By Alyssa Rinetti
Every new year brings new social media platforms, content types, and marketing techniques that brands can use to engage with their potential customers!
Influencer marketing is a new method of advertising that has become popular in recent years. How? Because everyone has been shopping and purchasing items from the comfort of their own homes. As a result, some of the best influencers have exploited and stayed on top of the latest trends to provide the best and most successful content to a variety of brands.
According to research, influencers have had a greater impact than traditional internet advertising alone! In 2021, there was a 20% decline in advertising, while on the opposite hand, influencer-type marketing rose by a whopping 46%! If you think those numbers are astonishing, it is hard to believe that the influencer marketing market has reached more than 13.8 billion dollars in 2021 and will exceed 15 billion dollars this year in 2022. Nevertheless, this is true!
With the prominence of such influencer marketing, 63% of marketers have expressed an interest in the strategy and claimed that they have set aside a corporate budget for influencer marketing this year (2022).
So, what are the key themes that top influencers will employ this year to boost consumer spending across industries? Take a look at the list below to see what they are:
Multi-Platform Expertise is Growing Among Creators: Many creators have a favorite social media site; but, in order to build a huge fan base, it is necessary to work across numerous channels. While this is nothing new, the difference now is that these influencers have "super fans" who connect with them on each social media site where they appear. Hence, more conversation and more products are being purchased because these "super fans" do wonders at providing their support!
A New Wave of Audio and Video Content: In most recent years, 5G has been spreading across the globe, and fiber internet is very common in various countries. Due to this, people are ingesting more video and audio content. Influencers are on TikTok, YouTube, and even podcasts nowadays! As mentioned previously, multiple creators appear on multiple platforms, with the capacity for overlapping audiences. For example, take Jenna Marbles, a once viral YouTuber (and still very popular) with 20 million subscribers to her channel. Additionally, she also has a podcast with her boyfriend, Julien, and other audio and video platforms that fans keep up with daily!
Brands Want to Build Long-Term Relations with Influencers: In the past, brands would only collaborate with creators for a short time for a particular type of launch. However, throughout 2022, be on the lookout for brands and influencers to join forces for the long-term! This means that brands will start to hone in more on ongoing projects rather than one-off sponsored posts. Look at influencers, such as Charli D’Amelio who have just recently collaborated with Dunkin’, in hopes of building a more prominent, long-lasting presence in the food/drink industry as a whole. The ultimate reasoning for this is that it takes time to make a sale. Think of it this way; creators with even the most engaged followers will have an issue making a real contribution when it comes to obtaining a commission for one single sponsored post.
Influencers Will Become More Authentic: It's pretty easy to see when someone isn't being themselves and is being fake. On social media, a wide range of people can experience the same emotions! As a result, influencers will need to be vigilant about the material they curate for brands in order to ensure that the products or services they promote resonate well with their audiences. Additionally, brands must ensure that the people who will represent their brand are the right people. Brands and influencers must work together to make sure that, in the end, influencers do not lose credibility in the eyes of their audience by promoting a product that they simply do not care about!
For the marketing industry, the last few years have been a whirlwind. Several changes have been made in the way marketers market to potential customers! One of those changes is the ability to think outside the box, and one of the ways brands have chosen to do so? Influencers, and those who are aware of the latest social media trends, of course.