What will influencer marketing look like in 2022?

Influencer marketing has completely revolutionized social media marketing & digital marketing. The power of influencer marketing is strongly spreading and people trust them more for their influence. They trust them for their niche & words rather than some celebrity or any other form of paid advertisement or marketing campaigns.  It is estimated that the influencer marketing industry will be valued at  Rs 900 Crore for the year 2021 and is expected to grow at the CAGR of 25% to reach up to 2200 Cr by 2025. Truly, 2022 is the year of creators and influencers, the industry is going to witness a rise in the number of influencers. Last year was a buzz to influencer campaigns, there was an increase in awareness. With the increase in awareness, the space is bound to grow exponentially giving rise to a lot of innovation and competition amongst the influencer space.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Let’s dive deeper and understand how influencer marketing trends will be shaped in 2022!

1. Long Term Associations:

As per the study, brands have started looking out for influencers to associate for long-term deals rather than one-time associations for the post. They expect a holistic marketing campaign from the influencers, a detailed elaborative plan which includes thought-based content and content with specific goals and targets.

“Brand managers should ensure that there are long-term associations with a conceptualized holistic marketing plan.”

2. Collaborations with Micro-Influencers:

There will be a surge in the demand for micro-influencers. Micro-influencers are industry-relevant or industry experts who focus or specialize in niche areas or topics. They bring a lot of value-added content due to their expertise which builds in a lot of trust amongst the user community.

“Brand managers should ensure to connect & collaborate with micro-influencers. They are more relevant and specialize in a specific niche to build trust and relevancy amongst the audience.”

3. Data-Driven approach:

Influencers will be expected to work with the data-driven approach, which will be the primary KPIs for measuring their success and reach. The data-driven approach helps to track performance and optimize campaigns. The insights will be regularly updated and long-term association will help us to gauge the influencer’s performance.

“Brand Managers should work with a data-driven approach and track influencers’ performance with the predefined metrics and tenure. They should track the numbers and use it for performance improvement.”

4. Monetization opportunities for influencers:

There will be more monetization opportunities for the influencers. The Creator economy will shift towards a subscription-based model wherein your loyal users or true fans would need to pay a sum of money to access exclusive influencer content. Even social platforms will roll out influencer or creator funds to encourage content creation at a large scale. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has planned to pay out $1 billion to its creators who create content for Facebook and Instagram.

“Brand managers should chalk out a plan that’s a win-win for the brands & influencers both. They should leverage upon the opportunities given by the social platforms to influencers directly.”

5. Incorporate affiliate marketing model:

Earlier the influencer marketing campaigns were responsible for creating awareness about the brand but in the coming times, they will lead the way in powering a seamless shopping experience. Their roles and responsibilities will include social shopping, affiliate marketing, and sharing authentic product recommendations. Their KPIs won’t be limited to social engagement & awareness but will include measuring sales and conversions. Due to the increased responsibilities, the influencers will work with an affiliate marketing model that incentivizes influencers through a commission-based fee structure.

“Brand Manager should track sales & conversions. There should be pre-defined incentives on every level of target or KPI’s being achieved by the influencer.”

In a nutshell, influencer marketing will be an integral strategy in the digital landscape which is bound to grow in popularity, utility and measurability. The main themes will be data-driven measurement, a holistic approach to the influencer marketing strategy, and the growth of social commerce through influencers.