Why reach must be strategically planned today

Why reach must be strategically planned today

65.5 million people in Germany actively use social media, which is 77.6% of the population. Despite these high user numbers, the organic visibility of brands is continuously decreasing. Platforms prioritize interaction, short formats dominate and feeds reward content that generates real attention. Those who rely solely on follower numbers risk wastage and wasted budget.

Brands must therefore actively generate their reach. Two levers are particularly effective: authentic content via user-generated content (UGC) and targeted collaborations with influencers whose community is genuine and active. At the same time, the market for influencer marketing is constantly growing, which makes the strategic use of these channels even more relevant.

Declining reach: figures that call for action

Analyses show that the organic reach of individual Instagram posts will only be around 4% in 2024/2025. Reach is therefore no longer generated automatically, but must be strategically planned.

An internal evaluation within the IROIN® Influencer Marketing Suite illustrates this potential: using various filters: engagement rate, location and target group share, 113,000 German Instagram profiles were identified that have an engagement rate of over 5%, mainly have German followers (over 70%) and are therefore particularly relevant for brands in the DACH region.

This data shows that reach and quality are not contradictory. An active community is measurable and can also be activated in a targeted manner with the right tools.

Combining authenticity and reach

User-generated content is more than just a trend, it is a strategic tool. Content that is created by customers or creators appears more credible, achieves higher interaction rates and can be used multiple times, for example in ads, landing pages or product pages. At the same time, UGC supports algorithmic performance, as platforms reward interactions.

However, UGC is only effective if brands implement clear processes. With IROIN®Discovery, relevant influencers can be identified based on data. Creators can be filtered according to target group, engagement quality and thematic fit, which saves research time and reduces wastage. At the same time, Overlaps & Discovery Reports enables target group overlaps to be analyzed so that brands can efficiently coordinate multiple creator campaigns.

Target group quality before reach

The influencer market continues to grow, but the selection of creators is increasingly based on community quality rather than pure reach. Nano- and micro-influencers may reach fewer people, but they have a more active and engaged target group, which has a positive effect on engagement and conversion.

By combining Portfolio / IRM with discovery data, marketing teams can centrally manage all relevant creator relationships, monitor contract statuses and document performance data. This ensures that every collaboration is based on reliable data and that the community is truly active. With Campaigning, campaigns can then be managed seamlessly, content released and reports created automatically, all from a single source.

Benchmarks for the authenticity of target groups

The IROIN® Benchmark Report 2021-2024 from Instagram shows that the average authenticity of target groups is 73.14%. This means that a quarter of followers are inactive or fake, which distorts traditional reach projections.

Some categories show significant declines since 2021:

In the Art & Design segment, the authenticity score fell from 87.46% to 73.54%, and in the Travel segment from 80.98% to 72.43%. These figures make it clear that reach only has real value if the underlying community is actually active and authentic. Data-driven platforms such as IROIN® Discovery make such quality risks visible at an early stage - and enable brands to use budgets in a targeted manner where impact is created.

These benchmarks make it clear that reach is only valuable if the target group is genuine. Data-driven platforms such as IROIN® Discovery make quality risks visible at an early stage so that brands can target their budgets.

Three key learnings for data-based influencer marketing

Firstly, it is no longer the pure number of followers that counts, but the active reach, i.e. the proportion of the community that actually sees and interacts with content. With IROIN® Discovery, brands can identify precisely those creators whose target groups are really active. This ensures a more efficient use of budget and a more realistic ROI assessment.

Secondly, the combination of influencer content and user-generated content is becoming increasingly important. Creator posts are increasingly serving as the starting point for reusable content, such as ads, social posts or product pages. This extends the life cycle of campaign content and reduces production costs. With Portfolio / IRM, this content can be managed centrally and evaluated based on performance.

Thirdly, brands should use pilot collaborations in a targeted manner to test which creators, content and messages work best based on data before larger budgets are allocated. This reduces wastage and successful partnerships can be scaled in a targeted manner. The Campaigning module supports this with approval, control and reporting functions.

Together, these learnings form the basis for well-founded, data-driven decisions and make it clear that successful influencer strategies today are characterized less by intuition than by measurability.

Conclusion

Declining organic reach is forcing brands to engage in active, data-based marketing. Authentic content, combined with strategically selected creators, is the key to measurable success. The IROIN® Suite supports marketing teams along the entire workflow: Discovery for data-based selection, Overlaps & Discovery Reports for efficient target group management, Portfolio / IRM for relationship management and Campaigning for automated campaign management.

This significantly increases reach, engagement and ROI with minimal wastage and maximum transparency. Brands can use data to decide which creators really make an impact and deploy their resources efficiently.