Is Influencer Marketing Still Worth It In 2022?
During the past two years, we've learnt to be flexible and to adapt to new situations. Influencer marketing, for example, was unsure of the impact the pandemic would have on both artists and brand awareness when it hit.
Two years into the influencer marketing craze, businesses are expected to spend $15 billion on this digital marketing strategy according to a recent report.
That raises the question: how will they spend their marketing budget? Which influencer marketing platforms are on the rise, and how can companies and artists use them to their advantage?
We've observed an increase in influencer involvement in my company on a variety of media. Here's what we think will happen.
What Will Be The State Of Influencer Marketing For Year 2022?
2022 is the year of the creators.
Having more than two powerful social networks started to take effect last year. Content creators will benefit greatly from the increased competition at the network level. Because new audiences have proven a willingness to follow artists across platforms, the ability to keep them engaged is a major differentiator for the various networks.
There has been a growing emphasis placed by the platforms on giving its influencers the tools they need to effectively commercialize and manage their own ventures. Between TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Snap, the competition is only going to heat up.
Check these predictions for influencer marketing for the year 2022 below:
1. TikTok's Market Share Will Rise Further
TikTok is addictive and infectious. Another example of how other platforms like Instagram have taken notice and emulated its success is by looking to it as a model for their own engagement strategies (i.e., its Reels feature).
Young adults are the driving force behind TikTok's rapid development in the early stages of its existence. Video content platforms like Vine and Snapchat are now attracting viewers of all ages. In the future, we expect to see more sponsored content on the platform as a result of this change in customer behavior.
You can see that high performing teams are using technologies and social media to gather leads and future clients.
When we performed our mid-year blogger marketing case studies, more than half of all marketing firms stated they planned to collaborate with TikTok in the next year, compared to only 9% at the beginning of the year.
Client inquiries for TikTok influencer collaborations from customers who are typically highly loyal to their Instagram partnerships have already increased at SocialPubli.
As TikTok is more geared toward intelligent, creative, and amusing content rather than brand-heavy content, marketers have creative work ahead of them: thinking outside the brand box.
2. Creator Tools Are Increasing
Engaged users generate revenue for social media networks. Keeping influencers excited about creating and sharing new content is in their best interest. Several major platforms are making investments in resources that promote cooperation because of this. While some individuals prefer to buy tiktok followers just for the sake of increasing their community.
Despite TikTok's success, Instagram has the upper hand when it comes to new features geared at content producers and brands. Instagram introduced Collabs and "Add Yours" stickers to enhance Instagram stories engagement rate last year, allowing artists to pool their resources and reach a wider audience.
Instagram influencers may use Instagram's link stickers to drive traffic to brand landing pages, which gives them a better idea of the value they provide to companies.
Just like Instagram’s “Add Yours” creator tools, Partner Relationship Management software is one of the best creator tools for your business that you can try.
Businesses have an excellent chance to take advantage of the new features and build more innovative relationships with influential people to grow their subscribers, increase their level of engagement, and establish new points of contact for their brand.
3. The Marketing Funnel Is Led By Social Influencers
The pandemic demonstrated the need for a strong digital marketing and e-commerce capability. There is a good chance that social commerce will continue to grow in popularity among consumers in 2022, especially as more people purchase straight from their social networks.
Instagram has recently begun developing an affiliate influencer program that would enable influencers to earn commissions for sales they generate via the platform. Shopify has extended its cooperation with the social commerce platform TikTok, which has been touting a TikTok Shopping suite of social commerce products.
Influencers are now the full marketing funnel as platforms push for in-app purchasing. Just like Field Sales software that can help outreach your clients effectively, there is a lot of potential to use them in content marketing and as an incentive to buy.
More than 130 million Instagram users tap on shoppable posts each month, according to internal statistics from 2019. As a result of the newly implemented social commerce features, we anticipate an increase in sponsored posts for shoppable items and additional avenues for brand sponsorship.
4. Emerging LinkedIn Influencers
An increasing number of firms are turning to their own staff to serve as social media influencers and content providers. Sponsored LinkedIn campaigns have been a growing area of business for my firm in recent years, and we're seeing a surge in interest from B2B organizations looking to establish credibility and relevance with their target audience.
LinkedIn has seen an increase in the number of executives, CEOs, and company owners among its user base, and as a result, it is developing new tools to serve them better.
LinkedIn introduced "Creator mode" last year, a new feature intended for professionals looking to break into the influencer sphere.
