Current Trends In Influencer Marketing

The influencer marketing industry is constantly changing and adapting to new trends and features on social media. To help you stay up to date, we have gathered a list with some of the current top trends in influencer marketing:

Authentic Content

Over time, the type of content that is most successful on social media has shifted from being edited and fabricated to natural and authentic. When looking at promotional content on social media, viewers want to feel like they can relate with the people in the photo or video. A study conducted by Partipost revealed that of those interviewed, 66% find authenticity to be more valuable than quality when it comes to decision making. It is clear that if you run an influencer marketing campaign, your influencers must publish content that shows their genuine or authentic self, or viewers will not believe the message they are selling. In order to believe that a product or service is worth purchasing, a consumer must believe that the influencer’s interest in the brand is genuine. In general, the influencers who find the most success are those who build a community by being their authentic self. Therefore, when it comes to publishing sponsored content, their community does not need to be convinced that a product is good quality because they already trust the influencers opinion.

Meta-influencers

With the evolution of the meta-verse has come a new type of influencer – virtual influencers. Virtual influencers refer to digital avatars that exist in the meta-verse, who are created with specific ‘character traits’. Essentially, a virtual influencer is an exact imitation of influencers in the physical world. Because virtual influencers offer its followers an interactive experience, they are seeing higher engagement rates than influencers in the physical world. Influencer Marketing Hub revealed that virtual influencers have 3 times the engagement rate of real influencers. Popular computers such as Gucci, Prada, Adidas and Samsung have already hopped on the trend and created virtual influencers for their brands. 

Live Shopping 

With the recent announcement that Facebook will no longer be offering its live shopping feature, many people were left thinking that the live shopping trend is no longer relevant; this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Influencer Marketing Hub revealed that e-commerce revenues generated by live shopping online will increase to reach $35 billion by 2024. Live shopping has become an increasingly popular trend in 2022. Live shopping consists of influencers live streaming their shopping experiences or stores live streaming videos at events. Live shopping offers a unique and intimate experience for viewers as it allows them to feel like they are there with the influencer in person. Brands use live shopping as a method to help increase sales and attract new customers. For example, American Eagle ran a back-to-school campaign on TikTok where they hosted weekly live-shopping events with their brand’s influencers,  to help get consumers excited to start shopping for the new school year. 

Audio and Video Content

Since the marketing industry saw the success of TikTok, there has been an increased demand for more video and audio content on social media platforms, “67% of marketers say sharing marketing videos on social media (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok) has the biggest ROI”. Video content can be a more effective way for brands to tell their story and connect with consumers than still posts. One specific video format that has proven to be an effective marketing strategy is Instagram Reels, “Reels receive more engagement than regular video content at a rate of about 22%”. Reels are short videos that users can edit and upload to Instagram or film on the app. In short, it is clear that video content on social media has grown to be more successful than still images. If you are not currently incorporating Reels or other video forms in your marketing strategy, you should definitely reconsider your approach!