Accurate data in Influencer Marketing: What most people don’t know

There are two ways to access data about an influencer and the performance of their content: scraping data or acquiring official first-party data. inzpire me only relies on the latter.

So what is the difference between scraped data and first-party data?

• First-party data is information you collect directly from the source, in this case, social media channels. You can get first-party data by partnering with us (inzpire me) who have API access to Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube. Working with inzpire me gives you access to accurate audience demographics, performance metrics, influencer pricing, and previous campaign results.
  
• Scraped data, on the other hand, is collected from outside sources. It is often pulled from huge databases, commonly scraped from social media platforms without influencers’ consent. There are also instances where third-party data scraping breaches ethical standards, and raises legal concerns, especially regarding user privacy.

Let’s dig deeper into the differences, the concerns raised when using scraped data, and the benefits of accessing first-party data in influencer marketing to get the best possible results.

Scraped Data

Many influencer platforms today scrape or buy scraped data. Scraping involves using bots to access influencer profiles and their followers’ profiles to extract content. For Instagram, this is often done by creating thousands of fake accounts and mimicking human behaviour to avoid detection by Meta. The content is then used to guess the location, age, and gender of the influencer and their followers to profile them.

Problems with Scraped Data

1. Inaccurate Data: Trying to identify the age and location of an influencer’s followers by analysing their content is not very accurate. For example, the charts below compare scraped data from an influencer platform with official data inzpire me has acquired from Instagram for a Swedish influencer with 69K followers. The estimated audience in Sweden is underreported by over 30%, and the audience in the age bracket 18-24 is overestimated by over 270%.
   
2. Incomplete Data: Scraped data only provides insights into publicly available content. It won’t give you insights into reach, impressions on stories, average view time of videos, and other important data that isn’t public.
   
3. Outdated Data: The data from scraping is only as current as the last time the influencer profile was scraped. It will be outdated if scraped six months ago unless you scrape the profile and their audience again.
   
4. Privacy Issues: Scraping the profiles of an influencer’s followers can raise legal and ethical concerns, particularly regarding user privacy.
   
5. Resistance from Social Networks: Social networks don’t want their platforms scraped. They forbid it in their terms of service, employ tactics to prevent scraping and sue companies that scrape. Meta's Fight Against Scraping

Official First-Party Data

Official first-party data is collected directly from social media platforms with their approval and the creator's consent. This data is provided by Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube to companies that pass their vetting process, like inzpire me.

Advantages of First-Party Data

1. Accurate Data: This data is as accurate as the social networks can provide, based on their in-depth knowledge of the influencer and their followers. Whether it’s age, gender, or location, our customers can trust the data we provide.
   
2. In-Depth Data: Platforms with access to official first-party data get insights that are not possible to acquire from scraping, such as reach and demographics on specific posts, engagements, and impressions on stories. This includes metrics like view-through rates to gauge video performance.
   
3. Up-to-Date Data: At inzpire me, we update all profile insights every four hours, ensuring reliable, up-to-date information on influencers' activity and performance.
   
4. No Privacy Issues: Influencers actively consent to share their data, and no personal information about their audience is shared—only aggregated numbers.
   
5. Working with Social Networks: Accessing official first-party data means working with, not against, social networks. This ensures reliable data access and support if issues arise.

Conclusion

Scraped data is undoubtedly inferior compared to official first-party data made available by social networks. inzpire me chose this approach years ago and will continue to support advertisers with accurate, in-depth, and reliable data from Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube.

Some tips for Leveraging First-Party Data with inzpire me

• Tip #1: Finding relevant Influencers Gone are the days of selecting influencers based on follower counts. First-party data gives a detailed overview of influencers’ audience and performance insights, ensuring they align with your brand’s demographic and goals. The data helps you identify influencers who can deliver the most impact for your collaborations.
  
• Tip #2: Pricing influencers When determining influencer fees, performance data is crucial. Reliable first-party data ensures you offer fair compensation based on actual content performance, avoiding the pitfalls of third-party data inaccuracies. This approach protects your budget and builds influencer relationships.
  
• Tip #3: Estimating results First-party data allows for precise predictions of campaign performance. By using actual performance metrics, you can estimate potential reach, impressions, and engagement, ensuring realistic expectations and cost efficiency.
  
• Tip #4: Optimising collaborations Analyse detailed performance metrics to understand what worked and what didn’t. On inzpire me, you can monitor the performance of your influencer collaborations as they happen. You get real time first party insights into what content and which influencers are performing well so you can improve your results over time.