Influencer marketing can be a great way to better connect with your audience. With the rise of creative platforms and spaces, coupled with the increasing use of AR and other new technologies, brands are increasingly relying on influencer marketing for their inbound efforts.
In the past, influencer marketing or key opinion leader (KOL) management was primarily used for boosting brand awareness with its expected result to acquire new loyal customers. The tactics used then a few years ago relied heavily on sales pitches and promotional messages, focusing solely on introducing who the brand is and its unique selling proposition.
But today’s influencer marketing model is focused on a more subtle and relatable approach. Influencers are tapped to share their own authentic experiences with a product or service for a more personal touch. They’re given the freedom to communicate any brand message into their own tone and language so they can best communicate with their followers.
As influencer marketing evolves in response to the increasingly digital marketing landscape, it’s important for brands to keep an eye on the key trends that are shaping their direction.
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Whether you are a startup looking to make a splash in your industry or an established brand looking to gain attention for the first time with an influencer campaign, here are three influencer marketing trends you should be aware of to get the best results:
1. Data-driven influencer marketing
Brands today are aware of the benefits of influencer marketing, but not all are able to take a data-driven approach to the channel they want to use to communicate with their market. The influencer marketing industry is estimated to be worth $15 billion globally by 2022. As more brands increase their spending on this strategy, the urgency to develop an original, impactful campaign is more important than ever.
Using data to develop your influencer campaign involves several steps to establish the right approach that resonates with our target audience. If you are able to use data as the building blocks for your campaign, you will easily be able to determine the next steps, including setting the right amount of budget for your campaign.
Before partnering with influencers, scan their profiles and analyze their demographics, reach, and engagement rate to determine if they are suitable to represent your brand. Once this is determined, you can proceed with reaching out to your shortlisted KOLs.
2. Always-on influencer marketing
A short-term approach to influencer marketing has become somewhat of a norm, using it only for a one-time campaign. But today’s trends show that more and more companies are moving from a campaign-based to an always-on strategy.
Always-on influencer marketing means that a brand builds a consistent social media presence through influencers. This can be done through one long-term campaign or multiple campaigns throughout the year. The idea behind an always-on campaign is to be constantly present in your target audience’s feeds while laying the foundation for your brand to be their top-of-mind choice when they need something.
With this strategy, you go beyond ensuring brand awareness and retaining your customers thanks to continued engagement. Additionally, you’ll gain more potential customers thanks to your consistent posting and generate brand loyalty that can not always be achieved with one-off campaigns.
3. Cross-channel or mixed placement campaigns
In 2012, the average social media user had accounts on three platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. In 2020, that number increased to eight, with new social platforms such as Pinterest, Snapchat, and TikTok attracting more users. With this ever-growing number of platforms comes the different formats that brands can adapt for their influencer marketing campaigns, but this also creates the risk of incoherent messaging.
That’s why one of the key focuses of today’s influencer marketing landscape is developing cohesive cross-channel campaigns. TikTok and Instagram Stories both offer a 15-second video option. It’s easy to assume that you can simply repurpose the same content on both platforms and expect both audiences to respond in the same way.
But content on TikTok is often more raw and fast-paced, and it’s always beneficial to ride the waves of a current viral trend – whether it’s audio or some sort of video. When creating content for this platform, you need to consider how well it can directly grab the viewer’s attention and entertain them, whereas audiences on Instagram tend to prefer more serious, toned-down content or behind-the-scenes material.
The most important aspect of creating cross-channel campaigns is tailoring content to each platform. Every customer is different, so it’s important to design a campaign based on the specific platforms you want to use, while still ensuring you have one coherent message all throughout.
Looking for a Way to Scale Your Influencer Marketing?
You may be confident about the prospects of influencer marketing and its effectiveness for strengthening your brand this year. But to succeed in this space, you need to think about what your campaigns will look like and what type of influencers you want to work with to scale your strategies and make the biggest impact.
Centaur Marketing can help you. Our Influencer Marketing team can help you find the right influencers and content creators for your brand to reach a wider audience. We work with our clients and influencers to develop the most cohesive content strategy across a range of platforms and track the performance of all campaigns in one place. Contact us today to learn more.