The State of Influencer Marketing in 2019

See whether influencer marketing is a good fit for your brand so you can seamlessly integrate it to your own strategies!

Influencer marketing is one of the most sought-after forms of marketing nowadays. Brands are impressed by influencer marketing’s beneficial 11x ROI. It has also proven itself to be more penetrating than traditional media (TV, print, and radio), therefore doubling the audience reach for certain products. Business Insider even posits that by 2022, influencer marketing will likely become a $15 billion industry, almost double its current $8 billion worth today. 

 

Why are influencers appealing? 

The rise of content creators, especially on platforms like Youtube (which caters to niche markets) led to the growth of influencer marketing. Social media is a huge part of customer journey, and the growth of influencer marketing is a response to the needs of content-hungry audience who seem to respond well to digital and social media advertisements. 

By now you’re probably wondering where exactly we can trace the roots of this “influencer appeal”. Early accounts would point to the Queen herself as the first “influencer” to use her social standing to influence people to buy medicines they don’t believe in yet during that time. There were more historic personalities after the Queen, and their effectiveness signaled the dawn of influencer marketing as we know it today. Instead of traditional media, the influencers of today occupy a space more penetrating and omnipresent—the world of digital.  

Basically, influencer marketing stretches and works with the idea that people are wont to buy items endorsed by people they know and trust. That’s why it’s easy to market using influencers since they already have a dedicated and engaged following. Quoting Gensler, et al.’s 2013 published journal, “A brand is no longer what we tell the consumers it is—it is what consumers tell each other it is.” With so many products competing for attention, it’s been more lucrative for brands to incorporate influencers into their strategy as potential customers are more likely to heed their recommendations and make purchasing decisions based on the products these influencers personally vouch for.  

Sure, influencer marketing’s lucrative and its future potential is seemingly boundless. But before you re-evaluate and revamp your digital strategies, you may want to answer three questions first to see whether this strategy is actually a right fit for your brand. 

Duffy Agency offers three questions you may want to think about: 

1. Does your product or service have mass appeal? 
2. Do you have social media presence? 
3. Are there influencers for your target market? 

 Answer yes to all three then you may start brainstorming about the possibilities this type of marketing can unlock for your brand.  

 

Trends worth looking into

Trends change overtime and within the digital landscape, it tends to change rapidly. So, here’s a quick overview of influencer marketing trends you should consider for 2019 and beyond. 

 

Micro-influencers & Nano-influencers vs. Macro-influencers

Here’s a catch you may not know about; while influencer marketing is generally lucrative, audience engagement declines when an influencer has a massive follower count. That’s why trends would suggest that brands should focus more on micro-and nano-influencers instead of macro (usually celebrity) influencers. By micro-influencers and nano-influencers, we mean people who have less than a thousand to 100,000 followers—but still credible. Niche micro-influencers are said to offer more in-depth insights and create deeper relationships between the brands who hired them and their audiences. There’s just that pull of inherent intimacy that you don’t get when hiring macro-influencers.  

 

Strong Instagram Game

You can use influencers from and in any social media platforms of your choice, but to make it easy for you, a Business Insider Intelligence would vouch for Instagram as the “gold standard” among platforms. They rack up nearly 79% of influencer campaigns, followed by Facebook at 46%, Youtube at 36%, Twitter at 24% and LinkedIn with 12%. Also, Instagram has a massive user-base (1 billion active daily users as of 2019).  

 

The Continuous Rise of IG Stories

IG Stories give brands the chance to post more personal stuff they wouldn’t otherwise post on their curated Instagram profiles. So, it’s another Instagram feature that’s proving to be lucrative for branded deals, perfect for capturing the audience’s attention.  

Podcasts and Influencers

Interestingly, the resurgence of the podcast format brought with it new opportunities for brands. What’s at play is still the authenticity and intimacy present on these sometimes hour-long conversations. Since this isn’t visual (unlike videos) influencers on podcasts have a more devout, rich following based on the quality of their content alone.   

 

Ad Disclosure

In 2017, FTC in America required influencers to be transparent and disclose when they’re endorsing or promoting a brand via social media. The same is true for Singapore with the guideline released by Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore. People are usually appalled by ads, so following this requirement hasn't been easy. However contrary to initial belief, labeling posts as “sponsored” didn’t really hurt the state of influencer marketing. While there’s a long-standing hate towards traditional ads, disclosed sponsored content still tends to do better, so long as they seamlessly align with the influencers’ authentic brand.  

 

Influencer marketing is still on a rise!

See whether influencer marketing is a good fit for your brand so you can seamlessly integrate it to your own strategies and reap the benefits of this lucrative marketing method now!