Macbee Planet Conducts "Comparison Survey of SNS Advertising and Influencer Marketing: Past vs. Present" with 1,200 Marketers
Macbee Planet Inc. conducted a "Comparison Survey of SNS Advertising and Influencer Marketing: Past vs. Present" targeting 1,221 marketing professionals. The survey reports a shift in objectives from brand awareness to acquisition and retention, a transition in key platforms from X to YouTube and TikTok, and highlights the difficulty in measuring effectiveness as a major challenge.
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- 📰 Published: April 30, 2026 at 19:00
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Macbee Planet Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President: Tomohiro Chiba), which advocates for "performance-based marketing for all," conducted a "Comparison Survey of SNS Advertising and Influencer Marketing: Past vs. Present" targeting 1,221 marketing professionals in BtoC companies nationwide. This survey analyzes changes in objectives, key platforms, operational status, important KPIs, creative trends, influencer selection criteria, current challenges, and future changes in compensation systems in SNS advertising and influencer marketing, comparing the period before October 2023 (when stealth marketing became illegal under the Premiums and Representations Act) and the present. Commentary from Daisuke Tomozawa, CMO of Persol Tempstaff Co., Ltd., a leading expert in digital marketing and DX, is also introduced.
Summary of Survey Results
The objective of SNS advertising and influencer marketing has shifted from a design focused primarily on brand awareness to one that emphasizes traffic, acquisition, and retention. Business contribution objectives expanded from approximately 30% to approximately 50%.
Key platforms have shifted from X (formerly Twitter) to YouTube and TikTok. X declined from approximately 30% to 20%, while YouTube grew to approximately 30%.
Influencer marketing operations have moved from one-off collaborations and gifting to long-term contracts and integrated designs. Approximately 30% intend to focus on long-term contracts in the future.
In influencer marketing, not only simple acquisition metrics but also action-oriented metrics such as traffic, searches, and store visits are gaining importance. Store visits/reservations increased to approximately 25%.
Influencer selection, compared to the past, tends to prioritize engagement rate, relationship, and creative ability over follower count or demographics.
The biggest current challenge is "difficulty in measuring effectiveness" at approximately 50%, followed by "difficulty in agreeing on KPIs" and "insufficient measurement environment" at approximately 30% each.
▼Objectives of SNS advertising and influencer marketing shift from awareness-heavy to traffic, acquisition, and retention
Looking at the implementation status of digital marketing measures over the past 12 months, SNS advertising reached 61.3% and in-house SNS operations reached 52.7%, indicating that the majority of companies are already engaged. On the other hand, influencer marketing remained at 29.7%, suggesting that it is not yet "established as a standard measure across all companies" within SNS-related initiatives. While SNS advertising and in-house SNS operations have become mainstream, influencer marketing appears to be an area where differences in operational knowledge and evaluation methods among companies are more pronounced.
Within this context, significant changes were observed in the objectives of SNS advertising and influencer marketing. Comparing past and present, "brand awareness" decreased from 35.8% to 25.3%, and "interest generation/consideration promotion" decreased from 23.5% to 18.8%. Conversely, "web traffic/store visit promotion" increased from 18.6% to 25.1%, "new acquisition" increased from 10.5% to 16.3%, and "retention rate improvement/fan cultivation" increased from 2.9% to 8.8%. The shrinking proportion of upper-funnel objectives and the expansion of lower-funnel/business contribution objectives suggest that SNS advertising and influencer marketing have transformed from a "place for creating buzz" to a "place where explanations are required for lead generation, acquisition, and retention."
▼Key platforms shift from X to video-centric, with changes in operational structure and creatives
Looking at changes in key platforms, X saw a significant decrease from 29.6% to 19.2%. Meanwhile, YouTube increased from 26.9% to 30.7%, and TikTok increased from 2.1% to 6.1%. Instagram remained almost flat at 28.7% to 29.2%. This suggests a shift in focus from an X-centric structure to platform designs that prioritize video content and viewing experience, rather than a concentration on a single platform. Although TikTok's absolute value is limited, its increase rate was notable.
