This is an article “4 Reasons Why Influencer Marketing Works” by Marc Primo Warren
There’s no doubt by now that one of the most effective ways to increase conversions and sales is through influencer marketing. Using key personalities to integrate thought leadership into your brand’s messaging aimed at a larger audience has proven to be a good addition to any business’s marketing mix. To be more exact, 85% of today’s companies are now allocating significant portions of their budgets to influencer marketing campaigns with almost 60% reporting increased revenues.
However, just as every aspect of the digital marketing practice changes over time, so does trends in influencer marketing. New personalities are invading the social media platforms while several prominent influencers have fallen from grace or inadvertently smeared their names via controversies. Nevertheless, marketers will continue to benefit from influencer marketing this year with an estimated industry growth that’s close to $15 billion by 2022, and as you might have seen via the many sponsored posts currently on your feeds.
To bring you up to speed, here are four current trends that will prove why influencer marketing remains one of the best strategies to invest in this 2021.
Video content is currently king
Video ads continue to be a prime mover in influencer marketing with the rising popularity of TikTok and new tools like Instagram Reels encouraging more content creators out of the woodwork. Studies show that daily active users around the world will be spending at least 100 minutes on online videos this year, increasing the opportunities for video ads to reach more audiences.
With no need for extra tedious curation and lesser costs in producing, authentic and compelling influencer videos are doing the job when it comes to making followers feel like they are a part of their favorite brands. Try to focus on your audience’s pain points and the unique selling points of your products when you produce short influencer videos for IGTV, Instagram Reels, Facebook Stories, or TikTok and aim to further engage them by providing more valuable content.
The world is woke
Thanks to social media, more people are being aware of what issues and trends are around them and which ones are worth spending time and money on. Last year’s heated social atmosphere shone the spotlight on social activism and directed more marketers toward more inclusive and diverse influencer marketing tactics.
Content creators of color were given the stage on Twitter as the platform updated its algorithms to get rid of racial biases via automated cropping when it comes to sponsored ads appearing on users’ feeds. Meanwhile Facebook and Instagram also updated their community standards and ad policy guidelines to be less focused on political views and more centered on better user experience by being clear on election-related policies, and flagging both fake news and political or social ads that do not conform with their disclaimer guidelines.
Less is Real
Today’s generation is more accepting of genuine influencer posts that present their human sides regardless if they are not well-produced as ads. Influencers have gone #nofilter on their accounts bringing to the forefront a more authentic and naturally aesthetic trend in the digital space.
By simply applying subtle edits to ensure that posts comply with community standards and no subtle ‘booboos’ on captions and images can be spotted by online trolls, influencers and even bloggers are gaining the trust of more followers by presenting themselves as relatable spontaneous online authorities that anyone can relate to.
Yes, well-designed paid ads still do a good job but they have their own place on social media, but these types of influencer posts can definitely work a different kind of magic this year with image-centered platforms like Instagram or TikTok accompanied by the right catchy hashtags to push the post to more audiences and other multimedia platforms. If you want to find out more about Marc Primo Warren our services or just say hi, please reach out here.