Influencer marketing: A thing of the past or a common marketing tactic of the future?
Over the past decade, the choice to use influencers as part of a brands marketing strategy has increased immensely (West, 2023).
What was once limited to celebrities has now become accessible to dedicated bloggers and content creators with a smaller audience. These micro influencers are leveraging popular social media channels to collaborate with a wide array of brands, advertising their offerings and events.
Since 2016, it’s grown in popularity so much that the market share has increased by $14.7 billion up until 2022 and is expected to rise further by another $7.7 billion to reach $21.1 billion by the end of 2023 (Statista, 2023) The below graph shows that year on year there has been a significant increase. However, can we expect to see this trend continue over the next five years?
Figure 1. Influencer marketing market size worldwide from 2016 to 2023 (Statista, 2023)
This blog will continue to investigate the increasing need for regulation, the rise of micro-influencers, partnerships and finally the introduction of VR integration and how that could affect the future of influencer marketing.
The Regulatory Landscape
With a vast increase and popularity in social media usage over the years (Statista, 2022) and the recent release of new platforms such as TikTok and Threads, it is only natural that brands start to incorporate these into their future strategies. But with this will have to come strict regulation and an understanding of clear guidelines and ethical standards for both brands and influencers.
Currently, all influencer marketing is covered by the CAP code, which is enforced by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA). However, a recent report written by the ASA said: “Just because an ad is covered by the code, this doesn’t mean it’s a problem – it just needs to follow the rules.” (ASA, 2023).
What is the CAP code?
The UK government define the CAP code as being “rules that cover non-broadcast advertising (for example print, online), sales promotion and direct marketing (such as telesales and email). The code specifies standards for accuracy and honesty that businesses must stick to, including specific conditions, such as advertising to children, causing offence and political advertising.” (GOV.UK, 2023).
Although the rules below aren’t specific to influencers, the ASA says that they are “intended to protect consumers from misleading marketing communications” (ASA, 2023).
Example of the rules enforced
Figure 2. Rules (ASA, 2023)
Heading into the future, regulation will need to move fast to stay up to date with an already quickly changing digital landscape, and brands working more direct and closely with social media channels will become a priority.
Through engaging in this practice, influencers have the opportunity to enhance not only their own authenticity but also that of the brands they collaborate with, ultimately resulting in improved levels of engagement, consumer trust, and contributing to a more ethical future.
Rise of Micro-Influencers
In a recent article by digital marketing agency, Nowspeed, they mention about the growing preference of consumers for authentic, relatable content, which has led to the rise of micro-influencers. Micro-influencers are described as “individuals who have smaller social media followings, typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand followers, but who have highly engaged audiences that trust their opinions and recommendations.” (AIContentfy, 2023) These followers tend to cater to a more niche demographic and therefore allow brands to reach a more targeted audience (Shaw, 2023).
Another benefit for brands to choose micro influencer in the future is due to it being more cost effective compared to other methods of digital marketing and influencer are able to reach audience direct to source with more authenticity. Shaw also mentions that they can be considered as “real people”. As a result, this approach drives increased engagement and fosters meaningful two-way conversations, ultimately leading to a higher Return on Investment (ROI) and enhancing brand search engine optimisation (SEO) (Grin, 2023).
Figure 3. Marketoonist on influencer fatigue (Marketing Week, 2018)
Video Content Dominance
How will influencers influence you may ask? Currently, there are a multitude of different ways to produce content and distribute it to audiences. Some of these include:
· Blogs
· Video
· Podcasts
· Infographics
· Giveaways
However, there is one type of content has stayed champion for several years now, and that’s video. Video content is said to increase both engagement and efficiency and the most recent ‘State of Video Marketing report’ by Hubspot states that “Marketers feel more positive about video’s return on investment than at any point since 2015, as they report an unprecedented level of influence on KPIs such as traffic, leads, sales, and audience understanding.” (Hubspot, 2023).
They also mention that a survey by Wyzowl recorded that 92% of marketers told them they normally get a good ROI on video content, which is up from 87% in 2022. (Hubspot, 2023) Which confirms that video content is still rising in popularity for both the marketing industry and for consumers. This is unlikely to change heading into the next five years as platforms continue to favourite this type of content on their platforms.
Figure 4. Video Marketing Usage (Wyzowl, 2023)
Long-Term Partnerships
One aspect that brands will need to continue thinking about when adopting influencers as part of their strategy is their long-term vision and whether their chosen influencer is the right partnership to enter aligning with their goals. By entering a long-term partnership with an influencer, brands can work on targeting a niche market across multiple touchpoints, whilst still being able to keep content feeling fresh instead of repeating stale advertisements (Promoty, 2022). By moving away from shorter partnerships, brands and influencers can work together to enhance creativity and experiment over time what works for the audience “brands often don’t have the guts to try out something new because they can’t be sure about the results.” (Promoty, 2022).
Over the course of 11 years, EE, a telephone network, has effectively demonstrated a successful brand and influencer partnership by leveraging the popularity of actor Kevin Bacon to promote their network. Max Taylor, managing director of marketing at EE told Marketing Week that: “We are very keen for familiarity, and we test Kevin with our key audiences regularly and he’s showing no signs of wear. In fact, he only gets stronger and stronger.” (Hobbs, 2017).
Is influencer marketing a thing of the past or a common marketing tactic of the future?
So, is influencer marketing a thing of the past or will it still be utilised by brands in the near future? Although, predicting the future of marketing is challenging, and industry trends can evolve rapidly. Based on the consistent year-on-year increase in brand spending on influencer marketing, it is likely that the industry will either witness a continued rise or at least plateau as the adoption becomes the norm.
By partnering with influential figures, brands can expect to expand their reach, increase brand awareness, and boost conversions. It has become so important, that a 2019 survey recorded over 90% of marketers planned to maintain or increase their influence marketing budgets (Socialpubli, 2019). And now in 2023, 89% of marketeers are currently engaging with influencer marketing and plan to increase or maintain their investment into 2024 with an additional 17% of marketeers saying they are planning to try it out for the first time (HubSpot, 2023).
Also, for many brands they can’t afford very well know celebrities with massive followings like Kevin Bacon to promote their services or products. This means the future could see the increase of micro influencers as they are considered a better bang for your buck. This type of influencer will also help your brand reach niche audiences and boost your brand awareness to consumers who wouldn’t normally shop or use that brands services. It's highly possible that micro-fluences could be the future to enable brands to be more trustworthy (Prohibitionpr, 2022).