Long gone are the days when traditional marketing was the mainstay of marketing and advertising. Digital marketing is taking the lion’s share of marketing spends, and the pandemic has added a new dimension to how brands reach out to their target audience. In this backdrop, influencer marketing as a niche has witnessed exponential growth and acceptance from brands and users alike. It is projected to reach $10 billion in spends in 2022. However, this phenomenal success of influencer marketing begs the question: How the influencer ecosystem will mature to keep up with the growing demand?
5 Influencer Marketing Trends That is Shaping the Future –
#1. The Dominance of Micro-influencers
The mantra of going smaller to reap bigger has allowed micro-influencers to play a key role in the influencer ecosystem. The reason being micro-influencers with less than 10,000 followers created better engagement rates for brands than mega influencers and celebrities. According to experts, an average engagement rate of 1%-3.5% is considered a pretty solid number. Anything above 3.5% is what defines viral content. Micro-influencers on TikTok garner an engagement rate of 8.9% on their posts, wherein Insta micro-influencers garb 3.86% engagement rates. The icing on the cake here is that these influencers enjoy over a 20% higher conversion rate. That can be a serious boost in sales for businesses. And, there are other benefits too – low cost of the campaigns, niche market to target and loyalty of followers to enjoy.
#2. Instagram is the Choicest Platform
Unfortunately for TikTok, the ban is official and more nations have joined to keep the app away from users’ phones. Yes, it was a setback for TikTok influencers, but that was short-lived. Other platforms, especially Instagram, rose to the occasion and allowed its users to become the most successful influencer marketers. Courtesy of the new IGTV feature (Instagram TV), Insta gives the brands something new to play around with. This new feature equips brands to better educate TG about their new or upcoming products/services using the power of Insta-influencers. As per recent data, Instagram has 1 billion monthly active global users, unlike TikTok, which currently faces a ban in six countries, with three more nations likely to join the bandwagon. So, Instagram became the best bet automatically for businesses to use influencer marketing strategy.
#3. Metrics Gaining Importance
Now, metrics are important to juxtapose social media influencers and brand positioning. After all, influencers are not doing charity – they charge. But, if influencer marketing doesn’t generate results, there’s no point making it an integral part of your campaign. The above point shows influencers bring positive results, but to measure that against CPA requires data-driven metrics. The latter determines audience interest and new audience reach. Also, these data can paint the real picture of how well your influencers are effectively using the growing trends to improve your sales.
#4. More Videos to Consume
The average engagement rate of video posts stands at 52%. That is enough to show why video posts of influencers will continue to trend in this decade. Instagram, Facebook, and other social media platforms are vying to get the top position with their video features and equipping all users to become nano influencers with their video posts. Embedding the brand’s products inside the video content makes it sound less pushy yet serves the end purpose effectively.
#5. More Brands will Stand for a Cause
Even though Pepsi faltered in its advertising effort to stand up for ‘Black Lives Matter cause, brands are witnessing a change in consumer behaviour. That being “standing for a cause”. Today’s consumers are more informed than their predecessors. Therefore, brands and influencer marketers should follow the same approach to resonate better with their TG.
In conclusion, one thing remains constant – the consumer market is extremely volatile and forever changing. Brands should stay abreast with the trends to connect with their customers and keep evolving to resonate better. Also, the fact that influencers need to adapt to the changing trends to stay relevant remains undeniable. The trends are here to stay. It’s entirely up to brands and influencers how they make optimal utilization of the changing trends.