Regarding the current operational status by measure, SNS advertising had the highest proportion of "outsource-led" (total of "completely outsourced" and "mostly outsourced") at 50.9%. In contrast, in-house SNS operations had a relatively high "in-house-led" (total of "completely in-house" and "mostly in-house") at 41.5%, indicating it's an easier area for in-house management. Influencer marketing, however, showed a breakdown of "outsource-led" at 39.3%, "half-and-half" at 26.6%, and "in-house-led" at 19.6%, reflecting its unique operational difficulty, being neither easy to complete in-house nor fully outsourceable.
In terms of creative trends that have increased compared to the past, SNS advertising saw "utilization of short videos" (35.8%), "mass production of creatives" (32.0%), and "utilization of UGC-style/consumer-generated content" (28%).
Summary of Survey Results
The objective of SNS advertising and influencer marketing has shifted from a design focused primarily on brand awareness to one that emphasizes traffic, acquisition, and retention. Business contribution objectives expanded from approximately 30% to approximately 50%.
Key platforms have shifted from X (formerly Twitter) to YouTube and TikTok. X declined from approximately 30% to 20%, while YouTube grew to approximately 30%.
Influencer marketing operations have moved from one-off collaborations and gifting to long-term contracts and integrated designs. Approximately 30% intend to focus on long-term contracts in the future.
In influencer marketing, not only simple acquisition metrics but also action-oriented metrics such as traffic, searches, and store visits are gaining importance. Store visits/reservations increased to approximately 25%.
Influencer selection, compared to the past, tends to prioritize engagement rate, relationship, and creative ability over follower count or demographics.
The biggest current challenge is "difficulty in measuring effectiveness" at approximately 50%, followed by "difficulty in agreeing on KPIs" and "insufficient measurement environment" at approximately 30% each.
▼Objectives of SNS advertising and influencer marketing shift from awareness-heavy to traffic, acquisition, and retention
Looking at the implementation status of digital marketing measures over the past 12 months, SNS advertising reached 61.3% and in-house SNS operations reached 52.7%, indicating that the majority of companies are already engaged. On the other hand, influencer marketing remained at 29.7%, suggesting that it is not yet "established as a standard measure across all companies" within SNS-related initiatives. While SNS advertising and in-house SNS operations have become mainstream, influencer marketing appears to be an area where differences in operational knowledge and evaluation methods among companies are more pronounced.
Within this context, significant changes were observed in the objectives of SNS advertising and influencer marketing. Comparing past and present, "brand awareness" decreased from 35.8% to 25.3%, and "interest generation/consideration promotion" decreased from 23.5% to 18.8%. Conversely, "web traffic/store visit promotion" increased from 18.6% to 25.1%, "new acquisition" increased from 10.5% to 16.3%, and "retention rate improvement/fan cultivation" increased from 2.9% to 8.8%. The shrinking proportion of upper-funnel objectives and the expansion of lower-funnel/business contribution objectives suggest that SNS advertising and influencer marketing have transformed from a "place for creating buzz" to a "place where explanations are required for lead generation, acquisition, and retention."
▼Key platforms shift from X to video-centric, with changes in operational structure and creatives
Looking at changes in key platforms, X saw a significant decrease from 29.6% to 19.2%. Meanwhile, YouTube increased from 26.9% to 30.7%, and TikTok increased from 2.1% to 6.1%. Instagram remained almost flat at 28.7% to 29.2%. This suggests a shift in focus from an X-centric structure to platform designs that prioritize video content and viewing experience, rather than a concentration on a single platform. Although TikTok's absolute value is limited, its increase rate was notable.
Regarding the current operational status by measure, SNS advertising had the highest proportion of "outsource-led" (total of "completely outsourced" and "mostly outsourced") at 50.9%. In contrast, in-house SNS operations had a relatively high "in-house-led" (total of "completely in-house" and "mostly in-house") at 41.5%, indicating it's an easier area for in-house management. Influencer marketing, however, showed a breakdown of "outsource-led" at 39.3%, "half-and-half" at 26.6%, and "in-house-led" at 19.6%, reflecting its unique operational difficulty, being neither easy to complete in-house nor fully outsourceable.
In terms of creative trends that have increased compared to the past, SNS advertising saw "utilization of short videos" (35.8%), "mass production of creatives" (32.0%), and "utilization of UGC-style/consumer-generated content" (28%).