Projected to grow at a CAGR of 25% to reach INR 28 billion by 2026, influencer marketing continues to be one of the essential marketing strategies for brands. Marketers swear by constructive collaborations with influencers who, by leveraging their loyal following, help brands gain more eyeballs.
But, it’s no longer this simple.
As the influencer space continues to evolve and become more competitive, the nuances are more complex, and the need for campaigns to be unique is more pronounced than ever before. So, what can brands do to stay ahead of the curve?
One way is for them to understand the trends that are dominating the industry and help them carve a niche with their influencer marketing campaigns. On that note, here are the trends emerging for 2023 as per the data mapped by ClanConnect.ai.
Influencers Become the Face of Performance Marketing
As per our data, 72% of Instagram users make purchasing decisions based on influencer content. 74% of millennials and 80% of GenZ users adopt their shopping habits from these influencers. Where influencers carry such huge clout among users, it is not surprising that they are being roped into performance marketing campaigns. E-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart are now allowing influencers to create their following on their platforms and earn commissions from sales driven by them.
Winning with Data-Backed Campaigns
Deterministic data and authenticity are key decision-makers while designing influencer campaigns, and this trend will only strengthen in 2023. Whether analysing the quality of an influencer’s following or their city-specific reach, important metrics will have a bigger role to play when choosing influencers for campaigns.
Further, brands will focus more on performance and ROI to understand campaign and media metrics. Data pertaining to views, engagement, reach, cost efficiency, and CPV/CPR efficiency are just some critical metrics that will help brands understand the current and potential impact of their influencer campaigns. Bolstering efficiency, more brands will also opt for the revenue-sharing models with influencers in 2023.
Live E-Commerce Adds a New Dimension
Influencer marketing is set to become more creative and interactive, with live shopping becoming a common phenomenon in coming years. That influencers influence our buying decision in a great way is no longer a secret, influencers will become the next impulse shopping signals. Hence, they will create more content where you can not only see a product but will have the option to buy that also. In 2022, we saw Amazon do it on the prime day sale with multiple influencers across categories and this will gather momentum as more brands will experiment with this model.
Influencers Cut Through Diversity
Brands will partner with different influencers to reach a diverse audience through unique content. Parenting influencers, LGBTQ creators, and vegan influencers are strong examples of powerful communication that cuts through diversity, sparking engaging conversations among existing and potential consumers. Influencers can help brands further sensitive issues on social media in a very subtle yet effective manner without going overboard and mainstream, thus avoiding controversies.
Micro and Nano Influencers Gain Ground
In 2022, we saw several brands engage with micro and nano influencers and witness greater engagement, especially in non-metro regions. Brands will only increase associations with small-scale influencers for cost-effectiveness, higher engagement rates, long-term partnerships, and hyper-local engagement. In fact, studies show that 45% of brands witnessed higher engagement rates by partnering with micro and nano influencers.
Make Way for Video Content
When it comes to user engagement, video content is quickly becoming the holy grail. Our data conveys that most viewers now prefer visual content after its consumption skyrocketed by 96% in 2020. Videos instantly capture viewer attention with relevant and engaging content. Exciting, inspiring, humorous, and poignant – videos can convey numerous ideas and spark an emotional connection between brands and their consumers.
Within the video segment, we see the short format video space exploding over the coming year. Major brands like Kellogg’s are already investing in short format influencer videos which have gained massive reach, upwards of 3 million. By 2025, the user base for short format videos is projected to grow threefold to reach 600 – 650 million, proving to be a front-runner in the influencer marketing space.
Long-Term Partnerships Preferred
Whether with micro-influencers for targeted reach in tier 2/3 cities or mega influencers for the star quotient, brands are likely to choose long-term associations rather than one-off partnerships for standalone campaigns. For instance, Olay’s ongoing multi-year partnership with Komal Pandey is a competent case study in long-standing brand-influencer collaborations that garner more authentic, organic, and high-quality content. Since 61% of consumers trust influencer recommendations and 38% trust branded social media, long-term partnerships will be in vogue in 2023.
Media Amplification of Influencer Content and Wholistic Deals
In 2023, we will see more brands combining influencer activation with paid media to drive greater success with each campaign. In other words, they will pick and choose influencer content that generates great engagement and further leverage it on other media platforms like digital, print and outdoors using paid ads to maximize its effectiveness to drive more reach or even bottom funnel conversions. This would further mean that inking deals with influencers will not be just for a social media post but much beyond that to include rights for all media channels. A multi-channel marketing approach makes for wider reach and greater chance of conversions. Moreover, it ensures that a brand gets more ROI on the high-quality content created with its brand message.
Influencer marketing is growing quickly both as a concept and as an industry. The aforementioned trends will allow brands to make the most of their influencer campaigns and see unprecedented growth in 2023.
The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.
After serving in the Indian Army for half a decade and before donning the Chief Executive’s uniform, Sagar has held senior leadership positions in digital media & advertising at AOL, IPG Media Brands, Mindshare, and Cheil.
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