With social media becoming an integral source of how people consume information and a crucial way for brands to reach their audience, Influencer marketing is here to stay. Over the last five years, brands have collaborated with social media influencers across channels to generate awareness, and influencer marketing grew from an ancillary marketing tactic to an 8 billion dollar industry.
Marketers in 2020 plan to increase their budget allocation on influencer marketing to 76% compared to 64% in 2019. On the consumer side, about 71% of consumers will make a buying decision based on social media.
Here are some trends we feel are here to stay in terms of influencer marketing:
A rise in Nano or Micro-Influencers– Micro-Influencers, who have 1K to 100K followers have an average engagement rate of 7.2% as compared to 1.1% for influencers who have more than 100K followers. Individuals with less following tend to post content that leads to more interaction between the creator and the consumer.
2. Instagram remains the preferred platform for influencer marketing– Marketers usually look at Instagram when thinking of influencer marketing, followed by Facebook, Snapchat and twitter respectively. But with the rise of Tiktok in the Social Media realm and with Marico using Tiktok to market Parachute Advanced more brands are proceeding to turn to Tiktok for promotions as well.
Instagram is the preferred platform for the promotion of retail products like apparels, footwear and skincare products. Whereas on Youtube, Health and wellness products, Building tools, Home appliance, Toys etc should be promoted and Pinterest is preferred for promotion of Sports Equipment, interior design items etc.
3. Podcasts are the way to go– With Joe Rogan signing a 100 million dollar deal with Spotify and taking his podcast exclusively to Spotify shows that Podcast Culture is here to stay. Their popularity could be because of the range that they have, the topics range from technology to mental health. Millions listen to them and subscribe to them on all channels.
4. Authentic and Crisp content would lead the way– With the attention span of the average consumer decreasing, if video marketers are not sensitive to the watch time preferences of users based on their chosen social platform, they can easily lose their audience’s attention. In the era of gifs and memes, it’s very important to create crisp and authentic content, which creates experiences for the consumer.
