With e-commerce popularity skyrocketing, influencers are taking control of its marketing into their own hands. However, simply hiring an influencer isn’t the answer to all your questions, and tracking influencer marketing trends of the year is an important key to a successful campaign.
Want to learn what to expect from influencer marketing in 2022? Well, then you’re in the exact right place, for we are offering you a summarized look into the trends for the upcoming year. Social media megastars or micro-influencers? Facebook or TikTok? Video or photo? All of these questions and more will be answered in our short brief below.
It’s All About Connecting
So, there’s absolutely no denying that brands not only need but also must incorporate influencer marketing into their strategies. However, we all know the trials and tribulations it takes to get through to the creators of your liking and seal the deal with them. This problem even caught TikTok’s own attention, and they’ve added a thing called Creator Marketplace that should make it easy for brands to connect with influencers and vice versa.
And while such a Creator Marketplace eliminates the ordeal of searching and connecting, Agenic can also offer that plus complete digitization of all the coming processes – from connecting to getting relevant data on-demand. Oh, and also while cutting your campaign costs significantly!
Nano and Micro-Influencers
Influencers, as we commonly understand the term, are bona fide social media celebrities with millions of fans and immense power to influence them. But be as it may, in some cases, these big stars might not be your best choice.
These days it is all about nano and micro-influencers! And it’s simply ingenious – smaller influencers usually have a highly refined audience from a niche community, and that means that these creators are great at influencing buyer decisions. So much so that even quite prominent brands choose to work with smaller-scale influencers on some of their campaigns. Such a decision also reflects the audience’s want for authenticity and reliability.
Video Content is The New It
We won’t probably surprise you by saying that video content is on the up and up these days, and creating more of it should be your number one goal in 2022. Keep in mind, though, that your videos should be short and sweet, just like on TikTok, Instagram Reels, or Facebook Stories. This is where you should allow your creator to shine, as perfectly polished content isn’t as amassing to the crowds as something more genuine and original.
Influencer Entrepreneurship
Being an influencer is just like your regular full-time job; however, some influencers also manage to launch their own businesses using already-established audiences for their benefit.
What’s in it for your business? Well, it opens up completely new opportunities for partnerships, and if your brand values match with theirs, it might just be the start of something great.
Long-Term Relationships
Okay, so a usual influencer campaign used to be more like a one-off thing – today, it’s a makeup brand; tomorrow, it’s healthy food. While these kinds of campaigns are perfectly fine, more and more brands seek to work with influencers on ambassadorship terms. These long-term influencer partnerships work like a charm in building your business’ credibility and deepening positive brand association. Which, of course, gains your company loyal customers.
Inclusivity
Inclusivity is a must in any and all campaigns – everybody wants to be seen and heard, and that also reflects on the stance influencers take. Speaking your mind about various social issues and supporting various communities is on the definite rise, and that’s just how it should be. So, every brand should remember this and embed it in their marketing strategies and company culture.
User-Generated Content
Now that’s where it gets fun, as user-generated content is by far the most excellent tool for gaining trust, credibility, and influencing user decisions. Some brands even go as far as replacing all of their traditional marketing content solely with user-generated content!
There’s one catch, however, as the legality of such reposts is still talked about and discussed, so if you think user-generated content is exactly the right thing for your brand, be sure to contact the creator before reposting.
Influencing in The B2B Community
B2B used to be all about reasons and none about empathy. However, trends are quickly changing, and finally, social media marketing, even B2B, came back full circle to actually making it about humans and a bit less about business. In fact, B2B influence is expected to grow 40% to 50% this year. So, more and more businesses are mixing a bit of empathy into their strategies, and so should you.
All About That Data
Now that collaborations between brands and influencers are tried and trusted, it is time to base them on actual data. Yeah, we know, tracking social media performance metrics isn’t the most fun part (albeit a very important one) of social media influencer campaigns, especially for creators. So, that’s where we step in – with Agenic, all the important data is within a click, and there’s no need for lengthy reports and email follow-ups.
Takeaway note
Unsurprisingly, marketing nowadays is all about social media, but there’s a new and refreshing take on it slowly brewing. One that is all about authenticity, genuineness, and trust. And what better way for your brand to communicate this message than by working with social media creators?
Sure, managing social media influencer campaigns might be a bit of an experience at times, but trusting it to our team here at Agenic might just be the thing that finally convinces you to try creator marketing.