This mode enables corporate leaders to use their experience to establish a community on the platform and to be more deliberate about it.
To take advantage of LinkedIn's larger drive to encourage content production, brands could try to harness the impact of LinkedIn influencers in their respective sectors and build cross-promotional collaborations.
5. There Will Be A Mainstreaming Of Esports Influencers
More than $1.08 billion was generated by the esports business in 2021, and that figure is predicted to reach approximately $1.7 billion by 2024.
As a result of the high degree of audience involvement and connection, we've found that esports is a perfect match for influencer marketing campaigns. Fans of esports are devoted, and many of them are willing to sit through matches for hours on end.
There is a broad range of items being targeted by esports influencer marketing strategy, although in the past they were centered on gaming-related products. Brands like Coca-Cola and Nike have sponsored events and influencers in esports, as have Intel and BMW.
Even though you wouldn't expect it, the esports fan base is far broader than you may think, and esports influencers aren't only on Twitch. Influencer marketing is ripe for marketers to take advantage of before it gets overrun with competing messages.
6. Social Media Growth
The amount of individuals who utilize social media is also a factor in influencer marketing. The pandemic is expected to lead to a significant rise in social media use by 2022 and the upcoming years. Almost every person on the planet has a Facebook account or some other social media account. They're interested in a variety of activities, including internet shopping. As a result, influencer marketing has seen an uptick as a result of this development.
As the number of social media users grew, many marketers shifted their focus to influencer marketing, which proved to be quite beneficial. Some influencers resort to practices like buy real Instagram followers to boost their follower count, which can undermine the true value of influencer marketing.
With content creation software, social media engagement grows effectively. Giving your audience some interesting and catchy content would surely increase your page engagements.
The Future Of Influencer Marketing: 4 Factors To Watch
Influencer marketing is a hot topic right now, but it's not a fad that will soon go away. So now is the perfect time to become familiar with it and get ready to include it into your own strategy.
Influencers Are Increasing In Numbers
Although it may seem that there are too many influencers, this is not the case. As the number of individuals using social media grows, so does the number of people who may claim to be influencers.
Of course, some are doing it on purpose, while others are just talking about their experiences and happen to connect with a brand they like. Regardless of how they started, the number of individuals building audiences in certain niches will expand steadily in the next few years.
As a result, you're more likely to come across someone who speaks the language of your target market and is therefore excellent for your online business.
B. Influencer Marketing Agencies Are On The Rise
Influencer marketing, like any other company approach or practice, is becoming more and more commonplace. Brands, B2B database providers, and influencers may now work together to select the top influencers for their campaigns. Influencer marketing is expected to increase in scope as the industry around it develops.
These influencer marketing services are a terrific alternative for eCommerce businesses who don't have the time or resources to stay up with the latest trends in influencer marketing. Even if you don't know everything about influencer marketing, you may still benefit from its high success rates.
C. A Wider Range Of Content Selections Are Available
Influencers got their start by writing blog entries about the things they liked. Influencer content began to take on new forms as social media grew in popularity. When it comes to advertising items, influencers are more likely to use video than any other kind of material. YouTube, IGTV (Instagram TV), and TikTok have all shown the enormous potential of video.
The rise of audio-only applications like Clubhouse, the popularity of podcasts, and podcasters on Clubhouse begs the question of what the next major influencer marketing trend will be. We may not have the solution now, but we do know that it will change through time. When new channels and content emerge, eCommerce companies may be ready to take advantage of them. Influencers are more inclined to cooperate with you if you already have a following on a certain platform.
D. Influencers Are Revealing Their Realities
Influencers are returning to their origins in different ways. Influencer posts that don't seem to have been heavily altered have gained a lot of traction in recent years. Influencers now show their real life situations to give motivations and receive admiration from their followers. Those who follow social media influencers want to watch them make errors and have terrible days, but then get back up and keep going.
More people are trusting and following influencers as a result of this transparency, which implies that more people will view and purchase sponsored material. Working with influencers will help eCommerce firms reach a wider audience, particularly if the influencers don't simply reveal the best parts of their lives.
What You Need To Know About Influencer Marketing
With your overall marketing strategy in mind, it's time to begin developing a strategy for influencer marketing. Having a plan in place will help guarantee that you're being thorough and deliberate in your marketing efforts. As a result of this training, you'll have a clear idea of what results you want to achieve through influencer marketing, and how you'll monitor your progress.
