROI, and the reason is that very few understand what current marketing is.

Yet most brands use superficial metrics like followers, interactions, and demographics to select influencers, even though this data only tells what people are doing, not why they do it.

To exert influence effectively, you must research the behavioral sciences behind the business outcomes.

Behavioral science is key

One sign of how behavioral science can raise the bar for the effectiveness of influencer marketing is the power of values.

Great influencer marketing may sound more realistic and authentic, but what does that really mean?

Authentic sponsored content comes from content creators who truly believe in what the brand believes in, and by knowing this, a typical marketer might examine the influencer's content and decide whether or not their values ​​fit with the brand, a choice fraught with bias.

The report quoted the marketing and influence science company, Tailify, as saying that one of its research concluded that almost all high ROI content came from influencers who shared most of their core values ​​with the brand, while the performance of almost everyone who did not. Their core values ​​with the brands are not mediocre at best.

Televi explained that it did not need to ask influencers to take tests to understand their values, and instead trained the AI ​​to understand the influencers' values ​​by evaluating every word they said online.

She said this approach could enable any brand to find more than 100 million influencers online, who share their values ​​authentically and have the potential to deliver extraordinary results.

She has discovered that values ​​are just one of more than 100 behavioral factors of influence that determine return on investment.

For example, Instagram photos showing an influencer's left cheek receive higher engagement than photos with the right cheek facing the camera, and this left cheek bias is complemented by eye-contact and viewer mood effects.

These visual factors pale in comparison to many other things we can learn about people from language, such as their personality, tone of voice, and needs.

Furthermore, the impact of each motivator can be amplified when determined dynamically within and between the social networks of the influencer.

People first by science

The report states that the winners in this new impact economy are those who apply behavioral science best, and partner with those who command the trust and interest of their customers.

Like any natural resource, there is a limited amount of influence in the world, so once an influencer aligns with a brand, they rarely change loyalty within the same category.

In the end, the ones who learn the new rules of the game and go to the people first, will win.