Over the past two years, consumer expectations of businesses have evolved significantly. On social networks, they now expect brands to demonstrate authenticity by presenting products that each customer can identify with. To face these new challenges, brands have relied on a channel that has now become essential: influencers. Thanks to their media coverage and their influence on the act of purchase, they are logical partners for companies.
Influencer marketing is now at the heart of any successful marketing strategy. Being a rapidly changing sector, it is essential to stay informed of the latest trends to know the opportunities to exploit.
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In a white paperMeltwater, leader in business intelligence and Klear, the platform specializing in influencer marketing, look back on the dynamics of this industry in 2021, in order to know the strategies that work in 2022.
State of influencer marketing in 2021
In 2021, influencer marketing has evolved greatly. Platforms and elements have gained in importance, starting with sponsored posts. They increased by 26.7% this year, contrasting with the drop that could have been observed in 2020. In total, 3,798,505 sponsored posts were shared by influencers, compared to 3,014,687 the previous year.
Increase in the volume of sponsored Instagram posts between 2020 and 2021.
Sponsored Stories have also garnered interest from brands, growing 33% in 2021. On average, content creators shared sixteen Sponsored Stories, up from 12 in 2020. Steadily rising numbers that testify to the prominence that influencer marketing has grown in such a short period of time.
Meltwater and Klear also analyze the great reach that micro-influencers have today. The latter have on average between 5,000 and 30,000 followers. They communicate with smaller, but well-targeted audiences. They are perceived as trustworthy people by Internet users, who are sometimes more attentive to their recommendations than to those of mega-influencers.
For this reason, they appear as better returns on investment for brands. In 2021, their market share grew significantly: 91% of sponsored post engagements came from content created by micro-influencers. By downloading this guide, you will discover the average price of these content creators for a publication, a story and a video on Instagram.
The two experts also indicate that stories on the social network are now an integral part of brands’ social media strategies. They are included in 53% of advertising campaigns. However, they remain less popular than sponsored posts: 42% of campaigns include 1 to 4 sponsored posts in the feed, while 20% of them rely on 1 to 4 stories.
Percentage of Instagram posts made in the feed and stories by ad campaign.
By getting this white paperyou will also discover the state of Meltwater and Klear on:
- The micro-influencers who dominate TikTok;
- Instagram, which remains the most popular platform and TikTok which overtakes YouTube.
The 2021 trends that will shape influencer marketing in 2022
To know the opportunities of influence marketing to be exploited in 2022, it is necessary to look at the trends of 2021. Among them, social commerce, which consists of the use of social networks to develop sales and the creation of interactions that pique consumer interest. To do this, many brands have bet on an ambassador program, which promotes a product offer thanks to often emerging influencers or customers with a certain influence.
On its website, the fashion brand American Eagle has a page exclusively dedicated to recruiting ambassadors. She started the hashtag #AerieREAL.
This offers the opportunity to establish strong relationships with customers and build trust with future customers. This type of program allows you to run a profitable campaign that boosts brand awareness and generates sales with highly engaged customers. By downloading this guide, you will discover the multiple advantages that this entails, as well as advice for implementing this strategy.
In this white paper, Meltwater and Klear discuss a new type of content that is emerging: Fintok videos. These are TikTok influencers who use the platform to provide financial advice. This market is booming: the hashtag #stocktok has generated more than 1.8 billion views on the social network. For brands, the development of these types of videos highlights the importance of creating informative content and advice on TikTok.
Two other trends are to be discovered in this white paper:
- Conscious communication: gender neutrality and influencer marketing;
- Multi-influencer campaigns: inclusiveness and diversity.
This guide is essential to know the techniques of influence that will work in 2022 and to develop a fearsome strategy. Don’t forget to download it !