Founder of Hustle Media, Cindy Laufs, predicts that 2023 will be a watershed year for influencer marketing and that businesses that don’t recognise its potential will be left in the dust.
Influencer marketing has become essential for brands to make their mark in the increasingly competitive digital sphere. Brands everywhere are clamouring for consumers’ attention, and consumers are looking for authentic connections with brands, but it can be challenging to stand out in an already crowded digital space. Enter influencer marketing, the wild card in the marketing deck causing a stir and making brands everywhere sit up and take notice.
Influencer marketing as a marketing tactic has skyrocketed, firmly entrenching it in our marketing landscape. Since 2016, there have been 465% more searches on Google for the phrase ‘influencer marketing’.
The number of influencer marketing platforms and agencies has more than doubled in the previous two years, and most businesses intend to increase their spending in this area.
Influencer marketing has proven to be an effective tactic for businesses to expand their customer base and increase revenue.
Statistics and trends
Putting money into influencer marketing is a good idea for several reasons. However, the primary objective of influencer marketing is to increase brand recognition and build credibility among target audiences.
As influencer marketing continues to grow, there are key trends shaping how this tactic will evolve over the next few years:
– There’s been a rise in the importance of audiences keeping up with their favourite content providers across all their channels.
– The prevalence of video media is only expected to grow. Short-form videos, like reels, will continue to be the preferred format to showcase your brand’s offering.
– Marketers will increase their efforts to ensure their campaigns are inclusive and show diversity. As a result of their dedicated fan bases and strong engagement rates, micro and nano-influencers will continue to be favoured brands.
– Instead of working with influencers on isolated initiatives and campaigns, brands will build lasting relationships with content creators that align with their brand and target audiences.
– TikTok will see an increase in advertising budgets.
Understanding the magnitude of the creator economy
One further paradigm shift is the rise of the creator economy. Over 50 million content creators, curators and community builders make up this category of businesses.
Influencers on social media, bloggers and YouTube creators are all included, as are the apps and financial resources created specifically to help them expand their audiences and monetise their content.
HUSTLE MEDIA
https://hustlemediasa.co.za/
