The Future of Influencer Marketing?




Author: Ria Loughlin


Influencer marketing has garnered a lot of interest over the last few years. In fact, in the last three years, the number of Google searches for "influencer marketing' has increased by 1500%. This shows that the  future of influencer marketing is ripe with opportunities.*

This statement above summarises why brands should be thinking about working with influencer marketers in one sentence. 

There are two types of influencer marketers - macro and micro influencers. Macro influencers have a following of 100k+ whereas micro, also known as nano influencers have a following of more than 3k+. Brands have recently but more of an emphasis on working with micro-influencers due to their higher engagement rate as it is common for macro influencers to have many fake followers and therefore have a lower engagement. 

Almost one-third of instagram channels are currently micro-influencers with fewer than 100k followers. Mega-influencers and celebrities with over 5 million followers make up less than 1% of all influencers.**

Because micro-influencers have a more genuine and personal relationship with their followers, not only do they have a higher success rate but they are also more reasonably priced, which is why small to medium sized enterprises shouldn't over look them in their strategy.



But why is influencer marketing the future?

As consumers spend more and more time on social media, the obvious choice is to advertise on channels such as Instagram and Facebook. This also correlates with the decline of traditional advertising. 

Influencers can deliver multiple brands in the form of enhanced visibility, engagement, credibility, and revenue. Moreover, they turn out to be more cost-effective than paid advertising, trade shows and exhibitions.*

Beyond posts, videos are predicted to be the focus for the year's coming especially with the emergence of TikTok with 850 million users**. In 2020, video ads were the top way consumers discovered brands they later purchases.**

While Facebook users watching live video increased by 50%, the average Instagram engagement ratio is 29.67 per 1k followers. By comparison, Facebook posts average 16.54 interactions per 1k followers.**

Other future predictions for influencer marketing are:**

Performance-based influencer marketing - gone are the days of measuring success solely based on engagement rate. Expect sales to be a key performance indicator.

SEO - we will now be able to search keywords and not just hashtags 

AI technology - creating virtual influencers to look and act like real people. 

Influencer marketing can provide brands with a ROI of $5.20 per $1 spend, which can go up to $11 a marketing budgets expand.* 

Influencer marketing is still a relatively new form of marketing but not one that should be overlooked. 


#influencer #marketing #instagram #multiplebrands 


Reference list:

Shane Barker, 2021: The future of influencer marketing: 5 major predictions https://shanebarker.com/blog/future-of-influencer-marketing/

Linda Landers, 2021: The future of influencer marketing is here https://www.business2community.com/marketing/the-future-of-influencer-marketing-is-here-0238233





 

 

 





Comments

  1. UnknownApril 30, 2021 at 3:36 AM

    Interesting article, I'm curious to see if virtual influencers will take off and how that will work. I think it will raise some thought-provoking questions about ethics and other dilemmas for the influencer marketing & advertising industry. Great to see the stats about video still being hugely successful given the popularity of TikTok.

    ReplyDelete
  2. WillMay 3, 2021 at 7:15 AM

    Great Article - makes you really think more about recommendations from famous people on social media - Do they actually use the product or are the just paid to promote it. Very interesting

    ReplyDelete
  3. Elle MooreMay 3, 2021 at 9:48 AM

    Really enjoyed this article, I am new to the whole influencers and this is the first article I have come across. Influencers are probably one of the most important forms of advertising/marketing now, especially on Instagram. This is something that I need to look into myself for my business. Interesting to read about macro and micro influencers, which I never knew about. Micro would work for my small business, as you said, they have a higher engagement rate. Market influencers have increased by 1500%, that is amazing, in just three years. Thanks for this interesting article.

    ReplyDelete
  4. CPLDMay 5, 2021 at 9:58 AM

    Great insight in to o the blogger world

    ReplyDelete

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