Is influencer marketing the way of the future for advertising?

The answer seems to be affirmative at first glance. Influencer marketing regularly produces amazing results for brands, even though it needs a little more planning and has a lot more variables to manage.

Social media users frequently trust influencers as much as or more than their peers when it comes to product recommendations, based to studies on social media networks. In contrast, a brand’s own promotion was much less likely to result in a purchase.

Various people were concerned that sponsored posts on Instagram would change consumer behaviour when various governments forced influencers to say whether they had received payment to promote a product.

But according to previous studies, even when the recommendations of the influencers were marked as “sponsored” or “ad,” consumers were still likely to believe them. We can see why influencer marketing could represent the future of marketing when we contrast this with the reality that the majority of people would be rushing to tap the close button on an in-app ad or the skip button on a YouTube ad.

The six biggest trends in influencer marketing to watch in 2023

Here are some of the most popular trends in influencer marketing for 2023. Some of them may only be short-term due to the industry’s youth, but others may determine how influencer marketing develops in the future. Look out at the term that they are now.

1. More companies are emphasising small influencers

Influencers with tens of thousands or billions of followers were the focus of influencer marketing initiatives when it was still in its infancy. But during the past two years or so, brands’ interest in collaborating with micro or nano influencers has increased.

Compared to mega-influencers, nano and micro-influencers typically have significantly fewer but more active following on social media. Additionally, compared to superstar influencers, micro-influencers seem to have a stronger relationship with their fans.  

Micro-influencers frequently specialise in a certain field, giving marketers the chance to target customers who share their interests. When a campaign is being worked on with a certain target demographic, it additionally helps them refine it. Additionally, micro and nano influencers spend less for posts than big influencers, which enables advertisers to better control their influencer marketing budgets.

2. One of the most popular social media platforms is TikTok

In terms of monthly active users, TikTok is still far behind Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, but it has been steadily growing over the past few years. It acquired about 340 million new active users yearly between 2018 and 2022 (Statista).

According to the most recent statistics, TikTok had a significant engagement rate of 5.69% compared to Instagram’s 0.47%. Other social media platforms are releasing their own kinds of short-form video content in an effort to replicate TikTok’s popularity.

In 2023, we may anticipate TikTok’s popularity will continue to rise. Nevertheless, the bulk of TikTok users are aged 18 to 44.

3. The popularity of video content is still rising

One of the most popular marketing trends over the past two or three years was video content. Reels are receiving more attention from Instagram’s algorithm than other types of content, while short-form films on Facebook and YouTube are becoming more popular.

A shocking 30% of short-form videos were viewed for 81% of their lengths, according to surveys, and 59% of them were viewed for over 41% of their whole lengths.

These figures indicate that when developing a social media marketing plan, marketers should prioritise video marketing above various kinds of influencer content.

4. The popularity of user-generated content is rising

User-generated content, or UGC, will be one of the most popular trends in influencer marketing in 2023. User-generated content, or UGC, has been increasingly important in creating effective influencer marketing campaigns over the past few years. Brands and influencer marketing firms are collaborating with creators to produce original content about their business, as opposed to a brand making material or articles and requesting influencers to promote them.

5. long-term collaborations instead of a campaign

In 2023, long-term partnerships will be a significant influencer marketing trend. back then. Most partnerships between creators, marketers, and brands have only comprised one-time projects or campaigns. But lately, marketers have understood that collaborating with influencers will have a long-term impact on their brand, and as a result, firms are looking at long-term partnerships. Although retainer agreements are not popular in the creative economy, marketers do their best to maintain their influencers updated about their projects or novel products.

By providing VIP access to events, sample products, and of course long-term marketing efforts, brands may try to forge long-term relationships. Partnerships between brands and influencers are growing more common during the product development process.

6. Affiliate-Like Payment Model for Influencer Marketing

This is a type of performance-based influencer marketing technique in which affiliates are compensated for every website visit, sign-up, or product sale that they create for a firm. Simply defined, this is an internet marketing strategy that involves recommending a product or service to clients via social networking platforms, blogs, and so on.

An affiliate link also implies that marketers compensate advocates based on the outcome of their marketing efforts. As a result, influencers are more likely to endorse a product, and those with a greater following might earn more money. Brands have noticed that compensating influencers via affiliate links increases their Return on Investment (ROI).

Influencer Marketing in the Future

According to Markets and Markets, the worldwide value of the influencer marketing platform is predicted to exceed $24.1 billion by 2025, with a CAGR of 32%. As a result, the projection that marketers would spend more than $4.5 billion on influencers in 2023 ought to strike as unsurprising.

Influencer marketing has revolutionised the digital marketing arena due to the constant and ever-growing usage of social media platforms as outlets for speaking, interacting, socialising, and exchanging ideas and data.

However, there are other factors contributing to the rise in prominence of influencer marketing. Several OTT platforms, like Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, provide platforms for influencer marketers to market firms’ products and services.

Looking ahead to 2024, the trends predict a future dominated by authenticity, innovation, and fully immersive experiences. Brands can continue to leverage the power of influencer advertising and achieve their objectives in a constantly shifting digital ecosystem by anticipating these transitions and preparing in advance.