Marketers for sports and fitness wear bnds are regularly turning to social media influencers to promote their products – with 62 per cent of them having used an influencer at some point.

According to a study of 1,193 business owners or marketing teams within the sector from affiliate network Awin, of those that have utilised influencers, 49 per cent said that had seen an improvement in sales following their work with an influencer, while 16 per cent said they had not and 35 per cent not sure if there had been any difference or not. On average, the uplift in sales around influencer posts was found to be 53 per cent.

“It’s no big surprise that so many sports and fitness brands are using social influencers to help promote their products,” said Claire Mullan, head of marketing at Awin. “It’s encouraging that so many have seen a boost in sales, as this is playing a big part in sports and fitness marketing.”

When working with an influencer, 65 per cent of brands will recompense the person with free clothing or merchandise. Meanwhile, 51 per cent said they have been known to do so ‘through direct payment’ and 44 per cent ‘through discount codes’.

When asked if they had plans to increase spending on influencer marketing, 52 per cent said they would, while 11 per cent are looking to decrease it, and 33 per cent are happy with their current spending on the marketing avenue.

The research also found that Instagram comes out on top as the most important social media platform for influencer campaigns – with 45 per cent utilising it, compared to 36 per cent for Facebook and 26 per cent YouTube.