Are influencers worth it?

Social media influencers and business bloggers have been an integrated part of many small businesses online marketing success in recent years. But, are these influencers really worth it? Can they really help your business? The long game answer seems to be that they do offer value and should be pursued. But, like everyone else these days, adaptation and making those pivots seems to be the new rule. In some recently published research, Influencer Marketing Hub has discovered that the influencers have now got to face a new flexibility. The following is taken directly from that published research:

  • There are different types of influencers, from nano influencers with just a few thousand followers to celebrity influencers with millions. According to a 2019 report from Later and Fohr, micro-influencers, particularly those with fewer than 25,000 followers, have the highest engagement rates at around 7%.
  • Throughout 2021, expect brands and influencers to join together for long-term, ongoing projects rather than one-off sponsored posts. There are multiple reasons for this shift but, ultimately, it comes down to this: it takes time to make a sale. Even influencers with the most engaged audiences are going to have trouble making any real contribution when they’re brought on for a single sponsored post.
  • In addition to the new social media platforms, we’ll start seeing new and experimental forms of media along with a big push towards AI-driving influencer marketing platforms. CGI influencers have already started to have a moment and as technology continues to advance influencers will come up with even more types of highly-shareable content with the potential for virality.
  • As brands and influencers alike seek out long-term partnerships, it’s likely that performance-based influencer marketing will increase. This means that clients will expect influencers to deliver on their promises such as a specific number of sales or clicks.
  • We’ve already seen influencers carving out niches for themselves and that’s an influencer marketing trend that shows no signs of changing. Influencers will continue to develop expertise in their niche or industry, making them even more sought after by brands in those verticals

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  • As we mentioned earlier, performance-based contracts and deals are going to increase and that means planning and data will play an important role in influencer marketing for 2021. Now that brands and influencers are more comfortable working together, you’re going to see more collaboration between brands and influencers in planning campaigns and a lot more interest in tracking the social media marketing metrics that let brands know the influencer they’ve found is worth what they’re paying them.
  • Every year for at least the last seven years, video content has been on everyone’s list of not just influencer marketing trends but marketing trends in general. And there’s a good reason for that. People just love video. With the increasing popularity of TikTok and the introduction of Instagram Reels, we’re going to be seeing more video content than ever.
  • Influencers and brands should seek out partnerships only with other influencers and brands whose audiences overlap with theirs. Blatantly sponsored posts themselves aren’t the problem, despite what some social media marketing experts would have you believe. You don’t have to forgo production value or makeup to make your sponsored posts feel more authentic. What makes sponsored content authentic is a genuine sense of excitement about the brand and the product you’re talking about.
  • An influencer marketing trend for 2021 that stems from the demand for more authentic content is that the desire to see employee-driven or employee-based content will increase. We’ve already seen how user-generated content can have a huge impact on sales and how brands are perceived; it only makes sense for brands to begin treating their own employees as influencers through employee advocacy programs.
  • The last of the influencer marketing trends on our list for 2021 is all about advertising. Paid ads are typically not used in conjunction with influencer marketing campaigns. However, brands and influencers will both benefit from the paid amplification of the content created by influencers.

-Written by Kevin Sawyer