Where is Influencer Marketing at?

Over the last five years, brands have collaborated with social media influencers across channels to create awareness – with influencer marketing growing from an ancillary marketing tactic to a $5-10 billion dollar industry.

What trends do we think are in for Influencer marketing?
► Micro and Nano Influencers will dominate the influencer marketing world.
► Partnerships will be life-long, not once-off.
► There will be a new wave of influence from ClubHouse, Twitter Spaces (audio), and of course, TikTok has only just started its take over.
► Marketers will base deals on performance and data.
► Influencers will need to be proficient in micro-video content.

Whether your business is thinking of incorporating influencer marketing into your brand strategy or you would like to improve on your current ROI, here is a breakdown of the trends to keep your eye out for this year and beyond.

Performance Marketing
Big brands now have a much clearer idea of how their money works in the influencer market. With a high focus on individual performance and insights, we will continue to see influencers be paid on a pay-per-performance-based deal.

Niche Influencing
Despite having substantial followings on social media platforms, celebrities are no longer considered the only option for brands when marketing their products. Instead, brands now prefer social media influencers and digital content creators for this purpose. With brands becoming more strategic with their use of influencers, we will see fewer people featured across industries and more of a specialized approach.

Micro-influencing
The key to micro-influencer success is in their name. They may be relatively micro in reach, but they genuinely influence people’s decision-making. With small but strong followings, they are as powerful as you can get as their engagement levels tend to be high. Given that many micro-influencers create their content and manage their accounts, brands can easily connect with them and be featured more frequently.

Understand your data.
If you want to be a successful Influencer this year and beyond, you will need to use numbers to attract brands and companies. Therefore, analytics will be a massive part of what attracts a brand to an influencer.

Long-lasting partnerships.
The days of influencer marketing as a “one-off” strategy are over. Instead, influencers will be contracted on an ongoing basis to increase brand loyalty and attention. Rather than switching influencers for every campaign, having Influencers gain their mantle because of their authenticity and ability to build trusting relationships with their followers.

Authentic content
Brands are now interested in working with influencers who are not just amplifiers but communicators. With audiences wanting authentic content, the new influencer marketing trend creates genuine content that keeps users engaged without looking too filmy or sponsored.

Partnerships are the new hot take.
TikTok is already there – but moving forward, we will see more influencer partnerships between known profiles happening on other social platforms. Collaboration is vital in this space, and brands can see how influencers working together will ultimately generate more content and increase the audiences’ numbers.