It ’s time to make a prediction for how influencer marketing will develop over the next 12 months.
We live in the world of technology, but at the same time, we have an increasing need for personal communication. This duality builds new approaches and strategies for brand communication with the consumer. According to this scheme, the influencer marketing works too. By the way, according to the Hootsuite platform, the volume of the global market for influencer marketing by 2022 will be $ 213.63 billion. And this is half of the projected global total business spending on digital!
Collaborating with influencers is definitely one of the most effective marketing techniques. To be able to make the most of it, you need to “stay in the know” of the most recent influencer marketing trends and keep updating your strategy accordingly.
Here are five influencer marketing trends that are going to dominate 2019:
1. More Personalized Influencer Marketing Campaigns
One of the leading trends in influencer marketing in 2019 is personalization. Brands looking for original and authentic ways of reaching consumers. In 2019, influencers will move from replicating content on multiple social platforms to viewing each platform as a unique part of their funnel for audience acquisition and retention.
2. Disclosing Influencer Sponsorship
The proper disclosure of sponsored content and new regulation rules will play a major part in influencer marketing in 2019. Ad disclosure is now much more common. The social networks helped this, with Instagram and Facebook all set up an easy way for influencers to mark posts as sponsored. Influencers who post authentically and align sponsored posts with the correct target markets, still perform well with their followers.
The new generation has a dislike of traditional ads, but they’re willing to take note of sponsored posts from the people they already trust online. It all comes back to brand and influencer alignment, authenticity and trust – something that conventional advertisers can never match.
3. Micro Influencers in High Demand
This trend has remained popular since last year. Micro influencers are more in demand for the following reasons:
- a tight-knit relationship with their community,
- cover a wide range of niches,
- higher engagement and conversion rates,
- are often cheaper than prominent influencers.
Partnership with micro influencers is very effective – followers of micro- influencers do not perceive the information from the author of the blog as aggressive advertising. Such a model of relations implies a certain degree of trust and mutual understanding. They most often recommend products that they use themselves, honestly talking about the advantages and disadvantages of this product. Therefore, the consumer-followers trusts them, and brands are willing to pay them. And this is fundamentally different from the “star and it’s fans” scheme.
4. Influencer Podcasts Out-beat Blogs
The next trend in influencer marketing is the rise of influencer podcasts. People listen to podcasts because they are free and are easy to access, particularly on a mobile device, unobtrusive, recommendations from friends, or offer content they can’t get anywhere else. Followers can also use podcasts for multitasking - they can listen to the podcast on the way to work or when jogging etc. But at the same time there are several disadvantages of this advertising channel, for example, the lack of opportunities for analytics, and also podcasts require consistently high quality and resources to create them.
In any case, the consumption of such content is rapidly expanding, and plenty of brands are capitalizing on this trend. There are a number of ways a brand can harness podcasts in collaboration with influencers: pre-roll, mid-roll, live read, outro and sponsorship. In this year it is a great opportunity for influencers, and for brands to consider when partnering with influencers.
5. Growing Importance of Video Сontent
In this year, we will see a shift from flawless photos towards video content. Influencers are starting to share real-time and “real life” updates on their Instagram stories or Facebook Live far more frequently than they’re posting in their feeds. Also, influencers and brands, alike will want to onboard a comprehensive video strategy – whether it's across Instagram, Facebook or other platforms.
So, if you can keep one eye on the future trends at all times, then you’re less likely to miss out on crucial details that could take you or your brand to a higher level.
Stay tuned😊