I. Make A List Of Your Objectives And Key Performance Metrics
Setting a target is the first step to a successful plan. It's possible to set a variety of targets for your influencer marketing strategy. Working with influencers may do more for your company than simply generating revenue in the short term. With the help of accounting software, you may be able to track and know if your business is going the way you want it to be.
II. Increase Brand Awareness
Having your brand's name in front of thousands of individuals who have never heard of it before is possible when you work with influencers. The fact that they've heard about your brand from a reliable source implies they're more likely to do business with you in the future.
To effectively increase your brand awareness, you should learn how to improve customer interaction and get good reviews from your customers.
III. Increase Your Exposure To Potential Customers
It is a great idea to collaborate with an influencer if you want to transform your ideal consumer. This may need a bit more effort on your part to demonstrate why your business is a good fit for their followers. Because they've worked so hard to build their audience and gain their trust, influencers tend to be protective of their followers. With the influencer's support, though, you may expand your audience and reach a new demographic.
Influencers may also record a podcast for your business to clearly explain and advertise your business to the people.
IV. Help Generate Leads
As the last benefit of influencer marketing, it generates more leads and consumers. A collaboration with an influencer would be a great way for your customers to learn more about your products and services. Send them to your eCommerce store instead, and get sales going right away.
Reach out to new potential customers by starting to podcast your business.
Once you've determined your ultimate objective, you'll be able to pinpoint your KPIs. In order to gauge the success of your campaign, you'll need to keep track of these indicators. If you want to increase your brand's visibility, you may want to keep track of visitors to your social media platforms or social media followers. In order to generate leads, you will need to keep track of signups for your nurturing campaign. Tracking sales is simple with influencer-specific links or a unique discount code.
You should also explore SMS marketing, SMS Surveys and other types of marketing strategies like email marketing to generate more leads for your business.
How To Start Influencer Marketing?
a. Recognize Who The Key Influencers Are In Your Industry
Before you begin working with influencers, you'll want to spend some time becoming familiar with the environment. Learn about the many types of influencers, including nano-influencers, micro-influencers, mega-influencers and macro-influencers, and don't forget about celebrity endorsements as well. There are a lot of influencers out there that have huge loyal followers that can drastically boost your brand’s awareness to generate more leads.
Before attempting to sell your company to anybody, allot a budget to hire a brilliant web developer to provide a good user experience and take some time to watch influencers and discover how they promote products. As a result, you'll have a better chance of impressing the influencer with your knowledge of the subject matter.
b. Reach Out To Influential People
It's time to contact influencers after you're sure you know what you're doing. You may identify influencers for your company in a variety of methods, but you should start by asking around in your sector. You'll not only learn who your rivals are collaborating with, but you'll also get an idea of the influencers' sizes. You may then decide whether you want to hunt for folks with a similar number of followers or something else.
You may discover marketing tools to assist you uncover influencers in your field, depending on the platform you want to market on. You can locate TikTok influencers using InfluenceGrid, and you can find influencers on other platforms with Awario. To locate influencers, you don't necessarily need technologies like these. You may also look for #sponsored posts by searching hashtags. To check whether your interests match theirs, you may have a peek at who they've attracted.
It's also a good idea to start with the people who already follow you. Then choose a handful of the customers you've built a relationship with already by clicking on their names. Try to uncover influencers by looking at the other accounts they follow. Finding someone who has already done the legwork for you might be really beneficial.
Keep in mind that influencers will only make a sound for your business so do not put all your budgets to influencers alone, you should also allot a budget on making a good website, product development and other technicalities.
Conclusion
What is next for social media marketing in 2022?
There will still be a place for influencer marketing in 2022. I expect that it will continue to be effective in 2022 as well.
We'll use video to promote our products. People would be more inclined to spend their money on high-quality items. Make sure you only deal with right influencers who work with reputable companies.
Try it out for yourself. Request a demo from protonAutoML now to boost your revenue. It's a great source for product endorsements. It's a growing area of focus for many business owners and executives. People care about quality above everything else, so make sure your items are well-known.
What are your thoughts on this particular marketing strategy? I'd love to hear what you think in the comments section below.
Author Bio
Burkhard Berger is the founder of Novum™. Follow Burkhard on his journey from $0 to $100,000 per month. He's sharing everything he learned in his income reports on Novum™ so you can pick up on his mistakes and wins.
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