6 Trends That Will Shape Influencer Marketing in the Future
Influencer marketing is evolving like other marketing channels. Discover the six trends expected to unfold in the space in 2023.
Influencer marketing continues to prove its worth to brands around the globe, but it is also an ever-changing field. Adam Rossow, co-founder of Group RFZ, helps marketers stay ahead of the game by sharing six trends he expects to unfold in the space in the coming year.
The biggest question facing marketers and advertisers as we head into 2023 is, “What impact will economic, political and global health matters have on the industry?” It is a question that has us drowning in uncertainty, but there are two buoys of truth we can look to. First, the right answer in tough times is to keep marketing. That is not to say it is marketing as usual, but pulling the marketing plug altogether is the wrong choice. Doing so leaves a hole in the mind of consumers that can be challenging for brands to climb out of. Second, influencer marketing will continue to grow in usage and value. It is engaging, works, and is cost-effective compared to many other marketing avenues. As marketers, what else are we really looking for?
To be certain, though, influencer marketing will not look the same next year as it does today. Like anything successful, it will adapt, change and innovate.
1. TikTok’s Tenuous Future
Much of the marketing world’s attention is fixed on the decline of Meta and the implosion of Twitter, contrasting with the seemingly unstoppable rise of TikTok. However, history has continually shown users to be fickle, and tech giants like Meta and Alphabet will not idly cede the social media market to their rivals. Concerns over privacy, ethical practices and even geopolitics may all impact TikTok’s continued growth in 2023.
In particular, the future of TikTok’s role in political advertising – a new development in 2022 – should be considered in 2023 and the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election. We all know what happened to Facebook in the years before the 2016 election, and TikTok would be wise to deploy as many resources as possible to ensure no such breach occurs to its platform. The high-profile turmoil at Twitter is a first-hand lesson in how brand safety remains a critical question that brands and ad buyers need to answer. Further, TikTok continues to struggle with content moderation.
See More: Brand Lift – The New Way to Measure Influencer Marketing Success
2. More Partnerships Based on Value Alignment
A recent Harris Poll found that a staggering 82% of shoppers want a brand’s values to align with their own. With consumers’ wallets following their values, more brands are wearing their principles on their sleeves to promote transparency and, hopefully, a joint sense of purpose and consumer connection. As it is imperative to present a brand’s belief clearly and consistently, there is simply too much risk involved in working with influencers with vastly different values than the brands they represent. These individuals are the brand’s spokespeople, and often high-profile ones at that. In the past, a mismatch between influencer and brand might have resulted in a PR black eye. Today, consumers have shown that they will part ways with a brand over mismatched values. In fact, the same Harris Poll found that 75% of consumers have done just that.
To avoid a value-misalignment catastrophe, we will see the vetting process for influencers go much further than simply looking at their follower stats and recent posts. Brands will get to know influencers as they would a prospective new hire, complete with back-and-forth Q and A, open discussion, and much more than a cursory glance at their past experiences. We will even see pre-testing of influencers and other research with target audiences become the norm.
3. Product Co-creation Takes Off
Today, influencers can be the spokesperson, the center of all marketing and even the brand itself. We have seen influencer-powered brands arise with more frequency and achieve great success. Just look at Prime by Logan Paul and KSI, Kylie Cosmetics by Kylie Jenner or Sweat by Kayla Itsines. With the potential impact influencers have on almost every imaginable audience, why hamstring their value by involving them only at the end of the product cycle?
In the year to come, brands will start leaning on influencers in the product creation and development process. Whether enlisting influencers to help design a shirt or a new feature in a video game, getting influencers involved in co-creation has a few key benefits. First, these influencers are typically very in tune with their audience and can garner unique insights into what consumers want, increasing the chances of a more desirable product. Second, involving influencers from the jump will give them more skin in the game and tie them tighter to the brand. This bond will ensure influencers do what they do best (influence) with even more passion and enthusiasm.
4. TikTok as Search
TikTok is recognized, both positively and negatively, it should be said, for its eerily accurate algorithm. However, its less heralded feature is its impressive search functionality that increasingly supplants Google as the preferred search tool for Gen Z. Stories of local businesses and attractions exploding in popularity following a viral TikTok moment have become commonplace. Expect Google to respond with features designed to safeguard its search and maps business as discovery tools like TikTok eat up that market share. Google reviews are years overdue for a refresh and could be aimed at a hyperlocal influencer market.
5. Influencer Compensation Reboot
Today, the standard compensation model for hiring influencers is direct cash payment or providing products in exchange for their time and content. But as influencers become more integral to the brands they represent, we will see brands take the relationship deeper with their larger creators by providing alternative and more alluring compensation to influencers. This will be in the form of a percentage of sales, equity, or a strategic plan to help them further progress their own brand. If structured correctly, these deals can provide tremendous upside. They can remove the one-and-done mentality with the largest influencers, ensure the influencer and brand are working jointly toward the same goal and provide the ultimate motivation to produce high-quality, relevant content that connects consumers to the brand.
Of course, essential to this design is reasonably agreed-upon KPIs to measure success and increased due diligence when choosing influencers. If influencers are truly moving the needle, and it can be proven that they are doing so, brands will see the value in keeping them close with alternate and more enticing forms of compensation.
See More: How To Calculate Influencer Marketing ROI
6. More Insight, Less Waste
Any period of economic belt-tightening comes with a larger magnifying glass over marketing spend. Brands have many options in influencer marketing, from the size of influencers to channels to the type of content. In previous years, marketers might have had more latitude to try a bit of everything, but there will be none of that in 2023. We will see digital leaders demand strategic focus and decision-making based on real insights. Increased measurement and insights will be vital both at the front end – choosing influencers and understanding value alignment – and the back end – proving success and understanding exactly what worked and what did not.
In our measurement work for clients at Group RFZ, we see that reach and audience profiles start to cede to pre-testing and more in-depth influencer analysis. And, more frequently, engagement rate takes a back seat to brand lift studies and conversion tracking. In 2023, marketers will be forced to see (and defend) everything, from their influencer choices to where the next dollar should go. More robust insights will be the foundation for them to do so.
What are some trends in influencer marketing you expect to see this year? Share with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
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