Influencer Marketing Trends and Predictions 2023 - Pip Wass

As we approach the end of yet another ‘‘unique’’ year for consumers and businesses alike, it’s a natural time to be looking ahead. 

Since its beginning, the influencer marketing industry has grown exponentially from an industry worth $1.7 billion in 2016 to an estimated $22.2 billion by 2025. 

With the market worth rapidly growing, so is the industry. Here is a look at some of my top predictions that are coming to the world of influencer marketing this year.

Economy-conscious content

During the covid-19 pandemic, audiences began to show a preference for relatable content that engaged their sense of empathy and personality. We will start to see a similar shift with the current cost of living crisis. We’ve already witnessed the backlash that high-end fashion influencer Lydia Millen faced, as she decided that, during Britain’s cost of living crisis, she was going to play her part by checking into the Savoy Hotel after her heater broke.  

Consumers will want to see relatable as well as educational content. As we’ve already seen, TikTok is becoming the number one preferred destination for Gen Z for financial advice, and this is likely to grow as we look to influencers for tips and hacks on saving money and how to bag the best deals. 

Alongside the authenticity of content, as we found in the pandemic, people will still be looking for escapism. Social media is the go-to place where consumers want to escape the chaos of everyday life and feel inspired. Influencers are a great way to create great content that sets the right tone and keeps people engaged and entertained.

Cross-channel Campaigns 

Next year, a multi-platform approach will become more critical than ever with users growing increasingly active and engaged on multiple channels. Brands are catching on to the importance of targeting consumers at every base, which allows for an enhanced brand experience and higher conversion rates. By running campaigns across several media platforms, brands can reinforce key messages and get more responses than by advertising on just one. 

Each social media platform is shaped by users’ personal traits and behaviour, and this is exactly what makes social media so valuable to brands. Understanding each social platform is key, to reaching consumers in the correct way and creating content intended for each platform rather than just reposting content. 

Pinterest - a go-to platform 

Pinterest is not just a social media platform. It is, in fact, a search engine. With millions of users, there is a ton of potential, where people use it just like google to search topics that interest them. Similarly to TikTok, Pinterest saw a boom during lockdowns as people fled to the platform to search for inspiration in the likes of home interiors and food recipes which saw a massive spike during this time.

With the continuous rise in users of this platform, we are seeing more people repurpose content from other channels in order to lengthen its lifespan and reach people in a different way. In comparison to the likes of TikTok, Pinterest has a dramatically longer half-life, with product orders from a Pinterest pin coming at least 2.5 months after that product was first pinned.

Because content can live forever on this platform, brands looking to increase awareness and boost content will need to tap into the potential of Pinterest and create a strategy that incorporates that of a social platform and a search engine. 

Livestream Shopping & commerce features 

Despite being around for several years, the COVID-19 pandemic turned everyone’s attention to livestream.  Livestream commerce, in which brands sell their products to online audiences in real-time, is one of the rising trends in social media. Livestream shopping brings in-store personalisation into online times. One of the important factors of livestream commerce is influencers. By leveraging the trusted voice of influencers, brands are able to convey their messages in an authentic way and establish a meaningful relationship with their target consumer. 

Despite the huge strides social platforms are taking, livestreams still have work to do in moving away from the QVC-style selling technique. With social platforms being designed as interaction first, rather than commerce, we will start to see more unique ways in which influencers and brands sell products and bring to life the new age of livestream shopping.  

We’ve recently witnessed TikTok introducing ‘TikTok Shop’ a feature where users can make purchases directly through the app and the platform's frequent updates in leveraging their search engine capabilities. This will mean in 2023, social platforms are no longer a ‘nice to have’ for brands but essential in selling products to existing communities and introducing them to potential consumers, especially via influencers who can create authentic and engaging content that will resonate with their target audience.

Brands and influencers co-creating products

Brands are starting to enter deeper partnerships with influencers to co-create products. Not only does co-creating with an influencer allow you to receive a fresh, outside perspective on your brand and your products but it also means the influencer's audience gets deeper exposure to the brand, its values, and behind-the-scenes moments. The rise in brands working with influencers from the creative process is becoming more common and with the long-term ambassadorships coming into play, it helps demonstrate shared values and real commitment between influencers and brands, which further helps to build trust with consumers. 

Another evolution we are likely to see continue to rise is influencers working to create their own brand. Influencers have built followings from their creativity, experience and true understanding of their audience. By launching their own brand means influencers can use their own knowledge of their communities and creative freedom to make a brand they love and they know their community will love.

With the developments that social platforms are making in commerce, this will only mean more opportunities to promote their brand in an authentic way.

Videos on the rise

Video is the most dominating content type. As we’ve seen with the rise in TikTok becoming the most popular social media app, short-form content is becoming essential in social media marketing. 

Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen Instagram make major changes to the app as it shifts towards more video content in a bid to help creators build their audiences (despite criticism from influencers like Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian) and YouTube shorts launching on TV allowing people to watch Shorts on the big screen. Video is the most engaging content type, and with social platforms' ever-increasing capacity to improve how this is delivered, it has become easier to stream content wherever you are.

A recent survey from HubSpot showed a massive 85% of businesses now use video as a marketing tool, with 92% of marketers agreeing that it’s an important part of their strategy. For brands, video helps tell your brand story in a more engaging and relatable way, increases your reach, and encourages engagement from all audience segments.

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