Influencer marketing campaigns have become very successful tools in consumer public relations strategies, as well as growth marketing strategies. With the influencer industry seeing consistent growth over the years, there have also been plenty of changes.
Influencer marketing has drastically changed from the previous years, and it’s only going to become a more important tool in the future.
As with most other things, the pandemic managed to completely shift how the consumers engage with the influencers they’re following with many seeking out new people to follow.
One of the biggest changes that happened during the pandemic has been the expansion of the definition of the word influencer itself. During the pandemic, consumers started looking for other sources that would bring value to their own lives, including people that could help them grow financially, personally, professionally, physically, or even emotionally.
These days, influencers are far beyond people with style or celebrities. In fact, the number of micro-influencers, as well as experts in other professional fields, has also dramatically increased.
That makes influencer campaigns a lot easier in different markets, especially in markets that didn’t previously have influencers. This includes markets such as health, B2B, and even finance, which is a lot more than the previous influencers that mainly focused on lifestyle or travel.
Next, although brand or product awareness was the main goal of influencer marketing campaigns in the past, these days, companies have to take it a step further by meeting the customers in their buying journey.
Today’s consumers are looking for seamless shopping experiences, which means being able to make a purchase whenever they want, wherever they want. For brands, that means meeting those needs by changing their goals.
Instead of focusing on brand awareness, companies now have to focus on letting the consumers know they’re able to make a purchase easily on different platforms. That’s also the reason why plenty of platforms have introduced in-app shopping features.
Then there’s also the fact that consumers are a lot more purpose-driven and conscious when making purchasing decisions. Today’s consumers care more about where their products are coming from, and they will go out of their way to find products from companies that have the same values as their own.
That means sustainable, locally-sourced, or responsible brands are seeing a lot more success, even if that means the consumers are paying more.
That’s why it’s not only important for companies to become more conscious of their own actions, but of the influencers they choose to work with as well. The influencers’ values should line up with the company’s as well as the consumers’ values.
To do all of this, companies should build long-term partnerships by working with the same influencers over longer periods of time. That way, the target audience will be more familiar and create a stronger relationship with the influencers and the brand at the same time.
Companies should also be focusing on working with people that are more relevant to the industry, even if they have a smaller number of followers. This way, brands can leverage influencer content across multiple platforms and campaigns and drive positive sales results.
